A NATIONAL Education Union (NEU) rep has said it is a "sad place to be" after new figures showed Bradford schools' energy costs have doubled.

Figures from the Department for Education show £5.66 million was spent on energy for local authority-run schools in the 2022-23 academic year.

This is more than double the £2.76 million spent the year before and works out at £163 per pupil.

The figure is the highest the cost has reached since the £5.68 million in 2015-16.

Tom Bright, Bradford branch secretary of the NEU, said: "Energy costs have gone up dramatically everywhere.

"If you ask most homeowners they will tell you that their (energy) costs have doubled as well.

"It was known that energy costs were rising and schools had to budget for it.

"It is a tough one and I don't envy schools at all. It will have a knock-on effect on staffing and that affects the quality of education. It is a sad place to be."

Mr Bright added that school leaders just want to focus on leading and "penny-pinching all the time makes it a difficult job".

Separate analysis of energy efficiency ratings suggests many English school buildings are underperforming.

DECs are designed to show the energy performance of public buildings, using a scale from ‘A’ to ‘G’ - ‘A’ being the most efficient and ‘G’ being the least.

In Bradford, 27 per cent of the 188 school buildings rated last year were in the worst categories – emitting the most carbon dioxide and wasting more energy.

An estimated 69 per cent of schools in the area had a building evaluated last year.

Mr Bright said: "If you had a magic wand, you would rebuild schools in an energy-efficient way.

"Let's replace our ageing boilers with fuel-efficient solar panels. That takes investment which is not there.

"It would be strange for schools in Bradford to be focussing on that when they have to think about pupil attendance, progress, and all the things that schools are measured on.

"I understand why focussing on energy costs is not a priority."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We know that schools have faced increased energy bills. We took account of this and made additional investment in total school funding to cover costs – a £4 billion increase in 2022-23, and a further £3.9 billion this year.

"School funding is rising to more than £59.6 billion next year – the highest ever level in real terms per pupil."