COLLEGES in Scotland need up to £360 million over the next five years to tackle a maintenance backlog but have been given less than a tenth of that by their main provider for this year.

Audit Scotland, the public spending watchdog identified the costs of maintenance for college buildings as one of the key factors threatening the sector’s financial sustainability.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) revealed the backlog in a survey but provided colleges with only £27m of capital funding this year for “very high priority repairs and maintenance”.

Audit Scotland’s report also highlighted the estimated £50m annual cost of the college pay harmonisation deal – and said this will “absorb all of the Scottish Government’s projected savings from college reform”.

The watchdog said that while ministers were providing extra cash to cover this cost in the current academic year, they had not specified funding for next year, when “costs will increase most significantly”.

Caroline Gardner, auditor general for Scotland, said: “Several factors pose a risk to colleges’ financial sustainability, including the prospect of a bigger wage bill for support staff and the cost of maintaining buildings. There now needs to be clarity about how capital spend will be prioritised across the sector, and colleges need to work with the Scottish Funding Council to improve financial forecasting.”

Overall, she said that while the performance of colleges had improved, “like all public bodies they continue to operate in a very challenging financial environment”.

Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said the repair bill had “been allowed to spiral out of control” by the Scottish Government.

She said: “We have warned for years about the consequences of ignoring these issues, and those have been repeatedly dismissed by this nationalist government.”

Further and Higher Education Minister, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said the report showed colleges were in better financial health and exceeding learning targets: “This progress is supported by significant Scottish Government investment of more than £7 billion since 2007, including a near 10% real-terms increase this financial year.”

John Kemp, the SFC’s interim chief executive, added: “There is a lot of positive news in today’s report.”