A Carmarthenshire headteacher had been struck off the Welsh teaching register after fiddling his school’s attendance figures in an attempt to obtain greater funding.

Peter Andrew Spencer’s falsifications continued for five years, resulting in over 28,000 pupil absences at Queen Elizabeth High, Carmarthen being marked as present.

The figures were eventually reported by a staff member.

Despite being asked by Peter Spencer to falsify the figures, staff told the Education Workforce Council Wales panel this week that the had felt ‘misguided’ and ‘pressurised’ into joining his deception.

A senior member of staff, identified only throughout the hearing as ‘Person D’, said he felt anxious the whole time that he was involved, although admitted he had been weak in doing so.

“But it was difficult to say no to the headteacher’s decision,” he told the panel.

Mr Spencer, who now works as head of an international school abroad, was not at the hearing neither was he legally represented. He did not formally respond to the four allegations against him in person but did so in a written statement of mitigation.

He said he kept quiet about the deception because he understood the pressures staff were under from agencies outside the school including Estyn, the local education authority and school consortia.

The deception was finally reported to school governors by another member of staff in the autumn of 2018. The committee was told that the "whistle blower" reported being told by someone involved that data was being "fiddled" .

The four allegations against Mr Spencer compriseed unacceptable professional conduct, dishonest conduct; discussing details of the disciplinary investigations with likely witnesses and breaching conduct confidentiality.

It is understood that Mr Spencer left the 1,500-pupil school in 2020 with a financial settlement.

Finding all four allegations proved, he was struck off the teaching register in Wales for five years. He can then submit an application to re-apply. He has 28 days in which he can appeal against the decision to the High Court.