We show that the system of equations
$$ \begin{align*} \sum_{i=1}^{s} (x_{i}^{\,j}-y_{i}^{\,j}) = a_{j} \quad (1 \leqslant j \leqslant k) \end{align*} $$
has appreciably fewer solutions in the subcritical range
$s < \tfrac 12k(k+1)$
than its homogeneous counterpart, provided that
$a_{\ell } \neq 0$
for some
$\ell \leqslant k-1$
. Our methods use Vinogradov’s mean value theorem in combination with a shifting argument.