Trust that ploughed reserves into school improvement slips £3.4m into deficit

The bosses of a cash-strapped academy trust have blamed its £3.4 million deficit on a strategy that considered hoarding reserves “inappropriate” and saw them plough resources into securing ‘good’ Ofsteds.

The ailing Brooke Weston Trust in the east Midlands has slashed “non-educational” budgets and green-lit dozens of voluntary redundancies in a bid to balance the books.

Stephen Morales, the chief executive of the Institute of School Business, warns that the case shows that “anything” can tip trusts “over the edge” if they’re already close to their “fiscal limit”.