Academy commissioners could be in line for the chop, experts have warned, after Andy Burnham unveiled sweeping reforms to neuter Whitehall and “rewire the state”. The new prime minister announced plans last week to transfer “powers, resources and functions” away from central government and into the hands of local leaders running new cross-council authorities. But the Labour chief has been urged not to rush his devolution agenda, after setting a 2028 deadline for every part of England to launch the authorities. Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio stressed the new system “must avoid creating differences in opportunity between areas”. “If this proposal goes ahead, we would like to see clear national safeguards that provide fairness and consistency, alongside any local flexibility, so that students are not disadvantaged by where they happen to live.” ‘Devolving by default’ A cabinet statement entitled “rewiring the state”, published last week, showed Burnham will oversee “a major transfer of powers, resources and functions from central government to elected mayors and local authorities”. His ambition is for “every area in England” to either have or be in the process of establishing a strategic authority – which can be led by a mayor – by the close of 2027. The proposals, which will be fleshed out in a white paper later this year, stated central government “must become smaller and more strategic”, creating a slimmed-down civil service. Ministers also “agreed to adopt an operating principle of devolving by default – meaning that where policies or services are being designed or altered, secretaries of state will need to justify holding them” centrally. DfE changes Currently, the Department for Education’s nine regional director teams broker academies while also overseeing interventions and elements of SEND policy. Schools Week revealed two years ago that the cost of the teams leapt by almost 40 per cent from £24.35 million in 2021-22 to £33.9 million in 2023-24. But there was sizeable variation in costs between regions. Last year, the regions group was also charged with running Labour’s flagship RISE school improvement programme. Loic Menzies But policy specialist Loic Menzies argued it is “hard to see” how the teams could be “compatible” with Burnham’s intentions. “Last week’s cabinet statement makes a point of emphasising that these reforms should be about devolution not delegation, by committing not to replicate local powers within central government,” Menzies said. “I can’t help wondering whether this means regional directors’ days are numbered.” Leora Cruddas, of the Confederation of School Trusts, said academy chains were “increasingly working together with health, social services, police, business, and other charities to create genuinely responsive and constructive approaches to public services” locally. “As we move towards a fully-trust led school system, there is the potential for strategic local authorities – free of conflicts of interest from overseeing schools – to play an important part in that work, and we welcome being part of the discussions that work out what that means across the country.” 2028 target Menzies warned a “clear demarcation of responsibilities is going to be needed, particularly given the messiness of the current hybrid” council and trust-led system. “The government needs to clarify as soon as possible whether it sees functions like academy brokering and support through RISE teams… as being candidates for devolution to strategic authorities, and how responsibilities under the upcoming SEND reforms will be parcelled out.” The government wants strategic authorities “in place everywhere by the end of 2028”. Non-mayoral authorities will receive an enhanced set of powers, although officials said the suite available to mayors would be greater. Leora Cruddas It comes after Burnham announced last week that mayors will be handed control of sixth-form funding, with school sixth forms, sixth-form colleges, further education colleges and independent training providers all within scope of the changes. They will also gain greater control over employment support, transport, housing, planning and public services. Mayors and local leaders will also be handed a role in shaping education for 14 to 16-year-olds under plans for new technical pathways from September 2028. Toby Greany, professor of education at the University of Nottingham, thinks most of the regional director responsibilities should be handed over to strategic authorities over time. Without this, he worries inclusion and vocational reforms “won’t really be integrated into a place-based and collaborative approach”. Quangos clampdown The cabinet statement added that officials will take “a serious look” at the responsibilities and funding of arm’s-length bodies. They will consider whether these should be transferred to local leaders or returned to government departments, unless “ministers proactively decide that it is necessary to retain them externally”. Labour also wants to cut “the number of duplicative policy, communications, and strategy teams in arm’s length bodies, which are not reporting into accountable local leaders or ministers”. The DfE brought LocatED, its property wing, in-house four months ago following a review of a Cabinet Office review of all arm’s length bodies. Oak National Academy, a department quango offering free national curriculum-aligned resources, remains an arm’s-length body after the review concluded this was the right model for it. Oak is due to receive £22.8 million in government funding for 2026-27, a £5 million rise from the previous year. BESA pressure But Caroline Wright, boss of the British Education Suppliers Association (BESA) believes the new government’s stance offers a “breath of fresh air”. She has written to education secretary Lucy Powell to raise her “concerns regarding recent over-prescriptive nature of recent DfE initiatives including Oak and welcoming her early attention to these issues”. BESA, the Publishers Association and the Society of Authors were granted permission to proceed with a judicial review over the decision to turn Oak into an arm’s-length body three years ago. They had argued the move would pose an “existential risk” to their sector, and that the quango’s conversion amounted to an “unlawful state subsidy”. Oak declined to comment. What about SEND? With strategic authorities “only as strong as the local authorities that constitute them”, ministers will move ahead with reforms to support the financial sustainability of councils, the cabinet statement said. These will focus on their “highest-cost services”, including SEND. The document did not provide more details on this. Some parts of the SEND system are due to become more centralised. For example, from 2028, SEND cost pressures will sit on the government’s books, rather than with councils. There are also plans for “national inclusion standards”. Other parts of the SEND reforms do push for further local solutions. For instance, the white paper proposed every school should be part of a “local group”, which would be “actively engaged” with their council and integrated care board. Earlier this year, a report by researchers from the universities of Nottingham and Warwick found “huge disparities in how schools and trusts work across different localities”. They said this reflected “the extent to which the needs of children, families, employers and schools are shaped by place”. The study argued “one-size-fits-all models rarely work for all” and called for an approach that recognised different areas have their own priorities. Greany, an author of the report, said Burnham’s devolution vision represents a move towards such a model, but added: “There are understandable concerns about the pace of change, especially on top of so many other changes facing schools”.