Rule-breaking spending by academies on antique furniture, booze and staff gift cards have been revealed after a government investigation publishing blitz saw it bring to an end academy controversies stretching back 14 years.
The investigation reports for five trusts at the centre of Department for Education probes were published yesterday.
All five investigations were into historic allegations centring on things like improper recruitment, purchases and contracts.
However a recent academy scandal transparency rowback also means all the reports are now investigation ‘outcomes’ – containing far fewer details of wrongdoing than previous reports did. They also do not name those involved.
DfE has committed to publishing these reports within two months of completion – but the last of the reviews was completed last summer.
£2.5k on antique furniture, soft furnishings and art
ESFA launched an investigation into allegations relating to “governance and financial oversight”, related-party transactions [RPTs], consultant costs and “suspected financial malpractice” at the 12-school Griffin Schools Trust five years ago.
Investigators “identified related-party transactions involving the provision of consultancy services and conflicts of interest which had not been managed appropriately”.
Contracts involving the related party ran from 2014 to 2021, with the trust spending just under £570,000 in all.
More than £435,000 was spent over the same period to a related party organisation “involving a property lease/licence”, which “lacked sufficient documentation and robust scrutiny to demonstrate value for money”.
Meanwhile, “novel and contentious” payments totalling almost £2,500 were made for “antique furniture, soft furnishings, ornaments and artwork” in 2018-19.
A Griffin spokesperson said “corrective action has been taken”. DfE has “confirmed that the Trust is now fully compliant”, with the “approved, comprehensive action plan… successfully completed”.
£26k on staff gift cards
At the Stephenson (MK) Trust, allegations centring on alcohol spend, staff end-of-term and Christmas events and “gift cards for staff attendance” between 2016 and 2022 were substantiated.
The payments were “in contravention of the academy trust handbook”. Almost £28,000 of spend was identified as “irregular”, with £25,700 going towards the gift cards.
The report says the trust, which has three schools in Milton Keynes, “has taken action to ensure alcohol is no longer purchased and have ceased the practice of awarding staff with gift cards for their attendance”.
There have also “been changes in senior leadership” since the investigation started in 2023.
iPhone sale cash ‘misplaced’
A year-long probe was launched into allegations from between 2018 and 2020 surrounding an “improper recruitment process” for one member of staff and the handling of “resources for personal gain” at Tennyson Learning Community Trust.
The investigation – which concluded last summer – found an interviewer for a vacant post at the MAT “provided a reference” for the successful applicant during the employment process.
The qualifications for the position also “appeared to be lower than expected for the role and level of remuneration”, according to officials, while the person’s salary also rose “significantly since they were hired”.
The report also noted that £900 generated from the sale of “three obsolete iPhones” to staff in 2019 “was misplaced” for three years. However, a claim “that certain items were bought solely for personal use” were not substantiated.
A Tennyson spokesperson said the “trust was in its infancy” at that point, having “just formed in June 2019”. Since then, “significant changes have been made to the leadership, governance and structure” of the MAT.
“We have thoroughly examined these historic discrepancies and swiftly resolved the two issues outlined in the report,” they added.
Pre-academy allegations probed
Additional payments, which became pensionable, were made to a senior staff member between 2011 and 2015 by Lampton School Academy Trust, another report found.
The investigation, opened in 2022, concluded there was “insufficient evidence that the interests of the trust were at the forefront of [its] decision-making process” in relation to this.
This resulted in it signing up to an “additional financial commitment that may not have been necessary”, but the probe could not say if “there was a quantifiable financial loss to the trust”.
But allegations concerning “alleged signature forgery on a document occurred prior to academisation”, with the government “unable to draw conclusions on this issue”.
DfE noted the trust “has changed its structure in relation to oversight, leadership and management since the time of the concerns”, with the issues flagged through the MAT’s “own internal scrutiny processes and reported to the ESFA”.
Lampton “fully co-operated” with the review, which “identified no further actions for the trust to make in relation to these matters”.
Inaccurate accounting records
An investigation into Langdale Free School could not substantiate “concerns around the use of pupil premium and sports premium to pay an unrelated debt”.
But it found “the accounting treatment of a property did not comply with the academies accounts direction and charities standard of recommended practice” due to “misclassification”.
The trust also “failed to keep full and accurate accounting records in respect of payments for services provided by a related party”.
DfE noted that when it received the concerns, the ESFA and regions group “were continuing with intervention” at Langdale. It had its funding agreement terminated last year and was dissolved that summer.
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