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15 April 2026

Tag: department for education

DfE launches hiring spree for Covid response

A huge recruitment drive has been launched at the Department for Education to aid its response to Covid-19, with 100 jobs up for grabs. Job adverts for the 12-month contracts contain limited detail but state that people are being sought to work in “priority roles” that have been impacted by the pandemic and will be […]

DfE denies it withholds laptops on form-filling grounds

Headteachers claim they have had difficulty accessing laptops for self-isolating pupils because they didn’t fill in an optional attendance form. Schools have a legal duty to provide remote education to pupils who are forced to stay at home, and the government has promised additional laptops to assist. But accessing the laptops is proving an uphill […]

Schools miss out as £2.2m cut from overhauled support scheme

The government has cut funding promised to schools for improvement support after the scheme was repurposed to help leaders struggling with educational issues or remote learning during the pandemic. Under a new recovery scheme, schools can request an “experienced system leader” for up to five days to “help them overcome the challenges faced or exacerbated” […]

DfE signals intent for National Tutoring Programme to continue beyond this year

The government has signalled its intent to extend the flagship National Tutoring Programme beyond this year – and has asked for the sector’s view on how it can be rolled out to recruit more tutors. It comes as schools were able to finally start applying for tutoring this week after the 32 providers of subsidised […]

DfE and agencies’ performance-related bonus spend rises to over £6m

The Department for Education and its agencies paid out over £6 million in performance-related bonuses in 2018-19, an increase of almost 7 per cent on the previous year. Data on non-consolidated performance-related payments shows the DfE itself paid out £4,611,694 last year, up from £4,482,570 the previous year, while Ofsted paid out £1,181,764, up from […]

Williamson ally Nick Timothy handed DfE board role without competition

The education secretary has been accused of “trying to subvert process to help his political mates” after appointing an ally to a key government role without following usual procedures. Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, was also made a non-executive director at the Department for Education before officials had received a declaration of […]

DfE broke pupil data protection laws, damning ICO audit reveals

The Department for Education broke data protection laws in the way it handles pupil data, the information watchdog has ruled, following an investigation that revealed widespread failures. The Information Commissioner’s Office has concluded that the DfE failed to meet several articles of the general data protection regulations (GDPR), which govern the management and use of […]

Academy orders can be revoked if schools improve to ‘good’, DfE confirms

Failing maintained schools that become ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before converting into academies can have their academy orders revoked, the Department for Education has officially confirmed. The DfE has today updated its statutory guidance on “schools causing concern” with more detail on the scenarios in which academy orders can be revoked. This appears to be the […]

DfE to clarify ‘intent’ of controversial new RSE guidance

The government is set to issue a statement clarifying the “intent” of additional relationships and sex education guidance published last week, amid reports of confusion and fear among teachers, campaigners have said. Some of the teachers who have contacted us have really been very concerned Liz Moorse, chief executive the Association of Citizenship Teaching, told […]