Education and skills funding agency | Schools Week

ESFA investigates finances of Trinity Academy London Trust

The government is investigating alleged financial irregularities at an academy trust in south London that was issued a redacted finance warning notice earlier this year. A financial notice from March, published last Friday, ordered the Trinity Academy London Trust – which ran the Trinity Academy in Brixton – to hand over full minutes and notes […]

£73k theft at academy not spotted for eight months, government probe reveals

Over £73,000 was stolen from a single academy trust but the loss went unnoticed for eight months due to “weak internal controls”, according to a damning report into a London school. The fraud came to light after Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) inspectors visited the London Enterprise Academy, run by the Tower Hamlets Enterprise […]

Multiple rule breaches found in Dunham Trust ESFA investigation

An academy trust that paid out tens of thousands of pounds to related parties, spent over £1,000 for staff to attend a summit in Jordan and paid an employee’s parking ticket broke academy funding rules, an investigation has found. The Education and Skills Funding Agency investigated the Dunham Trust last June after receiving “allegations around […]

DfE threatens to reclaim £110k loan unless school joins a multi-academy trust

The government has threatened to forcibly claim back a £110,000 loan issued to a single-academy trust unless it joins a MAT. The threat comes as a school leaders’ union issues a warning over the “serious implications” of conditions attached to such emergency loans. A financial notice to improve issued to Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland […]

Academy trusts with multiple staff on £100k+ told to justify pay

The government has written to all multi-academy trusts that are paying a salary of £100,000 to £150,000 to multiple employees, to ask them to justify why they are setting wages at these levels. Letters from Eileen Milner, the chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, will go out to the chairs of trustees at […]

Matrix Academy Trust ordered to review governance after ESFA investigation

The Matrix Academy Trust has been ordered to review its governance arrangements and financial management after a government review found it could not justify costly staff trips and had not ensured separation of powers between its members and directors. The investigation was prompted by “anonymous allegations” made against it in October 2016, relating to “potentially […]