ESFA | Schools Week

DfE clamps down on loophole allowing fraudsters in classrooms

New banning powers would also apply to ex-teachers and those in online schools

Academy trusts get £21m in non-repayable bailouts

The Academies Enterprise Trust received £2 million, one of more than 80 trusts bailed out in a single year

Trusts rack up £3bn surplus, and 6 more academy sector accounts findings

The report reveals rising reserves, more spending rule breaches and more trusts under scrutiny over high pay

ESFA acts as costs of collapsed academy trusts double

Government wrote off more than £10m on failed trusts last year alone

£4m cost of failed academy trust, and 5 more ESFA accounts findings

The Education and Skills Funding Agency, which distributes £62 billion of education funding, has published its annual accounts for the year end March 31, 2021. Here’s your Schools Week guide to the key findings … 1. £500k lost on Erasmus plans, £1.6m on copyright payment The ESFA posted “fruitless payments” of £520,000 relating to work […]

Government vetoes more academy deals with linked firms

108 academy trust ‘related party transactions’ were blocked in 2020-21, more than twice the previous year’s figures

ESFA probes trust forced to up top-slice after overspend

Documents suggest the Oval trust ‘set a deficit budget, miscalculated income…and overspent’, while a new board came in after a row with the diocese

Small academy trusts told to use reserves to fund urgent safety repairs

The government has warned small academy trusts and sixth form colleges they will be denied funding for urgent health and safety repairs if they could use their own reserves instead. The Department for Education published revised guidance on “urgent capital support” (UCS) funding today, tweaking eligibility rules. The UCS pot is earmarked for “urgent condition […]

Former RSC John Edwards named interim ESFA chief executive

A former regional schools commissioner has been appointed interim chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency. John Edwards, currently ESFA’s director of funding, will replace Eileen Milner who has left to become chief executive of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Susan Acland-Hood, the DfE’s permanent secretary, said Edwards was a “thoughtful and […]