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13 April 2026

Tag: school financing

Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures

Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department for Education data confirms a 20 per cent jump in the average trust’s reserves, up from £0.96 million a year earlier to £1.15 million. The figures cover the year to the end of last August however, […]

DfE blocks MAT’s bid to take shares in outsourcing firm

An outsourcing firm has urged the government not to be “hung up on fear of the different” after officials thwarted a multi-academy trust’s bid to take shares in the for-profit company. Schools Week revealed in March that Transforming Futures Trust (TFT) had signed a £1 million deal to outsource most of its central staff and […]

DfE raids existing budgets for a third of £4.3bn Covid spending

Almost a third of the Department for Education’s extra Covid spending will be taken from existing budgets or underspends in other areas, according to a new report. Education unions said it reinforced their fears over the Treasury’s commitment to education recovery, and accused the government of “creative accounting”. The research, published by the Institute for […]

Councils in deficit told to find SEND savings in exchange for £100m bailouts

Five councils have been told to cut special needs and disabilities (SEND) spending and reform services in exchange for government bailouts totalling almost £100 million to fill black holes in their budgets. The Department for Education has reached deals with five local authorities which have some of the largest dedicated school grants deficits in England. […]

DfE let two free schools rack up £2 million debts over pupil numbers

Two free schools racked up almost £2 million in debt after the Department for Education repeatedly allowed them to over-predict pupil numbers for three years without any plan for dealing with the deficits. Perry Beeches III, part of the now-defunct Perry Beeches Trust in Birmingham, and Robert Owen Academy, a vocational free school in Hereford, […]

Revealed: The free school ‘advisors’ worth £100 million

The government has spent almost £100 million on advice for free school projects over the past three years, according to documents obtained by Schools Week which reveal for the first time the huge, hidden costs of the programme. The figures, provided by the Department for Education in response to our Freedom of Information requests, show […]

How and when money matters in education

We shouldn’t just throw money at the system, says Luke Sibieta; we have to use it smartly. School funding was a source of much controversy during the recent general election campaign, and the Department for Education changed its spending plans soon afterwards, to enable a freeze in school spending per pupil in England between 2017 […]

Parents ‘must pay’ for sports teams at Kent school

A Kent headteacher has told parents they will need to pay for their child to be part of the school’s sports team due to budget cuts. Lee Hunter, head at Sir Roger Manwood’s School in Sandwich (pictured), wrote to parents to say the school had lost almost £700 funding per pupil over the past five […]