Academies’ future expansion prospects unclear, warns National Audit Office

It is unclear whether it will be possible for the Department for Education to continue to convert large numbers of schools to academy status, the National Audit Office says today in a hard-hitting report on the policy which it says has cost nearly �750m since 2010 on academy conversion costs alone.

A shortage of sponsors and the challenges of converting rural primary schools are among the reasons cited by the NAO, with detailed figures suggesting projected increases in the size of multi-academy trusts will not be significant/not matching.
 

The report highlights the fact that the government has not been conducting “due diligence” checks on all schools converting to academy status without a sponsor, adding that it “does not carry out its own checks to ensure that all academy trustees and senior leaders are fit and proper persons”.

It also quoted Department for Education figures suggesting that, in the period 2013-2016, 70 per cent of academy sponsors were rated to be at least a “moderate risk” in terms of current performance and their capacity to take on more schools.

And, since November 2014, regional schools commissioners have approved seven schools to convert to academy status and join multi-academy trusts despite those trusts being on the government’s own “serious concerns” list.