Academy trust which has generated income of more than £12m from phonics product starts “investigation into its tax status”

A small multi-academy trust which has generated income of more than £12 million in three years from a phonics product faces a government fine after initiating an “investigation into its tax status,” Education Uncovered can reveal.

The south London-based Wandle Learning Trust, which is associated with the Little Wandle phonics programme, reported in its annual accounts that it had wrongly not registered itself for VAT in previous years, and that it was now facing a “historical VAT liability” and a fine. The accounts state that it is likely that, as a result, the trust “will face late filing penalties from HMRC, which are not deemed to be a proper use of public funding”.

The development will draw fresh attention to Little Wandle, which is operating in more than 5,000 schools and has generated extraordinary revenue for this five-school trust, based at a primary school in Wandsworth, south London.

The recently-published 2023-24 accounts for the Wandle Learning Trust show that £4.2m of income was generated from the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised product last academic year. This comes on top of income of £4.6m in 2022-23, £3.4m in 2021-22 and £299,000 in 2021-22.

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