Transparency test

Academies must reveal accounts

THERE WERE concerns about the financial management and oversight of academy schools long before the Wakefield Cities Academy Trust, responsible for the education of 8,500 students, reneged upon its responsibilities.

Though successive governments – Tory and Labour – have advocated schools opting out of LEA control in order to enjoy greater autonomy, they have done so without the Department for Education, or local councils, having proper oversight. Yet, by converting schools into businesses, Ministers seem to have lost sight of the fact that academies provide an invaluable public service and there must never be a repeat of the uncertainty that was created by the collapse of the aforementioned Wakefield chain.

This is highlighted by the Local Government Association which cites a new report that warns eight of 10 academies are in deficit – and that poor financial governance is a significant contributory factor.

Not only does this come in addition to similar warnings by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, and others, but the original intention for such schools was for them not go into the red. Given this, it is important that academies publish up-to-date accounts – and for there to be greater oversight by councils or regional schools commissioners. If academies refuse, or if Government obfuscates, many will conclude that the crisis in school funding is more serious than Ministers are prepared to concede.