The Live Wire



Press Release

Academies overpaid by hundreds of thousands of pounds

8 December 2011

Hundreds of schools which converted to academy status last year were mistakenly given extra public funding, in some cases worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The Financial Times reported that an average secondary school, teaching 1,000 pupils, which converted to an academy at the start of 2010/11, would have received an extra £118,000, while others may have received more than £300,000.

It said the overpayments had been caused by officials using old and inconsistent data to work out funding.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said in October: "I want to make it clear that if a school becomes an academy it does not receive any additional money."

But the funding errors mean that an average 1,000-pupil secondary school converting at the start of 2010-11 would have received a bonus of £118,000.

In total, 842 schools converted in 2010/11, allowing them to worsen teachers' pay and conditions and make changes to the curriculum without consulting parents or the local community.

They receive their funding directly, and this is supposed to include the money for services which local councils provide to other schools, known as the "local authority central services equivalent grant".

The Financial Times reported that it was this figure which was worked out based on old spending data which led to overpayments.

It's analysis suggests that in 74 boroughs in 2010/11 overfunding was worth over £100,000 over the course of a year for an average 1,000 pupil secondary school, while in 28 boroughs it was more than £200,000 and in 10 it was over £300,000.

It also reported that rules designed to stop schools' funding dropping too quickly from year to year could mean that 790 academies could receive extra money in 2011/12.

Errors in academy funding were first revealed by the newspaper in June. At that time Mr Gove blamed "mistakes" by local authorities for overpayments, and acknowledged that some academies faced the prospect of having large sums of money "clawed back".



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd