Councils wrongly picking up bill for academy conversion, claims LGA

The LGA, which has carried out research on the impact of the academy programme, said councils have subsidised the costs of making legal and structural changes to converting schools to the tune of £22.4m between 2011 and 2014.

The Department for Education has challenged the findings and said the government has fully met the conversion costs for more than two-thirds of academies.

The association said councils have to pick up the tab when council-maintained schools become academies, including the costs of any deficit and legal fees, diverting money away from being spent on pupils' education.

But as the academy programme is a national initiative, it is calling for the government to fully fund the conversion costs.

David Simmonds, chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, said: “We are supportive of academies and free schools, but it is simply not fair that some struggling schools are burdened with a deficit while others walk away to become academies and leave local taxpayers to foot the bill.

“It is not right that we are having to pay this money for legal and structural changes to schools, rather than it being spent in ways that directly benefit the achievements of pupils.

“This is yet another example of central government not providing enough money to pay for its policies and of local communities being forced to pick up the tab.”

However, the DfE said that local authorities are only required to fund failing schools that are ordered to become sponsored academies, while the government pays for schools that choose to convert.

A DfE spokesperson said: “Local authorities are only required to cover a school’s deficit costs if it has become a sponsored academy after a prolonged period of underperformance.