A report by the National Audit Office found that the DfE had been “unprepared” for the financial implications of a ten-fold increase in academies from 203 in May 2010, to 2,309 in September this year.
The government spending watchdog said the “rapid increase” in the cost of the programme has led to “ongoing pressures” on DfE finances, which means other budgets have been plundered to allow the department to stay within its overall spending limits.
The NAO said the department spent a total of £8.3bn on the academies programme, an overspend of £1bn, between April 2010 and March 2012.
Of this, the DfE was unable to recover £350m from local authorities to offset against the cost of new academies.
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