The government’s academies programme has a clear aim: to move schools out of local authority control so they will be “free” to improve.
But as more and more make the leap from maintained to academy status, councils are finding themselves lumbered with the bills for the transition and the debts of the departing schools – a tab that the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) tells CYP Now could leave local authority children’s services £30m out of pocket. And that, it says, is a “conservative” estimate.
The problem stems from the way in which maintained schools become academies. Education Secretary Michael Gove has the power to turn underperforming schools into academies. When this happens, the academy inherits any budget surplus from the school it replaces. But any deficit remains with the local authority.
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