Plans dropped for conversion to academies

Controversial plans for all schools to convert to academies by 2030 have been dropped after the Government announced it will not go ahead with its Schools Bill.

The Bill will not be pursued so that parliamentary time can be focused on measures to tackle the economic crisis, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan announced.

New priorities

Confirming the legislation would not progress, she told the Education Select Committee: “Obviously, there’s been a lot of things that we’ve had to focus on, and the need to provide economic stability and tackle the cost of living means that the parliamentary time has definitely been reprioritised on that.”

Under the original proposals, all schools were to become part of a “family of schools in a strong trust to level up school standards”. Current standalone academies had been expected to transfer to a multi-academy trust (MAT); MATs were to be encouraged to run a minimum of ten schools to achieve advantages of scale; and smaller MATs were to be encouraged to merge with other MATs or secure growth on a school-by-school basis.

The Department for Education (DfE) had called existing academy rules “complex,” “inconsistent” and “ineffective”, but academy reforms that require new legislation will not now go ahead.

Some elements of the Bill, such as plans to remove barriers to faith and grammar schools joining MATs, along with national funding formula reforms, can continue without new laws, the DfE said.

Defining what a “strong trust” looks like

An academy regulatory review, established to set new academy standards and shape future powers, will go ahead but now simply define what a “strong trust” looks like.

Government sources have suggested there may still be measures to facilitate bulk conversions to MATs, while council-established MATs can go ahead as they do not require legislation.

However, Dr Mark Fenton, CEO of the Grammar School Heads Association, said the end of the Bill was “good news” for the survival of strong single-academy trusts.

Ignoring pressure to become academies

On the other hand, many maintained schools can now simply ignore pressure to become academies, experts said.

“Quite a lot” of maintained and standalone academy leaders will now say “let’s wait and see”, Julie McCulloch of the teaching leaders’ union ASCL told Schools Week.

Any implications for capital funding have yet to be determined.

If you would like to discuss whether your academy is eligible for capital funding, contact us on tel: 0116 5070130 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.