Kent council has outlawed its schools from buying flowers as a thank-you for departing staff after an audit found public funds were spent on gifts, including spa days.
An internal audit in 2022 found “irregularities involving inappropriate use of school funds” to buy “gifts and hospitality, as well as payments to staff” at its maintained schools.
This included alcohol, spa days and transport to and from schools, a schools forum heard.
The council refused to release the full findings of the audit because legal action is ongoing.
It introduced a new policy this month outlawing spend on gifts for staff unless there were exceptional circumstances. It has told employees to do whip-rounds instead, raising concerns that recruitment and retention could be impacted.
‘Ongoing legal action’
Kent told Schools Week “some anomalies in spending were identified through our regular budget monitoring processes and we recognised a need to strengthen our guidance”.
Minutes from a schools forum about a 2022 audit say the fraud team found school funds had been “used for gifts, alcohol, dinners, spa days and transport to and from schools”.
But the council refused a freedom of information request to release the audit, saying it would “run the risk of increased damage to the school’s reputation” and have a “lasting impact on individuals” involved.
The “irregularities” are also “subject to ongoing legal action. Although the criminal element of the case has been concluded, disciplinary action is pending.”
A council spokesperson said it was “committed to ensuring best value for money and strong governance in schools”.
But the “draconian” measures in the proposed clampdown have caused uproar.
The council’s original policy suggested banning any spend on gifts for staff, saying rewards such as for long service could “include a certificate or a collection”.
Governors would also have needed to approve funds for tea and coffee.
‘Staff in financial difficulty’
Of 46 responses received during a consultation, 23 agreed with the policy and 20 disagreed.
One leader said staff wellbeing was a “huge area of need, as is recruitment and retention … We have purchased £50 gift cards for staff at Christmas. This made a huge difference to staff wellbeing, especially as many are in significant financial difficulty/single mums”.
Another said the “draconian” policy suggestions were “not in keeping with the issues schools are facing with recruitment and retention… having some way of trying to entice staff to stay rather than leave is a good thing”.
The council has since amended the final policy, which is now in place via the council’s “scheme for financing schools”.
Schools can provide gifts only in “exceptional circumstances on compassionate grounds”, with a £25 maximum spend.
Gifts for recognition such as long service cannot come from school budgets, and should come from fundraising or staff collections.
Budgets can be used for gifts to “voluntary helpers, in recognition of exceptional support”, but as an “exception to the general rule”.
‘Discrepancy between councils and academies’
Councils are required to publish a “scheme for financing schools”, which sets out the financial relationship between them and schools. The Department for Education sets out mandatory elements, but these do not include rules around gifts or hospitality.
For academies, the department’s handbook says that when giving gifts, trusts “must ensure the value is reasonable, is within its scheme of delegation, the decision is documented, and achieves propriety and regularity in the use of public funds”.
Rules outlawing such expenditure are common. A 2020 Teacher Tapp survey found 38 per cent of secondary teachers had to bring in tea and coffee, with a quarter having to provide milk.
But Matthew Clements-Wheeler, the national assurance director at Keystones Knowledge consultancy, said there was “clearly a discrepancy” between council schools and academies, which “leads to tension at school level when heads in either system are trying to benchmark their practices”.
“It’s not unusual or illegal for academy trusts to sanction flowers or small tokens of appreciation.”
Trusts had more frequent checks on expenditure that could provide value for money assurances, he said.
Dixons Academies Trust, for instance, allows principals to “to use funds responsibly for the purpose of staff wellbeing and recognition” but transactions should not exceed £25.
