Trusts have been given more than £45 million as incentives to take on academies under the previous Conservative government, new figures show.
Academies can move trusts after either intervention over low education or financial standards, or because their academy trust chooses to – for instance because they are closing or merging.
Figures published today show 280 academies (2.6 per cent) moved trust in 2023-24, similar to the 275 in the year prior.
In one in 10 rebrokers, government handed out grants to incentivise the new trust to take on an academy – totalling £3 million.
Since 2013, 2,095 academies have been rebrokered. In a quarter of these cases, grant funding totalling £45 million has been paid out.
Data won’t show full picture
However, the true figures of the academy transfer market are likely to be much higher, as other funding sweeteners are not included in the data. They include government cash for new trusts to wipe out deficits, fix up buildings or make redundancies.
The Department for Education report today stated: “Academies operate under a strict system of oversight and accountability and regional directors (RDs) require the incoming trust to provide details on how the academy transfer grant would be used and the impact that it was expected to have.
“RDs monitored the academy’s performance to ensure the necessary improvements were made and that value for money was achieved.”
The proportion of rebroker payments has dropped over the years, from a high of 31 per cent in 2016-17 – when just under £7 million was paid out – to a low of seven per cent in 2022-23, with £1.5 million dished out.
Of the 280 academy transfers in 2023-24, three-quarters were initiated by the outgoing trust, 15 per cent were due to intervention and 8 per cent transferred due to a sponsor or trust closing.
Grant funding expanded in 2019
Nearly two-thirds of rebrokers had grants in 2014-15, but figures for these years are not comparable as government changed what funding was included.
Grant funding has always been available for trusts taking on schools based on education standards issues, but since February 2019 that was expanded to include academies transferred due to governance or financial issues.
At first, funding was agreed on a case-by-case basis, but in 2016 guidelines were introduced to try and ensure more consistency.
In 2023-24, grants ranged from £70,000 for a “fast track” rebroker up to £150,000 for “full level”. The amounts handed out are offset against any surplus that would transfer across from the academy.
Rebroker costs were published for the first time in 2017 after transparency campaigns by Schools Week.
We revealed at the time how government tried to “hide” damaging emails from then academies minister Lord Nash – revealing his intention to massage the presentation of figures.
