Half of academies fail to cover annual costs

Over half of academies in England have spent more than their annual income, raising concerns over funding, figures have shown.

According to statistics revealed by ministers for 2014-15, more than 53 per cent of academies have spent more money than their income per year, which has risen by 11 per cent from the previous year.

The details were highlighted following a question in Parliament on Tuesday, 31 January, regarding academy spending, which was put forward by Liberal Democrat politician Lord Storey.

However, the statistics do not necessarily mean that the academies were left in deficit because they may have been using funding from previous years. Ministers answered that in 2014-15 only four per cent of academy trusts had “cumulative deficit”.

The Liberal Democrats argued that the figures do in fact show a climb in funding issues for academies and schools.
This is not the only issue regarding funding in the education sector, as many head teachers have warned that school hours may have to be cut as funding becomes a growing problem.

Mr Gibb has argued that schools are receiving more than they have before and that funding will increase in order to meet the demands of growth in school population.