Plans for councils to set up academy trusts announced

Local authorities are to be permitted to establish trusts and gain the legal power to request their non-academy schools join a trust, where that is the right approach for local schools.

Included in the new Schools White Paper, the government plans to support schools that have received two consecutive Ofsted judgements of below ‘Good’ to join strong trusts – a significant step up from the current requirement for Inadequate local authority maintained schools to do so. The initial focus will be on schools in the 55 Education Investment Areas, as these are the locations where the most support is required area-wide.

The government will make £86 million available to grow and strengthen multi-academy trusts over the next three years, with a particular focus on Education Investment Areas. Across a subset of 24 priority Education Investment Areas – including all previous Opportunity Areas – which have some of the highest rates of disadvantage in the country, a further £40 million of additional funding is to be provided for bespoke interventions to address local needs, such as high absence rates.

As part of a review to launch in the summer looking at accountability and regulation of trusts, the department will consider how best to hold trusts accountable against a new strong trust definition, focused on the quality and inclusivity of the education they provide, how they improve schools and maintain their local identity, how they protect value for money for the taxpayer and how they develop their workforce.