Current topical matters for academies
Outlined below is a brief reminder of some of the important high-level topical matters that are going on in the academies sector right now.
Sustainability and climate change are rapidly rising up the agenda for any trust. The reporting regulations around streamlined energy and carbon reporting are impacting on many larger trusts already and will no doubt be extended in some format to all entities in due course. Additionally, the evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda will need trusts to be examining their carbon footprint.
Trusts should be aware that the Department for Education (DfE) published a draft Sustainability & Climate Change strategy paper in November 2021 which set out its strategic aims and overarching vision as part of the government’s 25-year environment plan and net zero strategy. The expectations on individual trusts going forward are likely to be challenging, particularly when considering energy efficiency and renewables in new projects, procurement processes, reporting requirements and in the school curriculum.
Cyber fraud continues to be a major threat to trusts with reports of highly sophisticated attacks circulating at the end of last year. Trusts can access free services to assist with checking their protection against ransomware, phishing and spoofing attacks, but the dangers remain extremely high in an area where the criminals are constantly evolving the effectiveness of their methods of attack. The policy paper “Government Cyber Security Strategy: 2022 to 2030” (published 25 January 2022) notes that “…the targeting of healthcare, education and other essential services continues to demonstrate the severity of such cyber attacks, which not only cause significant disruption to the delivery of essential public services, but can also pose a real risk to public safety…”, which highlights that schools are in the crosshairs of the cyber criminals as much as, if not more than, any commercial operation.
Digital transformation offers a raft of potential solutions to the dangers of cyber attacks, the ongoing battle for financial savings and efficiencies, and the improvement in internal controls. On a slightly different technological tangent, but of particular interest to the academy sector, are plans for a UK National Academy, announced in the government policy paper “Levelling Up the United Kingdom” (published 2 February 2022), which has been described as a “…new digital education service [that] will support pupils from all backgrounds and areas of the UK to succeed at the very highest levels. The UK National Academy will be free and made available online to support the work of schools up and down the country. It will allow students to acquire additional advanced knowledge and skills, offering even more opportunities for every child to thrive…”
Wellbeing is an ongoing and major concern for most academy trusts – and this covers both pupils and staff. No one has been left unaffected by home working/schooling and the pressures of teaching and learning in a pandemic, and reports continue to reflect on the increase to anxiety and stress levels at times of enormous strain.
Executive remuneration continues to be a focus in the media and by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). For the year just gone, new fields in the Academies Accounts Return (AAR) were introduced to add detail to wages disclosures. Higher pay details and pension breakdowns are being developed, for the ESFA to reconcile and compare AAR data in the future. The press headlines focusing on perceived excessive executive pay mean that this issue is not going away any time soon.
The conditions for claiming pandemic emergency funding grants may have been misinterpreted by some trusts who may have claimed a grant incorrectly. Although the ESFA has said that the guidance, drawn up as it was under intense time pressures, may have resulted in an unintended consequence, there is still a risk that claims will be clawed back if found to be erroneous. A similar issue is arising for furlough claims, where trusts who have claimed will potentially be reviewed in due course to inspect the accuracy and applicability of any such claims.
The ESFA continues to ramp up its oversight of related party transactions, and on internal governance (via assessments such as the school resource management self-assessment checklist). Because of perceived weaknesses and control failures in the sector, the ESFA has begun to reconcile disclosures in statutory accounts with applications made and permissions granted (or not) via the portal for related party transactions (RPTs).