Recommendation 15

COVID-19 has had a variable impact on the financial health of academy trusts, although the full data is not yet available. The 2019/20 SARA reports that the financial stability of the sector has improved due to the work being done by the Department and ESFA to improve financial management in the sector, but also notes that some trusts will have incurred lower costs during the reporting period as a result of the lockdown.34 Additional funding has been provided by the Department via the ESFA to schools during the pandemic, for example for catch-up learning, a workforce fund to support schools with staffing challenges caused by COVID-1935 and exceptional funding for additional costs such as for additional cleaning.36 The Department provided an additional £70 million of specific COVID-19 funding to academies during the early stages of the pandemic. It explained that additional funding was provided to financially struggling trusts to ensure children’s education was not affected by COVID-19, and to ensure children were not penalised for a school not being well run.37 The Catholic Education Service told us that some trusts had seen claims for what appeared to be legitimate additional costs being rejected by the Department and have therefore faced financial pressures during the pandemic. The Department informed us it was working with trusts who feel their ability to operate has been significantly affected by the pandemic.38 Executive pay across the academy sector