Academies and sixth form colleges across England can now
bid for a share of more than £400 million to transform
facilities, improve school buildings and create more good
school places.
The multi-million-pound annual fund can be used by
academies and sixth form colleges to expand classrooms,
upgrade facilities such as sports halls or science labs,
and address issues with the general wear and tear of school
buildings.
This year applications will be subject to new criteria
which will favour bids from schools with good governance
and organised finances – including showing restraint on
executive salaries.
Today’s launch of millions of pounds to improve schools and
colleges across the country follows the Prime Minister’s
announcement confirming the budget for schools and high
needs education would be increased by a total of over £14
billion over three years, rising to £52.2 billion by
2022-23. Schools and local authorities found out earlier
this month their allocations for the first part of that
investment - £2.6 billion - for the coming year.
Education Secretary said:
This government is determined to give all children the
best possible education, but as well as great teachers,
we want all pupils to learn in classrooms that enable
them to gain the knowledge and skills they need for
success.
Following our huge investment in school funding with an
increase of a total of £14 billion over three years, this
year’s multi-million-pound fund will support our pledge
to create more good school places and continue raising
standards.
The Department for Education will today launch the latest
round of the Condition Improvement Fund – the last of which
approved bids worth over £400 million to improve school
buildings and expand academies and sixth-form colleges
rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted.
The new criteria builds on a number of steps taken by the
Government to bolster academy trust finances and clamp down
on high pay – challenging 278 trusts over pay since 2017,
with 51 academy trusts reducing top salaries as a result.
The strengthened criteria for next year’s Condition
Improvement Fund will incentivise academies and trusts to
improve finances and governance. Bids are assessed on a
point based criteria and applicants will get a four-point
deduction if they pay two or more salaries in excess of
£100,000 or one salary over £150,000, and have failed to
take appropriate action in response to our high pay
challenge. Alongside this, Academies Minister has also introduced:
- an extra point for applicants that have signed-up to
the most recent government funding agreement;
- deductions of up to four points for applicants that
have not submitted a financial improvement plan following a
visit from a School Resource Management Adviser; and
- Further scrutiny for successful projects worth more
than £1 million.
All applications for the Condition Improvement Fund will be
scored against the new criteria, with points added or
deducted from the overall score. For unsuccessful bids,
applicants will still have the option of applying for
Urgent Capital Support to ensure their buildings are safe
for pupils and staff.
Today’s announcement comes ahead of the deadline this
Thursday (31 October) for parents to choose secondary
schools for their children. In 2019, 93% of parents
received offers for one of their top three choices. We’re
on track to create a million new school places this decade,
the largest increase in school capacity for at least two
generations.
