Financial sustainability of schools in England

We recommend that the Department and the ESFA should take the following actions: a) Assess the impact on provision of the various measures adopted by schools in response to financial pressures, for example reducing staffing levels or changing support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. This work should include quantitative analysis and qualitative research to understand how schools have adjusted their provision and identify lessons and good practice.

b) Establish why maintained secondary schools are under particular financial pressure. The Department and the ESFA should use that information to identify any further action needed to support secondary schools to be financially sustainable.

c) Investigate why some academy trusts have built up substantial reserves. The ESFA should use that information to develop its understanding of why trusts are acting in this way, seek assurance that levels of reserves are acceptable, and take action where it has concerns that this is not the case.

d) Develop further their performance management systems so they can effectively monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of their programmes to support schools’ financial sustainability. In doing this, the Department and the ESFA should: • consistently collect good-quality data about the operation and impact of the programmes; • have systematic internal reporting against clear performance criteria using good-quality data to judge when corrective action needs to be considered and to evaluate impact; and • report publicly, routinely and on a consistent basis, on the take-up and impact of the programmes.