Ten academy trusts have not submitted their financial accounts to the Education Funding Agency, five months after the official deadline passed.
The findings follow warnings from government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, that academies must become more transparent.
The names of the trusts that have not yet filed their full accounts, for the year ending 31 August 2016, were revealed in a freedom of information request sent to Janet Downs of the Local Schools Network.
They are:
- Abbs Cross Academy and Arts College, London. Taken over by Loxford School Trust last year after being placed in special measures
- Basildon Academies Trust, Essex. Was sent a financial notice to improve in December 2016
- Ealing Fields Academy Trust, London
- Erudition Schools Trust, Birmingham. Went into liquidation last year
- HBH Academy Trust, Sheffield
- Madeley High School Academy Trust, Crewe
- NLT Academies Trust, Nottingham. Dissolved at the start of this month
- The Ridings Federation of Academy Trust, Bristol. Last year, the Education Funding Agency stripped the trust of various delegated powers related to finances.
- Telford Cooperative Multi-Academy Trust. Its four schools were taken over by the Community Academies Trust in November 2015 after being placed in special measures
- The Chafford School Academy Trust, London. The trust’s only school was taken over by the Harris Federation last September
Ms Downs had previously obtained the names of 137 academy trusts that missed the deadline of 31 December 2016 for sending their accounts to the EFA, but until now officials have not provided dates for when the accounts were actually received.
The deadline is set out in the Academies Financial Handbook.
The DfE’s response to the FOI request said: “The Academies Financial Handbook sets out requirements placed on trusts, including the requirement to submit audited financial statements to the EFA.
“Where trusts do not comply with this requirement, EFA’s intervention is always proportionate and risk-based and preserves the effective education of children.
An NAO report last December issued the DfE with an “adverse opinion” regarding its financial accounting and concluded: “The department’s policy of autonomy for academies brings with it significant risks if the financial capability of the department and academies are not strengthened.”
The DfE said it would remove academy trust accounts from the DfE’s main financial statements, and produce a separate account for academies.
