The Department for Education has said that policy discussions were “still live” on funding for multi-academy trust (MAT) growth more than two months after trusts were expecting decisions.
MATs have still not received a decision regarding whether they were successful for the latest round of the Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) and the Trust Establishment and Growth Fund (TEG) despite the grants being intended to start from the beginning of August.
The Department for Education has rejected part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Tes asking for data on the latest round of funding for TCaF and TEG.
Tes has previously revealed that there had been no decisions made on window 4 of TCaF funding, which had been listed to start its spending period on 1 August.
‘Incredibly frustrating’ delay
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: “It is incredibly frustrating for trusts that decisions on these funds have been repeatedly delayed.
“These bids take significant work and the work they represent is important for improving the quality of education. Trusts need firm decisions so they can either get on with the work or make alternative plans.”
This comes ahead of the Budget on 30 October, which will set out the government’s spending plans for 2025-26.
The DfE rejected the FOI request because the information “relates to development of government policy around the school system including MAT growth and support for underperforming schools”.
A public interest test was carried out to determine whether the data should be released.
The DfE balanced the public interest in releasing the information against the public interest in “allowing ministers and officials a safe space to develop policy”.
In a response sent to Tes on 21 October, the department added: “Policy discussions are still live and new ministers need time to determine their priorities for government free from external interference”.
Warren Carratt, CEO of Nexus MAT, told Tes that trusts need clarity from the department.
He added he would like the Budget to include continued investment in growing MATs that “contribute to wider sector need and deconstruct barriers to opportunity”.
“As a long-term home for schools, MATs can and should continue to be seen as an essential vehicle in improving school standards,” he added.
Leaders told Tes in September they feared they had wasted time on their bids for the latest round of TCaF as the DfE has not been able to confirm how much money is left.
How much TCaF funding is left?
Under the previous government, the DfE had committed “up to £86 million” for TCaF up to 2025.
A Tes analysis of FOI data has previously found that allocations since 2022 already total nearly £82 million over the first three windows. There has been no indication that the overall funding being made available through the TCaF has since been increased.
The application window for the latest round of TCaF funding that has yet to be communicated closed on 25 June.
The outcome will be announced in “due course”, the DfE said.
Mr Carratt added that all grant funding announced by DfE must come with clarity regarding the criteria used for choosing which bids are successful.
“It’s not really clear how the new Labour government is triaging need and targeting resource allocation,” he said.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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