Most academy trusts taking part in a government programme to improve the management of their estates are not using Department for Education guidance designed to help them, a government report has found.
The DfE report also found that almost 80 per cent of trusts involved had insufficient building condition data, which hampered their ability to develop an effective asset management plan.
The Capital Advisers Programme (CAP) was launched as a pilot in 2021, aimed at helping trusts to make more efficient spending decisions, improve building safety and improve management of school estates.
The scheme was extended last year and has so far seen advisers work with 70 academy trusts.
Today, the DfE has published an evaluation of the impact of the work. It says the programme has received positive feedback from almost all academy trusts involved and it is now set to be expanded.
Here are five key findings from the evaluation:
1. Half of trusts not compliant on building surveys
The report says that more than three-quarters of the 20 trusts visited by advisers as part of the pilot phase of the project were recommended to commission condition surveys across their estate.
It noted that, when these trusts were revisited, just under half of these academy trusts remained “non-compliant”.
The report also notes that, during the revisits, advisers found that some progress had been made across all the recommendations made by DfE advisers, but most academy trusts (18) had yet to undertake suitability and sufficiency surveys of their estates.
2. Most trusts were not using DfE guidance
The evaluation also says that less than half of the 50 trusts involved in part one of the programme - which came after the pilot - were using the government’s guidance on good estate management for schools (GEMS).
The evaluation found that 43 (85 per cent) of the participating 50 academy trusts were aware of the GEMS guidance.
However, just 22 (44 per cent) academy trusts stated that they were actively using GEMS guidance or had similar processes in place.
The report adds that academy trusts which use GEMS guidance were in receipt of fewer recommendations for improvements from the DfE’s advisers.
3. Producing green plans a ‘challenge’ for trusts
Academy trusts warn that producing decarbonisation and energy reduction strategies is a challenge because of limited support, resources and expertise, according to the report.
The report says there are a high number of recommendations made for trusts around energy costs and utility improvement plans.
It adds that this indicates academy trusts will need to prioritise setting out clear decarbonisation and energy reduction strategies. But academy trusts within the programme told the DfE this was a challenge because of “limited support, resources, and expertise”.
However, the report also says that 12 trusts believe they will be able to save £600,000 on energy savings as a result of CAP advice.
Of the 50 participating academy trusts, 40 are expected to be able to reduce their energy usage and save money as a result of CAP recommendations.
However, only a small sample of 12 trusts provided actual estimates of financial savings.
4. Nearly 8 in 10 trusts had insufficient data
Almost 80 per cent of academy trusts in the programme had insufficient building condition data, the DfE report warns.
This finding relates to the trusts involved in part one of the programme.
It adds that this negatively impacts trusts’ abilities to develop an effective asset management plan, because they face a lack of accurate and up-to-date data that sets out key priorities across the estate.
5. DfE’s most common recommendations
The report also provides a breakdown of the most common areas covered in recommendations for improvements to the 50 trusts involved in part one of the scheme:
- Suitability and sufficiency surveys - 49 recommendations
- Energy and utility improvement plans - 45 recommendations
- Building condition data - 39 recommendations
- Asset management - 39 recommendations
The CAP programme was set up in 2021 and delivered the pilot project involving 20 trusts from March 2021 to July 2021.
Following the initial visits, all 20 pilot academy trusts were revisited by a capital adviser from September 2022 to November 2022.
Part one of the CAP project started in September 2022 working with 50 trusts, including both single-academy trusts and multi-academy trusts with “high condition need estates”. In a new phase, the programme is now going to be extended to another 70 trusts.
