Clash over policy to charge Shropshire schools for academy switch

Shropshire Council agreed to pass the policy, which is designed to recoup the costs of the work undertaken by its staff, at the authority's cabinet meeting yesterday.

However, Council Leader Malcolm Pate took issue with criticism from Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, who said the authority is "grabbing" money from schools.

Councillor Evans said: "Schools have no choice in this. It is a policy set down by Government."

He added that schools were being given £25,000 to cover the costs of switching to academy status, but that the council was taking a share.

Councillor Evans said: "Shropshire Council is just grabbing a portion of it.

"We are just taking money away from schools and away from education."

Responding to the claim Councillor Pate said: "I do not like the comments on 'grabbing' or 'taking'.

"If you read the report you will see it is all about the costs we are recovering. I think 'grabbing' is quite political."

Councillor Hannah Fraser, who represents Shrewsbury's Abbey ward, urged the council to campaign against the Government's policy that schools must become academies.

She said: "It is an ill-thought out policy, there is no evidence to support it and there is growing evidence that academies do not have better outcomes for children."

The Department of Education, which actively encourages academies, has ruled that councils should "support schools" and that no fee should be charged. The report councillors approved said Government plans mean the authority will be facing a significant increase in the number of schools switching to academy status.

It states: "If the Government policy objective remains in place for all maintained schools to have an Academy Order in place by the end of 2021/22, this would require the council to manage, on average, around 24 conversions a year through to 2021/22, which is significantly more than has been the case to date."

The report also concluded that it is no longer sustainable for the council to bear the costs of work it undertakes as part of the conversion process.

It states: "In the last five years, up to September 1, 2016, 27 academy conversions have been processed in Shropshire.

"However, with the combination of reduced local authority funding and the anticipated increasing numbers of academy conversions, the approach of absorbing the costs of this work is no longer sustainable.

"There is a great deal of officer time involved in ensuring that each transfer is completed effectively and within the required time-frame."