Council calls for police inquiry over WCAT finances

Councillors called for "democratic accountability to be restored" into the education system

Councillors have called for a police investigation into the financial running of a collapsed academy chain.

Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) announced in September it was giving up its 21 schools because it could not rapidly improve them.

During a Wakefield Council meeting it was claimed the trust moved millions of pounds of school reserves into its centralised accounts prior to collapse.

Leader Peter Box said he would be talking to police about his concerns.

The meeting of the full council heard how three schools in the district, which were run by the trust, face losing a total of £1.5m.

Councillors said Hemsworth Arts and Community Academy could lose £436,000 of its reserves while Wakefield City Academy could lose up to £800,000 and Heath View primary school, £300,000.

Hemsworth Arts and Community Academy is one of eight schools in Wakefield which were run by WCAT

A motion, approved at the meeting, is now calling for the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure "full restitution" of money transferred from schools into the trust's accounts.

Councillors also agreed the trust should not dissolve until its affairs had been fully investigated and the results made public.

The authority also called for the DfE to "accept its responsibilities" and put financial and educational expertise into the trust in the meantime.

Last month the government said it had identified eight preferred trusts to take over WCAT's 14 primary and seven secondary establishments.

The trust ran schools across West, South and East Yorkshire, providing education to about 8,500 children.

It previously said it was working with everyone concerned to ensure the transition to new sponsors was "as seamless as possible".

In a statement, the DfE said a "failing academy trust must never profit from the re-brokerage of its schools".

It said it would agree with incoming trusts appropriate resources to fund improvement plans for all the schools so no pupil was disadvantaged.

Affected academies

West Yorkshire: Barkerend Academy, Bell Lane Academy, Havercroft Academy, Heathview Academy, Hemsworth Arts and Community Academy, High Crags Academy, Thornbury Academy, Wakefield Community Academy, Kinsley Academy, Morley Place Academy, The Freeston Academy, West End Academy.

South Yorkshire: Balby Carr Academy, Brookfield Academy, Carr Lodge Academy, Mexborough Academy, Montagu Academy, Waverley Academy, Willow Academy, Yewlands Academy.

East Yorkshire: Goole High School Academy.