Letter

Inside UBAT

Dear HIP

As a former primary school leader with over 14 years of experience in Hastings, I am deeply concerned by the decisions currently being made regarding the future of our primary schools. Both the Labour and Conservative parties seem to treat the situation as a poorly executed PR stunt. Had they consulted with primary school leaders, they would know that many within the leadership of UBAT schools do not share their view. The reality is a deeply unsettling atmosphere in schools, where staff—who have dedicated their careers to improving student outcomes—are now facing job insecurity. This is not reflected in the political party celebratory press releases.

The National Education Union (NEU) has faced its own struggles with UBAT, but this latest development undermines all their progress. Previous strike actions now seem to have been for nothing, and future negotiations with new trusts will lead to further disruption. Many staff in Hastings’ schools, who have worked tirelessly to improve students’ lives, are at risk of redundancy. Yet, political leaders and unions remain silent on these potential consequences, misinforming the public.

A critical issue is the misunderstanding surrounding central charges. While secondary schools in Hastings contribute to a central pot, the suggestion that this money funds a luxurious central team in Brighton is absurd. UBAT does not operate in Brighton; instead, its central staff largely work within schools, supporting local operations. A significant portion of secondary school funding has been redirected to help primary schools under financial strain. UBAT’s executive team failed to communicate this clearly, allowing widespread misinformation to contribute to the current crisis.

The real problem now is fragmentation. The Department for Education plans to divide Hastings schools among multiple trusts, potentially from outside the area. These trusts will have little incentive to support one another; for example, a trust taking on a secondary school will have no incentive to help a rival trust with its primary school. This could lead to school closures or redundancies, further damaging our Hastings schools.

UBAT’s original model (carried over from the Hastings Academies Trust), where secondary schools supported primary schools, was effective. However, more attention should have been paid to other trusts in the Hastings area, particularly those that should have been more inclusive, but instead moved more challenging students towards the inclusive UBAT schools.

The lack of accountability from UBAT’s trustees is also a major issue. These individuals, who are disconnected from Hastings, have failed in their oversight and are now walking away without facing any consequences.

The best solution for Hastings would be a return to a model like the original Hastings Academies Trust; one trust with leadership that understands and prioritises the community’s unique needs. This would prevent the fragmentation of schools and allow dedicated staff to continue their vital work. Simply returning to Local Authority control, as suggested by Labour / NEU, is not the answer. The schools opted to join a single trust because of the poor performance of the LA.

The writer remains in the teaching profession and has asked for anonymity.

Letter

End Game for Local Councils

Dear HIP

I read with interest your piece in HIP 268 End Game for Local Councils in which you reported that the council was to be moved, along with other councils, to a centralised ‘service’. This is happening in North Yorkshire, where the councils of outlying areas were moved centrally to Harrogate. Undoubtedly the driver for this is money. And I think your reported fears of doing this are correct, in that there will be unfair redistribution of resources. As far as I am aware, this has been borne out in this northern locale.

Harrogate is a well-to-do area of Yorkshire, as is York, and it seems that those who pay most get most. It looks to me that the areas of Scarborough and Bridlington (not well-to-do areas) do not receive as much financial support as the more well-off areas, and obviously the needs of the electorate cannot be met from such an arms-length organisation. I think your reported fears are real and as someone who lives here, I do not support it.

B Ward

Letter

Delayed Elections

Dear Editor,

The Government is cancelling local elections for over FIVE MILLION voters. They won’t have the chance to hold their councils or their councillors to account. They won’t have any say on the biggest changes to local democracy in 50 years.

The Government claims that it’s just a delay for one year, but it’s widely predicted that it will be two or three years until council reorganisation is complete.

That’s too long to go without a say.  Democracy delayed is democracy denied.

The Government should think again and voters should get to exercise their right to vote this May as planned.

Stephen Akerman

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Eight Hastings schools and six others across Sussex are to be removed from control of the University of Brighton Academies Trust (UBAT).

In a brief statement on 20 January UBAT said “Trustees have informed the Department for Education of their desire to seek to transfer the academies in the Trust to other Academy Trusts.”

It follows revelations last year that UBAT was reserving an excessively high percentage of funding money – 20% in one case – for ‘central services’. It led to schools’ staff across the academy chain taking industrial dispute with some coming out on strike.

The local schools involved are: The Hastings Academy, and the St Leonards Academy, the West St Leonards, the Baird the Silverdale and the Churchwood Primary Academies as well as the Dudley Infant Academy and Robsack Wood nursery and primary.

Hastings MP Helena Dollimore said “It has been confirmed that UBAT will no longer run our local schools. This is a victory for the young people of Hastings and Rye, and a vindication of what pupils, parents and teachers have been campaigning for.” As HIP reported just before Christmas (Issue 267), Ms Dollimore lobbied the Education Minister, Bridget Phillipson, who agreed to ending the academies’ “current financial model and to collaborating with school leaders on future budget setting to ensure we can drive high and rising standards in every school, including in Hastings”. Thus it is a moot point as to whether the government stripped UBAT of its schools or whether the trust pulled out voluntarily before it was pushed.

The news was given a mixed reception by the National Union of Education (NEU) who said “Financial mismanagement, a lack of transparency and insufficient funding of frontline services have damaged UBAT schools.” But the union also believes that the whole academy model – introduced by Tony Blair in 2000 – is unsatisfactory.

As of last year there were 9,836 academies in England – 43.5% of all schools. Many were under the control of MATs – Multi Academy Trusts. A union spokesperson said: “The NEU are concerned that this is a deeper issue that affects all children in schools run by MATs. There are ‘UBATs’ out there that haven’t yet been exposed. The NEU wants all schools to return to local authority control (‘maintained status’), and for the government to properly fund local councils … We want all UBAT schools to be returned to local authority control and for the wider school community, including all unions, to be included in the discussions about the future direction of these schools.”

It would seem unlikely that Hastings’ UBAT schools will return to local authority control – nationally it is almost unprecedented. However a majority (110 out of 174) of East Sussex County Council’s schools are ‘maintained’ and the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said recently that she was “open to considering” whether struggling academies can return to local authority control and is reviewing the process for opening new schools. The Department for Education told HIP: “We will now work closely with the Trust, schools and local authorities involved to select the strongest alternative providers for each of the schools and to ensure a smooth transition.” but they declined to elaborate.

Meanwhile the government has published its Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which would move the rules governing academies nearer to those for maintained schools including adherence to the national curriculum and a requirement for new teachers to either have or be working towards qualified teacher status.

The Government has committed to abolishing the current Academy Schools’ funding model following the intervention of local MP Helena Dollimore in the House of Commons on 9 December. 

The Labour and Cooperative Member of Parliament told the Education Minister, Catherine McKinnell, that parents, teachers and students in her constituency “were horrified to find out that the University of Brighton Academies Trust (UBAT) has been taking a whopping 20% of the Government grant meant for our local schools and education.” She went on to ask “What is the Minister doing to resolve these issues and make sure that every child in Hastings and Rye gets the best quality education?”

In response, the Education Minister, Gillian Keegan, admitted that the outcomes in some schools in Hastings were “just not good enough.” She said the Department for Education was “determined to drive up standards” and would “continue to work with the University of Brighton Academies Trust on that.” 

The Minister went on to commit the Government “to ending its current financial model and to collaborating with school leaders on future budget setting to ensure we can drive high and rising standards in every school, including in Hastings.”

The move comes after months of negotiations between the teachers’ union, the NEU, and UBAT, attempting to stave off further industrial action. On a ballot in which almost three-quarters of all union members voted back in June, 93% voted to strike, leading to a total of five days of industrial action.

The issue has been ongoing since late April, when it was disclosed UBAT had taken nearly £3 million (25.9%) of the St Leonards Academy’s funds and around £1.1 million (16.45%) from the Hastings Academy and retained the money in their central funding pool – significantly more than the 5-8% that Academy Trusts generally take.

James Ellis, the NEU’s lead representative for local schools, says, “We believe that UBAT has historically been spending huge sums of money on their central team, whilst giving inadequate funding to the schools and frontline services that directly benefit young people in Hastings. This has led to excessive workload for our members and has damaged the quality of education that we can provide for our students.”

Since strike action was suspended in September, UBAT have agreed to a complete change to their funding model and have already made many executive staffing changes, such as the chair of trustees stepping down. As a result, they have requested that the NEU allow them time to reorganise their finances and create a new long-term plan for the trust.

In a statement to HIP, Ms Dollimore said, “since being elected, I have worked to resolve problems with the University of Brighton Academy Trust, which have led to around 3000 children missing school. I share concerns about the management and finances of UBAT, and in recent weeks I have had meetings with Ministers and officials in the Department of Education to raise these issues.”

More than 10,000 schools – nearly half of the UK total – are Academies, run by 1,200 multi-academy trusts. All could potentially be affected by the Department for Education’s new funding model.

We contacted UBAT for comment but have not received a response.

Helena Dollimore, the newly elected MP for Hastings and Rye, has raised her concerns about the ongoing dispute between local members of the National Education Union (NEU) and the University of Brighton Academies Trust (UBAT), which has disrupted the education of over 3,000 pupils in four local schools. In one of her first acts as a Member of Parliament, she has written to the Minister of State for Education, Catherine McKinnell, to highlight the “urgent situation” affecting children attending the Hastings Academy, the St Leonard’s Academy, Robsack Wood Primary Academy and the Baird Primary Academy, where a series of strikes has resulted in children missing several days of schooling.

The industrial action by staff has been triggered by the amount of public funding UBAT retains for central administrative services rather than passing it on to the schools, which are having to make budget cuts as a result. Across all schools run by UBAT, the average amount of public funding retained is 13%. In the St Leonard’s Academy, however, the Trust retained roughly 20% of funding for the 2023-24 academic year. This compares to a national average of 6% for all academy trusts.

The dispute escalated in April when UBAT announced a series of job cuts at the Hastings Academy. In response, the NEU called for industrial action demanding a change in the funding model with a commitment from UBAT that school budgets would not pay for the change. When the union coordinated strike ballots across the trust schools, local members voted by over 90% to back industrial action.

There have been a number of strikes in recent weeks with teachers and support staff manning picket lines outside of schools. They have often been joined by parents who are just as angered at the impact the diversion of funds away from classrooms is having on the education of their children.

In her letter, Ms Dollimore called on the Department for Education to review the situation “to ensure that as much public funding as possible reaches local schools.” She said the “unusually high amount” of public funding being withheld from local schools by UBAT, was “leading to bigger class sizes and less support for children who need it the most, including those with special needs.”

Ms Dollimore said she was also “extremely concerned” to hear from one whistleblower that, for the 2024-25 academic year, UBAT has suggested that a portion of pupil premium funding will be retained. 

After speaking with many parents and whistleblowers working at the schools in question, Ms Dollimore said she would welcome the support of the Education Minister of State in reviewing the situation. Given that local state schools in Hastings and Rye consistently rank below national and regional averages for educational attainment, she said it was “vital” that all public education funding “is effectively used and targeted in our local schools and frontline services.”

NEU District Secretary Jenny Sutton welcomed the intervention of the local MP, saying, “We are all united in the campaign for better funding and staffing for our schools.”

A UBAT spokesperson refused to comment directly on the details of Ms Dollimore’s letter, saying only that they would welcome an opportunity to meet with her and that they remained optimistic about resolving the dispute.