By Gavin Mackintosh-
Six British Councils wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds to an illegal school for children with complex needs and mental health problems.
The huge sums of money evidence huge gaps in the level of due diligence taken by many councils when spending government money. All British Councils are the local arm of the government and ought to be able to take the necessary checks to stay on the side of the law. It can’t be that difficult to check whether a school is registered or not.
Councils are not expected to dish out so much money to a school without confirming from the Department Of Education that the schools meet the government’s criteria for such support. The failure of six councils to meet the necessary requirement is appalling. It is not farfetched to imagine the possibility that some of those from the councils involved may have had some hidden benefit or agenda connected with their careless actions.
Three individuals have been convicted of running an illegal school at Freiston Hall, in Lincolnshire following an investigation which originally began in September 2017, following a tip off.
The unregistered school for looked after children give first aid training to staff. The trio were given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and £20 victim surcharge after pleading guilty at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court last week
The schools that take care of complex physical and mental health needs had managed to deceive a number of British councils about their legitimacy, but they presided over dodgy training processes and were ill equipped to manage the children under their care.
Councils were charged £1,200 a week for each child’s education, meaning the schools were illegally raking in serious money.
WONDER
It remains a wonder how the councils believed the schools had been registered and were competent to carry out the functions they claimed. Patricia Hodgkinson, Dr Albert Okoye and Clement Earle pleaded guilty to running an unregistered independent school at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court last week. They have been ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
It’s the third prosecution of its kind following an investigation by Ofsted’s unregistered schools taskforce.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector, said: “This case should also serve as a warning to local authorities. Decisions about placements must be made with due diligence. All local authorities should be carrying out the necessary checks to make certain that schools are registered with the Department for Education.”
She said people running the school were receiving “large amounts of public money from local authorities, which were paying for exceptionally vulnerable children to be educated in an unregistered, unsafe school”.
Children lived on site at the registered children’s home while receiving all their education at an on-site unregistered school. Ofsted inspectors found nine looked after children attending full time. Several of these had an EHC plan.
Ofsted condemned the school for failing to carry out out necessary staff suitability checks, give first aid training to staff, and to supervise pupils adequately. During a final inspection, inspectors found unsupervised children with staff struggling to keep “reasonable order and calm”.
Spielman added: “Registration is so important. Schools operating beneath the radar are not subject to regular inspection, so we cannot be assured that they are safe or providing good quality education. We want to send a clear message to those who continue to run unregistered schools, despite being warned not to. You will face justice.”
Since its illegal schools taskforce was set up more than three years ago, Ofsted has inspected almost 260 suspected unregistered institutions and issued warning notices to 71. While the majority have either closed, registered or changed how they operate, eight cases remain under investigation.