The government has announced £400m investment to repair school and college buildings in England, but the money will only be available to academies that can demonstrate pay restraint on executive salaries.

Academies and sixth form colleges have been invited to bid for a share of the money which can be used to replace roofs, upgrade sports halls or science labs, and deal with general wear and tear in ageing school buildings.

But as schools continue to struggle to balance their budgets in the face of funding cuts, ministers are concerned that too many executives in multi-academy trusts are still paying themselves excessive salaries.

Now the government has warned that any trusts where a single executive is paid more than £150,000, or there are two employees taking home in excess of £100,000 each, will be penalised in the case of an application for building repair money, and an award will be less likely.

Read more.


Don't worry, please call us anyway to discuss your ideal job.


11/04/25Leave school phone bans to head teachers, children's commissioner says

Banning phones in schools should be a decision for head teachers and not "imposed nationally by the government", England's children's commissioner has said.

24/03/25Ex-Ofsted boss says education secretary wants 'to please unions'

The former head of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, has criticised the education secretary and accused her of giving "a great deal of time and attention" to the teaching unions. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Ms Spielman claims "effective reforms are being reversed" - referring to potential changes to academy schools' powers.

20/03/25Childcare costs fall for the first time in 15 years – but nurseries are worried

Annual nursery costs for a child under two in England have fallen for the first time in 15 years, according to the children's charity Coram. It comes as the government continues to roll out its funded childcare scheme, which will provide all eligible working parents of pre-school children, not only three and four-year-olds as currently, with 30 hours of childcare per week from September. However, some nurseries and childminders say they may have to drop out of the scheme as government funding struggles to meet rising costs, including National Insurance increases from April.

17/03/25Poorest children missing more school and further behind after Covid

The poorest children are missing more school and falling further behind classmates, research shared with the BBC suggests. According to new analysis by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) - which looked at pupil performance after the Covid-19 pandemic - children from the lowest income families are now up to 19 months behind peers by the time they are 16 years old.

13/03/25The government faces a "now or never moment" to hit its target of recruiting 6,500 new teachers in England

The government faces a "now or never moment" to hit its target of recruiting 6,500 new teachers in England by the end of its term, a new report has suggested. Analysis by the National Foundation of Educational Research (NFER) says unfilled vacancies are at a record high and recruitment into teacher training remains "persistently low." All but five secondary subjects missed this year's recruitment targets for new trainee teachers, which are set by the Department for Education (DfE).