Academy trust accused of making false claims for government grants

Bright Tribe Trust allegedly received money for building work, lighting upgrades and fire safety improvements that were either not finished or never done

The trust runs tens schools in England (iStock)

An academy trust has been accused of making false claims to obtain government grants.

Bright Tribe Trust, which runs tens schools in England, allegedly received public money for building work, lighting upgrades and fire safety improvements that were either left unfinished or not done at all. The trust has denied the allegations.

The trust was apparently given £566,000 to demolish and rebuild unstable walls in the sports centre at Colchester Academy but instead of using the money to do this, it is claimed they carried out a cheap repairs using metal braces.

While the organisation received more than half a million pounds from the government the repair actually cost £60,000, according to an investigation conducted by BBC Panorama.

It is also alleged the Bright Tribe failed to fire-stop a ceiling void and install more than 100 new fire doors in another government-funded project at the sports centre.

The trust claimed £255,000 of funding, despite being warned by school staff the work had not been completed and the building was unsafe, the programme said.

“The void above the ceiling has never been completed and is a fire hazard as it is completely open. If there is a fire this will spread throughout the building,” school staff said in an email to the trust.

Bright Tribe also made false claims for grants for The Whitehaven Academy in Cumbria, where they received £320,000 for energy efficient lighting and £202,000 to upgrade boilers, BBC Panorama alleged.

The programme claimed less than one third of the lights were installed and instead of purchasing new boilers, the trust moved some old boilers from a disused part of the school.

An independent engineer, who inspected the school, concluded the work carried out should have cost far less than was claimed from the government.

Local Conservative MP Trudy Harrison describes the allegations as shocking and said she had no choice but to speak out.

“Lights haven’t been fitted, work hasn’t been carried out. We need some common sense applied to this. I am a Conservative MP and this is our party policy, but I am speaking out because it is wrong,” Ms Harrison said.

The government was warned about problems at Bright Tribe in 2015. It investigated and found serious failings, but instead of imposing financial sanctions it gave the trust an additional £1m grant the same year.

The cash was to set up a Northern Hub for academies in the North East of England, but last December Bright Tribe announced it was pulling out of the project. The million pounds has still not been repaid.

When the government asked the trust to account for the million pound grant, it claimed the vast majority had already been spent on salaries. Bright Tribe provided a list of staff who it said had worked on the project.

Panorama obtained the list and spoke to people whose salaries had been claimed against the government grant. Several of these individuals said they had never worked on the Northern Hub project.

Northumberland County Council, which runs schools in the Northern Hub area, has been trying to get back some of the public money.

Bright Tribe was set up by businessman Michael Dwan. His companies have been paid £8m for services by Bright Tribe and another trust he set up called the Adventure Learning Academy Trust. It runs five schools in Cornwall.

He says he has donated close to £2.4m to the trusts and that all the work carried out by his companies was done at cost or less.

“The cost of providing the eight million pounds in work and services was ten and a half million pounds. So actually we made a loss. I received some revenue, but I made a loss. And throughout the whole period I never, ever, made any profit. I made a substantial loss,” Mr Dawn said.

He insisted he did not have control over the trusts because he was never a trustee: “I am not in control of the trusts and never have been. I am a very, very interested observer. I have never had any authority, never any decision making power and no vote.”

The grants provided for the work at the Colchester and Whitehaven academies were apparently based on estimates provided by one of Mr Dwan’s companies, Blue Support Services.

Blue Support then gave the contracts to a company owned by a close associate of Mr Dwan, which then sub-contracted the work straight back to Blue Support Services.

Mr Dwan told Panorama that all of the grant money had been spent at the schools and that his companies had made a loss on the work.

Academies minister Lord Agnew said academies have to provide more financial information than other schools and that more than 95 per cent of trusts had no issues.

“We take the use of public money very seriously and will not tolerate those who try to exploit the system for personal gain,” he said.

“But I am clear that Bright Tribe Trust is not representative of all academies, and more than half a million children are now in good or outstanding academies that were typically previously underperforming schools thanks to innovative trusts across the country.”

Mr Dwan’s lawyers said the allegations about the Northern Hub are untrue and that a full government audit has been completed and no issues have been raised with Mr Dwan. They said “each and every allegation raised by the BBC” is completely denied.

New trustees were appointed at Bright Tribe two months ago and have immediately commissioned independent investigations into all aspects of the trust.

They said if any rules had been breached, “swift action” would be taken.

A spokesperson for the Trusts said: "“They are undertaking extensive work, including having immediately commissioned independent investigations, to look at a number of areas including funding, procurement processes and the sharing of information to ensure value for money, transparency, good governance and oversight.

“This will mean comprehensive understanding and transparency of all aspects of the Trusts, including past activities.

"Health and safety is an ongoing key focus for the Trust and the new leadership has drawn up a clear set of actions so that these matters are addressed as a top priority.

"If any rules have been breached, then swift action will be taken, with the Department for Education and the Education and Skills Funding Agency kept fully appraised.

"The Trusts' leadership is committed to ensuring that students at all academies within the Trusts receive the best possible educational experience, with Principals and teachers fully supported to achieve this."

Full details of the investigation will air on 10 September on BBC Panorama: Profits before pupils? The Academies Scandal