Biggest academy chain in the country has financial warning lifted

CREDIT: This story was first seen in Tes
Largest academy chain in the country, Academies Enterprise Trust, has financial notice to improve lifted three years after it was imposed, Tes reports.
The largest multi-academy trust in the country has had its financial notice to improve lifted by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
In a letter to the Academies Enterprise Trust, the ESFA said it had lifted the notice because of the chain’s “enhanced financial controls and improved governance”.
AET has 66 schools across the country. It was issued with the financial notice to improve in October 2014 because of “significant concerns” about the “volatility” of its financial projections and ability “to secure finances across the group”. The notice also referred to “concerns about the financial management and governance of the trust including the oversight of financial management by the accounting officer and the directors”.
The notice required AET to obtain sign-off from the agency before making important financial decisions. It also threatened the trust with termination of its funding agreement if it did not comply with the notice.
In a letter sent to AET yesterday and published this afternoon, Mike Pettifer, acting director for academies and maintained schools at the ESFA, says: “Further to our close monitoring of the trust’s progress, which includes enhanced financial controls and improved governance, I am pleased to inform you that I am satisfied that the FNtl conditions have been met.
“As a result, the FNtl will be lifted with effect from the date of this letter.”
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