The emergency school improvement fund

The emergency school improvement fund offers support to schools facing unexpected or imminent failure. It can be used to secure improvements in areas such as leadership, governance, safeguarding, human resources and finance

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on gov.uk

The emergency school improvement fund (ESIF) is available to:

• primary schools;
• secondary schools;
• middle schools;
• all-through schools;
• alternative provision and special academies;
• local authority-maintained schools;
• pupil referral units.

It is intended to address:

• unexpected or imminent failure;
• unexpected withdrawal of planned or existing support addressing failure or imminent failure;
• failure where other long-term support options are not feasible.

Eligible schools can receive school improvement support from a multi-academy trust (MAT). The MAT must have support from a local authority or regional director. MATs can apply to provide short-term support while a longer-term sustainable solution is developed, for example, through the support of a new academy sponsor. MATs can also apply to provide longer-term whole school support where no other sustainable solution can be found to address the school failure.

Eligibility

MATs can make an application to support a school but that cannot apply for a school within their trust. Schools eligible for ESIF:

• Local authority-maintained schools rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, or as ‘not making necessary improvements’, where there is strong evidence that immediate support is necessary.
• Academies rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, or as ‘not making necessary improvements’, where there is strong evidence that immediate support is necessary.
• Non-maintained special schools rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted which have committed to the academy conversion process, where there is strong evidence that immediate support is necessary before conversion.
• Maintained schools or academies which were previously rated as ‘outstanding’ but now require improvement, where there is strong evidence that immediate support is necessary.
• Maintained schools and academies not in receipt of support, where strong local intelligence shows the school is in imminent danger of being judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted if school improvement is not put in place quickly.

Applications 

A MAT must make an application to support an eligible school; applications must have the support of either the relevant regional director or local authority before they are submitted to DfE. MATs can email [email protected] to request an application form and submit approved applications. In some cases, a regional director may identify eligible schools that need ESIF support.

Funding

A grant offer letter will be issued to successful applicants confirming the details of their proposal, funding allocation, terms and conditions and funding payments will be made to a verified trust bank account. 

ESIF is subject to standard DfE grant funding agreement terms and conditions but additional conditions to the funding offer letter for successful applicants may be included.

Reporting and accountability

Ae applicants will need to complete termly monitoring reports for the duration of the support and proved grant assurance at the end.