NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE
CORPORATE DIRECTOR MEETING WITH EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
4 March 2025
ACADEMY CONVERSION FEES
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1. To seek Executive Member approval for the proposed increase in the Academy conversion charge for the 2025/26 financial year in accordance with the Corporate fees and charges policy
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 The Council applies a standard charge for each academy conversion. This charge is common within many other Local Authorities (LA’s) and recognises the significant input of officer time required to undertake work in relation to academy conversions and the absence of any specific additional funding stream to support this activity within LAs.
2.2. The charge was set at £6,620 for the 2024/25 academic year, which was a 6% increase on the figure charged in the previous financial year. The charge only applies to voluntary convertors in accordance with legislative requirements.
2.3 For context regarding the volume of cases there were three voluntary conversions in 2021/22, ten cases in 2022/23, six during 2023/24 and there is expected to be a total of sixteen during 2024/25.
2.4 The charge recoups a sum for the input from various departments across the Council to facilitate the academy conversion process. This charge is levied from Academy Trusts. The charge, and allocation of funds within the organisation, is administered within the Strategic Planning and Finance teams in the Children and Young People’s Service (CYPS), in accordance with an agreed apportionment schedule. Responsibility for determining the appropriate rate of uplift has been assigned to CYPS.
2.5 The origin of the charging rate in 2018 was benchmarked using knowledge of the amounts being charged by other Local Authorities, together with an estimation of the amount of time each internal service would spend on a ‘typical‘ conversion.
2.6 Although the Government has now withdrawn the Academy Conversion Support Grant that was paid to schools to facilitate the academy conversion process it is recommended that the Council should continue to levy this charge to reflect the costs that are incurred in administering academy conversions.
2.7 Benchmarking activity has been undertaken with other Local Authorities to determine their approach on this issue. The information provided to date has indicated that other local authorities are continuing to levy a charge and that, typically, that charge is between £5,000 and £10,000.
3. CORPORATE POLICY BACKGROUND
3.1. The main expectations of the Corporate fees and charges policy are as follows :-
• Unless limited by Statute, fees and charges must be uplifted by the relevant inflation that the fees and charges relate to (finance would calculate the inflation rate specific to the relevant cost base)
• There must be a review of opportunities to introduce new fees and charges
• Fees and charges must be at full cost recovery including corporate and departmental overheads (unless limited by Statute as above)
• If it is not possible to charge/ uplift to a minimum of full cost recovery, then the service should be discontinued
• There must be clear benchmarking of fees and charges against other local authorities/ providers/ competitors that evidences why the recommended fees and charges are proposed
4.0 PROPOSED INCREASE FOR THE 2025/26 FINANCIAL YEAR
4.1 The assessment of officers is that it would be appropriate to apply a significant increase to the charge to reflect additional officer workload arising from increasing complexities associated with academy conversions. Specifically, additional workload has been experienced by officers within CYPS and the Legal Service in investigating and resolving issues with the relevant school sites.
4.2 Although the Government has withdrawn the Academy Conversion Support Grant which was previously paid to schools to facilitate the academy conversion process the Council will continue to incur costs in the administration of academy conversions and officers cannot see any substantive grounds as to why the Council would either withdraw the charge or not increase it to recover the costs incurred in administering the conversion process.
4.3 As stated above the current charge is £6,620. It is proposed to increase this charge to £7,600. The charge would be applicable in cases where an academy order is issued from 1 April 2025 onwards. Schools will be notified in writing once the new charge is agreed.
5.0 RECOMMENDATION
5.1. The Executive Member for Education, Learning and Skills is asked to agree that the academy conversion charge should be uplifted to £7,600 for the financial year 2025/26
Stuart Carlton
CORPORATE DIRECTOR – CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE.
Report prepared by Jon Holden, Head of Strategic Planning
Action Agreed ……………………………………………..Executive Member
Date:
Action Requested ……………………………………………..Corporate Director
Date: