Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to provide financial assistance to state boarding schools who have lost boarding fees to support them through the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Many boarding schools have been impacted by loss of income from a range of sources including boarding fees, catering and sports facilities. While these schools have, in some cases, been able to benefit from schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, in line with guidance on the GOV.UK website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care), many have still been left facing financial challenges.

The Department continues its work to monitor and support the financial health of the whole education sector and the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is a crucial part of that.

The Department supports academy trusts facing financial difficulties through the existing framework for financial support (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-support-for-academy-trusts-in-financial-difficulty), which enables academies to approach the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for additional financial support.

A temporary measure has also been agreed that enables academy trusts to apply to the ESFA to use their general unrestricted reserves to support boarding provision in response to these circumstances.

In the case of maintained schools, schools should discuss with their local authority to make sure their use of unrestricted reserves complies with the local authority’s accounting requirements.