Witnesses facing the Education Select Committee at 9.30 tomorrow morning (Wednesday 3 September) include Prospects Academies Trust and the Harris Federation - below are some questions for Harris Federation.
Prospect is interesting because of its decision to fold in May after being told it could no longer expand (BBC).
But the Harris Federation chief executive, Sir Daniel Moynihan, could provide useful insight into how a healthy multi-academy trust (MAT) manages the movement of cash between schools - some of which may have large surpluses while others cope with deficits.
According to its latest accounts (2012/13) Harris Federation has three academies in deficit (page 36 note 20) - one of them Harris Academy Bromley which joined the federation in 2011 has seen its deficit grow from £35k to £50k. Over the same period the central service fee charged by Harris Federation has increased from £189k to £194k (although the percentage of income charged has fallen from 3.6% to 3.3%) - note 12 page 31.
At the same time some of its academies have surpluses of over £1 million and it has a £1.25 million fund called the 'collective benefit fund'.
The Academies Accounts Direction asked MATs to explain why any academies are in deficit. I couldn't spot these details in the Harris accounts - it might be interesting to ask what these are.
Also, what sort of financial support Harris can offer its struggling schools - does it lend money for example? And whether it has to negotiate this with other schools in the trust? And whether sharing resources might be a factor in a wealthy school choosing which MAT to join (ie could they avoid those that provide more financial support to struggling schools?)
Does Harris Federation include academies that have scope to over-predict their pupil numbers by 10% and still keep the income? Does Harris Federation manage how academies use this extra flexibility?
How big a problem does he think increases in pension costs will be for some MATs?
Other larger MATs with schools in deficit can be seen here: http://newschoolfinance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/have-multi-academy-trust-accounts.html
Also Sir David Carter provided answered New School Finance questions on central service charges and how to handle deficits after he appeared as a witness in front of the education select committee.
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