MAT used unapproved loans to cover slow EFA payments

Unauthorised loans with a value of £150,000 were taken out by Chapel Street Schools, a multi-academy trust (MAT) which runs six schools. Another loan of £85,000 was also borrowed around the time the initial loans were repaid.

NAO report raises questions about consistency over financial notices to improve

The National Audit Office's look at oversight and intervention included some points about how the Department for Education compiles a list of academy trusts about which it has financial concerns and which could be issued with financial notices to improve.

MAT gets deficit funding to turn around £800k deficit

The Royston Schools Academy Trust has been issued with a financial notice to improve - it has already received £150k of 'deficit funding' and will receive a further £650k to be repaid by August 2021.

Defrauded Academy facing sponsor change must pay £75k per month to EFA

From the Bournemouth Echo: '...fraudsters, posing as bank staff... tricked school (St Aldhelm’s Academy) finance chiefs... withdrew £1.1m... Whitehall demanding it back at the rate of around £75,000 a month.'

Ofsted targets E-Act

From the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/11/ofsted-begins-inspections-academy-chains

'Just under half of the 34 academies within the E-Act chain were inspected last week and the week before, with at least one – Hartsbrook E-Act free school in Haringey, north London – understood to have been rated inadequate.'