{"id":686460,"date":"2026-01-10T09:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686460\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T09:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:43:16","slug":"arthur-terry-academy-trust-did-no-internal-audit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686460\/","title":{"rendered":"Arthur Terry academy trust did no internal audit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning Partnership could receive a further \u00a31 million in emergency funding<\/p>\n

Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning Partnership could receive a further \u00a31 million in emergency funding<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

A trouble-hit academy trust has admitted it did not conduct internal financial checks as its deficit swelled to more than \u00a38 million and it received another government loan to keep it afloat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Accounts for the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership<\/a> show the 24-school MAT could also receive a further \u00a31 million in emergency funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schools Week\u00a0previously revealed<\/a> how Arthur Terry had racked up seven-figure losses after purchasing iPads as part of an initiative to provide 11,000 devices for all pupils and staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The news comes after another major trust pulled itself out of six-figure deficit and into a surplus of more than \u00a31 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deficit grows <\/p>\n

In 2024, Arthur Terry was issued<\/a> with a notice to improve by the DfE on financial grounds after being offered a \u00a31.5 million government loan and posting an almost \u00a34 million deficit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But 2024-25 accounts, published this week, show it received more \u201cdeficit funding\u201d, as it slipped to an \u00a38.4 million deficit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In all, it has been loaned \u00a33.5 million, all of which \u201chad been drawn down by the year end\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The accounts added trust chiefs had struck an agreement in principle with officials for \u201can additional \u00a31 million of repayable funding\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A trust spokesperson said it \u201chas navigated through several financial challenges over the past few years\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While it \u201caccept[s] that some are due to internal issues, it is also well recognised that the \u2026 landscape for schools over this period has caused and is causing all schools to make difficult decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Internal checks<\/p>\n

Accounts also said \u201cno financial internal audit activity took place\u201d over the year. This was \u201cdue to significant changes being implemented to financial processes, systems and platforms, alongside considerable turnover within the finance team\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An audit of \u201cchanges implemented in 2024-25 has since taken place, with an initial review undertaken during November to validate and assess the changes implemented\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Phil Reynolds, of PLR Advisory, said the checks could have helped with the deficit as procedural issues \u201ccould be slipping the net quite easily\u201d without them.<\/p>\n

\"\"Phil Reynolds<\/p>\n

\u201cAn internal audit isn\u2019t there to find financial issues. If that wasn\u2019t done this year, how can the trustees get assurance that these are being adhered to?\u201d<\/p>\n

The academy trust handbook says trusts must establish \u201ca programme of internal scrutiny \u2026 to provide independent assurance to the board that its systems, controls and risk management procedures are operating effectively\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trust stressed it \u201cobtained assurance during the year through several deployments\u201d of government school resource management advisers (SRMAs).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Its spokesperson added the MAT has \u201cworked with several external professionals over the year to ensure that financial planning is scrutinised\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deficit to surplus<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust posted a \u00a31.4 million surplus after a \u00a3180,000 deficit the year before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oliver Burwood, its chief executive, said the MAT \u2013 which runs 40 primaries and one secondary \u2013 \u201coverachieved on its budget this year\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He acknowledged the trust had been \u201coveroptimistic in terms of income\u201d predictions before shifting to a \u201ccautious\u201d approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning Partnership could receive a further \u00a31 million in emergency funding Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-686460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115870158464802444","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}