By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottinghamshire County Council will hire a new member of staff to clear a two-year backlog of applications from schools wanting to become academies.
There are currently 22 schools waiting in the pipeline after a surge of interest.
A £36,000-a-year project manager will now be temporarily hired by the council to oversee the conversions, which are often legally complicated.
They will liaise with the schools and trusts involved, as well as working across council departments to clear any hurdles.
The county council will also look at charging the schools involved more in order to add additional staff to the team.
Councillors admitted that the delay could be frustrating and expensive for schools stuck in the queue as the funding was approved by Cabinet on Thursday (September 19).
Councillor Sam Smith (Con), the cabinet member for education, said after the meeting: “We want to make it as quick as possible so not only the schools can benefit, but also the pupils and families.
“There are 22 schools waiting, which is quite a big queue, and we need to speed it up for them.
“We hope to get someone in post as soon as possible to speed up the conversion rate.
“We are also looking at increasing the costs we charge schools from the grant they get from the Department of Education [when they become an academy].
“This would allow us to employ more legal and property colleagues, speeding up the conversion rate.”
Schools which become academies are given more freedom over their curriculum, and receive their funding directly from the government, rather than councils.
Councillor Chris Barnfather (Con) told the meeting he had been through ‘academisation’ as a school governor.
“It’s a long a painful process. If you’re held up for many months, it becomes extremely frustrating and expensive, as you can’t put in grant funding bids open to academies,” he said.
“It’s really important we show support for schools who want to become academies.”
Deputy council leader Councillor Bruce Laughton (Con) said: “Academisation will save some small schools from closure.
“It’s important we accelerate this process – it may be their only option.”
The rising demand as well as costs and staffing issues have been blamed for the delay processing schools’ applications.
