About this guidance

This is statutory guidance given by the Department for Education, on behalf of the Secretary of State, relating to maintained schools causing concern.

Section 72 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a statutory duty on all local authorities in England, in exercising their functions in respect of schools causing concern as set out in Part 4 of the 2006 Act, to have regard to any guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State. Local authorities must have regard to this guidance.

Expiry/Review Date

This guidance will be kept under review and updated as necessary.

What legislation does this guidance relate to?

  • School Standards and Framework Act 1998
  • Education and Inspections Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”)
  • Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act, 2009 (ASCL Act) (amended the 2006 Act) 
  • The School Governance (Transition from an Interim Executive Board)(England) Regulations 2010 (Transition Regulations)
  • Academies Act 2010
  • Education Act 2011 (amended the 2006 Act) 

Who is this guidance for?

  • Local authorities, who must have regard to it
  • Other persons or bodies who may find it useful.

Key points

  • This guidance provides information on the legislative requirements for intervening in schools causing concern. All those using this guidance, particularly local authorities, who must have regard to it, should also be familiar with the actual wording of the legislation to which this guidance relates, in particular Part 4 of, and Schedule 6 to, the 2006 Act, but also the Academies Act 2010.  This legislation has been amended by several, subsequent acts, including recent changes made by the Education Act 2011.
  • A school will be “eligible for intervention” under the 2006 Act if it has not complied with a warning notice and the local authority have also given the school written notice of their intention to exercise their intervention powers under Part 4 of the 2006 Act or where it has been judged by Ofsted to require significant improvement (a “serious weaknesses” judgment under the September 2012 Ofsted framework or “special measures”).
  • Where schools are eligible for intervention, local authorities may exercise their powers to: require the governing body to enter into specified arrangements with a view to improving the performance of the school; appoint additional governors; suspend the delegated budget of the school; appoint an Interim Executive Board.   
  • Where schools are eligible for intervention the Secretary of State has the power to appoint additional governors; appoint an Interim Executive Board, or direct the local authority to close a school. The Secretary of State also has the power under the Academies Act 2010 to make an academy order, subject in certain cases to consultation (see further detail in section 4 of this guidance). 
  • For the purposes of this guidance “schools causing concern” are not just those schools “eligible for intervention” within the meaning of Part 4 of the 2006 Act (see definition above), but are also those about which the local authority and/or the Secretary of State have other serious concerns which need tackling, such as those consistently below the floor standards, those where there has been a serious drop in performance or where the performance is not meeting the expected standards of comparable schools.  These are the types of situations where the local authority may want to consider giving those schools a warning notice, and then a further notice that they propose to use their intervention powers under the 2006 Act, making the school eligible for intervention and subject to the intervention powers of the local authority and/or the Secretary of State.