The Department carries out due diligence and other checks on applicants to establish Free Schools in order to ensure that only suitable people are involved in the Free Schools programme. These checks are crucial to protecting the integrity of the programme.
Some applicants are already well-known to the Department and have a proven track record in setting up new publicly-funded independent schools. In such cases, it is unnecessary for the Department to conduct further due diligence checks to establish their suitability to set up a Free School.
Therefore, in relation to such applicants for new Free Schools, the Department will not require them to submit Section I: Suitability and declaration forms. The applicants covered by this arrangement are those where the following conditions are met:
- the Department has an existing relationship with the applicant;
- the applicant has a proven track record in setting up and running sponsored Academies; and
- these sponsored Academies form part of an existing Multi-Academy Trust.
This will mainly affect a small number of chains who already work with the Department and are already established Academy sponsors.
If you are unsure whether this applies to you please use the contact email below.
Contact details
Free school applications - due dilligence
Email: due.diligence@education.gsi.gov.uk
