Education Estates Strategy: Legal comment

The UK Government has announced a new 10-year plan to overhaul school and college facilities with an additional £1bn investment. The Education Estates Strategy aims to address deteriorating buildings and improve inclusivity by design.

It includes the £700m Renewal and Retrofit Programme, £300m investment for digital infrastructure, and a commitment to £38bn in capital investment from 2025 to 2029. The Department for Education said this would provide modern, resilient and inclusive learning environments for all children and young people.

Peter Jackson, Principal Associate in the education team at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: “Schools, trusts and colleges will welcome a long-term plan for renewing and enhancing the education estate given that many buildings are in perilous condition.

“The reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis three years ago was felt across the sector to be just the tip of the iceberg after many years of trying to draw attention to the outdated and potentially dangerous buildings on school sites.

“Not enough has been done since then, with three-quarters (76%) of respondents to our School Leaders Survey telling us last summer they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with government policy on capital funding and estates.

“They will hope the Education Estates Strategy therefore provides a turning point and a recognition of the role that physical environments play in delivering positive learning and life outcomes for children, as well as the hidden costs of poor building conditions on staff morale and retention.

“The strategy must take into account, however, a dwindling school population. The Institute for Fiscal Studies projects a 7% drop or 800,000 children in the UK between 2025 and 2035, so any plan should consider repurposing or rationalising space – while also providing appropriate learning spaces for pupils to learn skills needed for future jobs using tools like AI.

“As school rolls fall, it may be that space becomes available and if the strategy refers to the provision of ‘inclusion bases’ in secondary schools, that this space could be repurposed. However, it’s not clear what this will mean in practice: will it mean schools providing break-out spaces for their own pupils? Or will schools be expected to share their sites with separate provisions, such as special schools or pupil referral units?

“Meanwhile, the figures involved in this strategy – particularly the £700m Renewal and Retrofit Programme – aren’t so impressive when divided by about 21,500 schools in England, or the 24,000 school buildings in England identified by the National Audit Office in 2023 as beyond their initial estimated design life. The question is it enough to make a meaningful difference?

“While the government seems to intend to fund the investment entirely from general taxation – or at least no indication is given otherwise – it may wish to consider in future how to leverage private finance to accelerate this programme in a similar manner to the intended public-private partnerships planned to be used for developing neighbourhood health centres as part of its 10-Year Health Plan.”