Government ignored warnings for years about crumbling schools

Hundreds of students across England face huge disruption at the start of the new academic year as the Government advised schools to immediately close buildings with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) for safety reasons.

While building maintenance is the duty of councils and academy trusts, the Department for Education said new RAAC cases have confidence that school and college buildings with confirmed RAAC should remain open without mitigations in place.

As a result, following careful analysis of new cases, the department is taking the precautionary and proactive step to change its approach to RAAC in education settings, including schools. This decision has been made with an abundance of caution and to prioritise safety of children, pupils, and staff ahead of the start of the new term, it said.

However, the Government is facing growing pressure for failing to act on previous warnings. Indeed, in June, the National Audit Office released a highly critical report on the safety issues facing many schools around the country.

Now, following the Government’s announcement about the dangerous condition of England’s school estate, RIBA President Simon Allford pointed to warnings he made earlier this year and has urged the Government to seize this opportunity to invest in good design.

“All young people and staff deserve to learn and work without fearing for their safety,” he said. “We have repeatedly raised concerns about the dangerous state of some school buildings – and the Government has failed to fund desperately needed repairs.

“It’s shocking to see this advice issued, just days before schools are due to reopen.

“The Government must now make it an immediate priority to identify the extent of remediations necessary and fund them without delay.”

Cllr Kevin Bentley, Senior Vice-Chairman of the Local Government Association, said leaving this announcement until near the end of the summer holidays, rather than at the beginning, has left schools and councils with very little time to make urgent rearrangements and minimise disruption to classroom learning.

“The LGA has been warning of the risk from RAAC in schools since 2018,” he explained “The Government should urgently establish a taskforce, including with the LGA and councils to ensure the safety of both pupils and staff in the long term.

“Councils will be supporting schools in their areas who have had to close affected buildings, including by providing alternative spaces. The Government should also provide councils with the necessary funding and technical expertise to repair or replace those buildings with RAAC.

“The Government also needs to provide councils with financial support where they are supporting other schools, such as academies and faith schools, which have had to close buildings due to the presence of RAAC.

“This includes our call for a single, local funding pot to replace the existing fragmented system for school capital projects and for this to sit with councils, who should have the power to determine how and where this is best spent in their local areas.”

“Councils will now work fast to ensure children’s education is disrupted as little as possible.”

The government admitted it has been aware of RAAC in public sector buildings since 1994. In 2018, the Department for Education published guidance for schools about the need to have adequate contingencies in place for the eventuality that RAAC-affected buildings need to be vacated at short notice.

Officials from the department have also contacted responsible bodies directly to remind them of the need to ensure that these plans are in place. The small proportion of schools that are impacted are being contacted directly by a Department for Education case worker and full support will be provided. The department will continue to work with all education settings to identify RAAC and provide support where it is confirmed to be present.

Parents will be contacted by their school if pupils are moving to a temporary location while remediation works are being carried out.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said: “Nothing is more important than making sure children and staff are safe in schools and colleges, which is why we are acting on new evidence about RAAC now, ahead of the start of term.

“We must take a cautious approach because that is the right thing to do for both pupils and staff.

“The plan we have set out will minimise the impact on pupil learning and provide schools with the right funding and support they need to put mitigations in place to deal with RAAC.”