The PAG Newsletter: Issue 5
?Introduction from Tom Legge
It’s fair to say that September was a month of change.
First, we saw a new Prime Minister appointed. With her came a new line up of education ministers which you can read more about below.
Then, just days later, the news broke that Her Majesty, the Queen had passed away. The country went into a national period of mourning as we took time to reflect on the incredible life of service that the Queen lived.
One of the many practical impacts of the Queen’s passing was the impact on the free school waves, with the launch of the DfE Free Schools Alternative Provision Wave being delayed to avoid conflicting with the period of mourning. You can find an updated timeline of all of the free school wave deadlines at the end of this issue..
As well as changes on a national level, we have also seen smaller scale change here at PAG. The final placements in the Kickstart Scheme finished, marking the end of an era which had a profound impact on PAG’s growth as an organisation, whilst many of our clients are facing their own challenges as they consider their options around merging with other trusts. You can read all this and more in this, the fifth issue of our newsletter!
Education Sector News: The new (and old) faces of education policy
by Helena Senior
A lot has changed in the last month. Following Liz Truss’ victory in the Conservative leadership election, and subsequent appointment as Prime Minister, we have a whole new line up of faces in the world of education policy (plus a few familiar faces who are sticking around!).
Liz Truss: Prime Minister
Having previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education from 2012 to 2014, she was most recently the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from September 2021.
Campaign pledges around education included improving performance in Maths and English and opening new grammar schools.
Kit Malthouse: Education Secretary (5th Education Secretary this year)
Despite having no previous experience in education, he has stated that he intends to continue the ‘revolution’ started by Michael Gove. Most of his previous experience is in relation to crime and policing; he was most recently Minister for Crime and Policing at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice.
Kelly Tolhurst: Schools and childhood Minister
Former housing minister, first elected as an MP in 2015. She has notably made comments in the past in support of selective education.
Jonathan Gullis: School standards Minister
Keen supporter of grammar schools, this is his first ministerial position after he was first elected in 2019.
Baroness Baran: Academies Minister
A familiar face, she has retained her position as academies minister, which she has held since September 2021.
Andrea Jenkyns: Skills Minister
First appointed Minister for Skills, Further and Higher Education in July this year, she has also been reappointed.
PAG News: Mergers
by Thomas Bostock
Following the release of the White Paper back in March, mergers are the talk of the day. The DfE are now not only proposing academy conversion but encouraging smaller MATs to become larger. In response, PAG’s clients are now commonly asking us about how to prepare for a merger discussion.
PAG has a proven route to guiding MATs through identifying and choosing partners to merge with, and guiding Trust Boards through thinking about and signing-off on mergers. It can be a complex job, so for now, let’s set aside finding partners. Rather, we hope that this article might give you a guide as to how to go about presenting the concept of a merger to your Trust Board.
The operational process of merging two MATs itself is analogous to the process of a conversion – and that should be unsurprising, as a conversion is just a merger with some additional organisational change work attached.
The really interesting and unique discussions in mergers come before the merger process starts, though. It’s in the negotiations and agreement between the two Trust Boards – two Trust Boards full of Trustees who, for many of them, will need to be agreeing to give up their roles and change an organisation and community they are deeply committed to.
Proposing the merger to the Trust Boards
How to get the Trust Boards to agree to merge? As with most things, success comes from being open, communicating the clearly process to all Members and Trustees, and having a real plan for what the merged trust could look like.
Typically, it’s good to get it all on paper. A good group of Trustees will ask for a comprehensive explanation of the information they need to make an informed decision regarding their future trust growth. As this is the information needed for the application to the Advisory Board, at a minimum, it should require details of:
·????????Selecting the continuing Members and Trustees from each trust
·????????The proposed governance structure for the trust
·????????The process of merger – i.e., whether one trust will join another, or whether a new trust will be created
·????????The rationale for the merger
·????????The financial policies to govern the new trust and ensure sustainability going forward.
As well as the above, it is useful to include any other items your Trust Board may want to know before making decisions on potential mergers. PAG has a list of things commonly asked for, if you’d like to chat it over.
The agreement of Trustees isn’t all, though: for completeness, we should list that before submitting that application to merge to the Advisory Board, you will also need:
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·????????A successful community consultation
·????????Proper due diligence to have been undertaken, and not raise insurmountable issues.
The ESFA will also conduct due diligence on both of the merging trusts.
Knowing what you’re agreeing to
The really key thing to emphasise to Trustees, though, is what any agreements they make actually mean. Agreeing with the details listed above does not mean agreeing to merger. Rather, it means agreeing to the next steps in the process – in this case, agreeing to go to consultation.
Mergers sometimes fall down when stakeholders are asked to make the big decisions too soon, and without fully understanding the role of their decisions within the consideration of the merger. They work when the Trust Board and CEOs agree to only commit to the next piece of work, and everyone feels that the process has been communicated to them at every step in the process. That way, everyone is happy – the CEOs get a chance to outline their visions and move the process along, and the Trust Board get a chance to genuinely scrutinise and contribute to the merger in line with their strategic vision and subject to their oversight.
To find out more about how PAG can support with trust mergers, you can get in touch with us here or email us at [email protected]
PAG Explains: Free School Interviews
A vital part of the free school application process is the interview. Whether you’re applying via the central free school waves or via local authority competition, if your free school bid is successful in the first round, (find out more about writing a successful free school bid here) you will be invited to an interview.
The free school interview is an opportunity for proposers to go into more detail on their vision and plans for the school, as well as a chance to expand on the ideas set out in your bid and really sell your proposal. If you’re successful here, then you’ll be opening a free school in no time!
To read more about what to expect from your free school interview, including ?the three most essential things to consider when preparing, click here.
Justice Sector News: Employment and the Challenging Topic of Disclosure
by Anna Fosse-Galtier
PAG recently participated in training workshops led by the organisation Unlock as part of our work in improving outcomes for individuals that found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
One of the topics crucial for individuals that have offended or that have been into custody is their criminal records, and the process of disclosing when applying for a job. The law regarding whether individuals need to disclose when applying for a job (as well as what they need to disclose, and when) is complex and regulated by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. After release from custody, individuals will go through what is called a rehabilitation period, which will last at least 1 year beyond release, and is dependent on the lengththeir initial sentence (6 months or less is likely to lead to a rehabilitation period of at least 2 years, for instance).
Therefore, it is critical for individuals leaving custody to know what they need to disclose if an employer ask them about convictions. There are a number of things to consider here, and understanding what does and does not need to be disclosed can be somewhat complex:
- Spent convictions and unspent convictions: A conviction becomes spent when the rehabilitation period has passed.
- Employer checks - basic, standard, or enhanced: Basic checks are for any type of job, and will only show unspent convictions, while standard and enhanced (appropriate for example for employers working with vulnerable people or children and young people) will also reveal spent convictions.
- Rehabilitation period: Rehabilitation periods are dependent on several factors regarding the sentence (length of time in custody, community orders, fines, restraining orders, etc). A fine, for example, remains unspent for a year after having been paid. However, things are rarely that simple: the period can be impacted by multiple convictions, or consecutive convictions, with possible drag-through periods.
Unlock’s website provides excellent information ?to help individuals understand what and when they need to disclose, including their disclosure calculator. Attending their workshop has strengthened PAG’s understanding of these issues as we continue to work in the justice sector, providing employability training to former offenders.
Beyond understanding their own criminal records and the legal requirements, PAG believes that a crucial point of employment training for individuals that have left custody is not only knowing how to disclose, but being comfortable and confident about it too. Preparing a prompt sheet, or disclosure statement, is an effective process for individuals that allows them to think back to how they came to the point of offense, what they learned from it, and what steps they have taken since. We aspire to support individuals through processes we believe are not only therapeutic, but critical when re-building self-worth and self-esteem.
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Kickstart: A Retrospective
by Amira Cidam
In February 2021, Premier Advisory Group (PAG) was approved by the DWP as a national Kickstart Gateway, focusing on schools. The ￡2 billion scheme was launched in September 2020, enabling organisations across the UK to recruit government funded 16–24-year-olds. The scheme was designed to provide work opportunities for people in receipt of Universal Credit and considered at risk of long-term unemployment. With entrance to the scheme ceasing in April 2022 the final placements are now coming to an end. The Kickstart scheme, via PAG’s gateway, has helped hundreds of young people to access valuable work experience in the education sector and in some cases, provided a direct route to full time employment??
In just over a year, PAG recruited over 300 Kickstarters in roles within education settings. In parallel, PAG delivered a highly commended employability programme, delivered by a small team which worked intensively with the individuals recruited. The programme was introduced to help support schools as well as their new staff and included a variety of support including monthly check ins, group discussions, online training and a 2-day course focused on honing the skills required to get find a job and to thrive in it.?
Reflecting on the Scheme as it comes to an end, Tom Legge, PAG’s MD had the following to say:
‘Brave is a loaded term in politics. Questions will remain around many aspects of government policy during the pandemic. PAG has always focused on outcomes and in this regard Kickstart was an unqualified success in that it provided life chances for thousands of young people. For PAG it was a brave decision to dedicate significant time and resource to establish a gateway for schools; a decision that I questioned on occasions. The doubts fell away with every placement we made. My final words are for our friends at DWP. Our National Account Manager was a credit to the Department and the civil service. I will use this retrospective to thank him and colleagues for creating something special.’ ?
?You can read the full retrospective, including feedback from our Kickstarters and Kickstart employers, here.
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Create: School News: An updated timeline
Due to the national period of mourning, the AP pre-registration deadline has been pushed back to the 24th of October. All other deadlines have remained as they were.
To find out how Create: Schools can support you with your free school bid, get in touch here.
Live Bids
For more information, you can check out the?live bids?page on our website.?
Thank you for reading Issue 5 of The PAG Newsletter. You can check out our previous issues?here.