NI Schools’ delegated budgets included £77 million for estate-related funding, but only £5 million was actually spent on maintenance

The report notes this discrepancy but doesn’t fully explain where the £72 million went. Here’s what we know from the report specifically (from paragraph 1.17):

“These figures do not include estate related funding paid directly to schools, via their delegated budget. The premises factor within the common funding scheme allocated total funding of more than £66.5 million across all schools in 2023-24. A further amount of £10.3 million was allocated to Voluntary Grammar (VG) and Grant-Maintained Integrated (GMI) schools via the Landlord Maintenance Factor. This funding is fully delegated to the Boards of Governors, who are responsible for the planning and monitoring of expenditure. As such, funding allocated under these factors is not ring-fenced for use on maintenance.”

The key point here is that this money:

1. Goes directly to schools
2. Is not ring-fenced specifically for maintenance
3. Can be spent at the discretion of school Boards of Governors
4. Only £5.2 million was recorded as maintenance expenditure in 2022-23

This appears to be a significant control weakness that the audit office has identified – while £76.8 million was allocated for premises/maintenance purposes, the schools appear to have used most of this money for other purposes since it wasn’t ring-fenced. However, the report doesn’t detail where exactly the remaining £72 million was spent.

This could be seen as another damning finding – that money intended for building maintenance is being diverted to other purposes, likely due to general funding pressures on schools, while the maintenance backlog grows to £450 million. The fact that the Department “did not provide a figure to show how much of the 2023-24 allocation (£76.8 million) was recorded as maintenance expenditure” suggests a concerning lack of transparency and oversight of this spending.

This would be a good area for follow-up questions:

1. What exactly happened to the other £72 million?
2. Why isn’t this funding ring-fenced if it’s meant for maintenance?
3. What oversight exists of how schools spend this money?
4. Why isn’t the Department tracking and reporting on this spending more closely?

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