Ofsted wrote off £3.9m on a paused IT project last year as part of total losses and write-offs reaching £4.3m. The education regulator’s annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2026, published in mid-July, recorded an impairment on an intangible software asset developed for a new scheduling and case management system.
The project was halted in 2023-24 so that resources could be redirected to fund pay rises. An independent external review later concluded that restarting it would not represent value for money, citing changes in technology and evolved business requirements. FE Week first reported the details of the write-off and the external review’s findings.
Separately, Ofsted incurred a fruitless payment of £400,000 for three months of rent and operating costs on a vacant London office. This followed a relocation under a government programme to reduce office space. FE Week also revealed the scale of this unproductive expenditure.
Taken together, the figures illustrate a pattern of bureaucratic inefficiency that persists in public bodies tasked with overseeing education. Taxpayers foot the bill while schools and teachers face continued pressure on budgets. The cumulative £4.3m in losses and write-offs stands as a concrete reminder that administrative overheads can quietly accumulate when oversight and incentives remain misaligned.
New rules for academy trusts
The Department for Education published the Academy Trust Handbook 2026 on 25 June 2025, with the latest update on 15 July 2026. It comes into effect from 1 October 2026 and introduces several measures intended to improve transparency and control.
Academy trusts will be required to publish an annual summary statement by 31 January each year outlining how funding is distributed across the trust. They must also obtain approval from the Department for Education before adopting any alternative pension scheme or communicating with staff about it. Schools Week reported the new restrictions on pensions alongside the funding disclosure requirement.
