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Oxfordshire schools' trust boss makes energy price warning

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The trust, which runs schools in South Oxfordshire, will see massive hikes in their electricity and gas bills if things don't change

The boss of an Oxfordshire multi-academy trust said it could be forced out of business if soaring energy costs are not addressed.

Rachael Warwick, CEO of the Ridgeway Education Trust (RET), said it will pay 525% more for gas as part of a new energy contract from next month.

She said the trust "simply cannot manage ongoing increases of nearly £1m a year" for utilities.

Conservative MP Robert Halfon said the situation is "clearly unsustainable".

Mrs Warwick said the RET, which runs Didcot Girls' School, Didcot Sixth Form, St Birinus School, also in Didcot, and Sutton Courtenay Church of England Primary School, also faces an imminent 354% hike in its electricity costs.

RET Rachael WarwickRET
Rachael Warwick said the trust faces energy price hikes of 525% for gas and 354% for electricity

She said the trust is in a good financial position with "really healthy" reserves but that they would be swallowed up within 12 months if nothing changes.

Although the trust will make "immediate changes" to its energy usage, paying for more effective solutions in the future would be impossible if it has no reserves, she told BBC Radio 4's Today.

"To make a real dent [in its energy use and costs] we need medium and long term sustainable energy solutions, which cost money and we will no longer have reserves to invest in solar panels or LED lighting, for example," she said.

The trust also faces other financial pressures including an additional £300,000 this year for teachers' and proposed support staff pay awards that are only partly funded by government.

In total, the trust faces an annual £1.2m of extra unbudgeted costs this year, the equivalent of about 30 teachers or 15% of its teacher workforce.

Mr Halfon, the chair of the Commons' education select committee, said the government is "going to have to intervene" to prevent schools spending money on energy bills rather than teaching.

A Treasury spokesman told the BBC preparations were being made on various "options" for the next prime minister to make firm police decisions on.

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