Schools forced to evacuate children after finding crumbling concrete could face years in portable buildings and temporary classrooms as the government drags its heels on funding, experts have warned.
The number of schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which the Health and Safety Executive has said is now “life expired” and could collapse “with little or no warning”, has been steadily rising since the government announced the sudden closure of more than 100 schools at the end of August, just days before the start of the new academic year.
There are now 231 schools and colleges with Raac, according to the latest government figures released earlier this month.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan said at the start of September that nothing was more important than the safety of children and staff, and stressed that the government would fund longer-term refurbishment or rebuilding projects where needed.
But as the autumn term comes to an end, many of the schools affected have still not been told when their buildings will be fixed. The Observer has been told that the Department for Education is refusing to commit to funding or even give any timescales for starting work, with building experts estimating that schools will be waiting years for new safe buildings.
A spokesperson for the DfE said: “We have committed to fund the removal of Raac from our schools, either through grants or through our School Rebuilding Programme, and we will inform schools as soon as possible once our assessments have concluded.”
The headteacher of a primary school in the north of England with confirmed Raac in its roof, who spoke to the Observer on condition of anonymity, said: “I can’t get any information. There is no indication of when they will decide, never mind a decision.”
After weeks of pushing, the head has managed to secure funding from the DfE for temporary scaffolding that will ensure the school’s roof doesn’t collapse, but he still has no idea whether the government will choose to demolish the whole school, which is in a “very bad state” generally, or whether it will just be given a new roof.
Like many heads wrestling with crumbling concrete, he fears that without a clear plan of action and funding from the government, some parents may decide to take their children elsewhere when choosing a school. This anxiety is felt particularly acutely by primary schools, many of whom already face stiff competition for numbers because of declining birth rates.
The headteacher said: “The best result would be rebuilding as we have so many problems, but actually we just need some certainty. Parents like shiny new buildings, and Raac definitely isn’t helping our reputation.”
He added that he was having to put off other vital repairs in the meantime. “Some of our windows are badly cracked, but at the moment with our finances getting even worse, we can’t think about replacing them in case the DfE decides to demolish and we’ve then wasted money.”
Tim Warneford, a consultant who advises academies on their building, said: “When schools have challenged surveyors on the ground, they’ve been told not to expect anything to happen before 2026.”
He added that while the government has stressed frequently that it is assessing the level of risk in schools, there is now a growing realisation in the sector that “they have no intention of correcting that risk this side of an election”.
Warneford visited a school in Hertfordshire with confirmed Raac last week. Pupils have been able to stay on site but can’t use a central part of the building as it is no longer safe. “Children are having to exit out of one part of the school and cross a car park to get into another part, which of course has its own risks,” he said.
He pointed out that the school has had to make immediate emergency adaptations, but now “they need to know what the permanent plan is”.
“It is incredibly frustrating. Everything is being controlled centrally so schools can’t take any action themselves, but the DfE just isn’t deciding anything,” he added.
There are currently 100 unallocated places on the list for the government’s flagship 10-year school rebuilding programme, and it is expected that they will be filled by schools with Raac. However, Gillian Keegan told MPs earlier this month that she anticipated there would probably be more than 100 needing rebuilding.
With schools across the country in an urgent state of disrepair, and 1,200 originally being considered for this fund, experts are warning that other school building projects are likely to be hit and the government may not stick to all its agreements.
An education consultant who works closely with the DfE but asked not to be named to protect the schools he is advising, described the government’s response as “a shambles”.
He said: “Civil servants without any knowledge of buildings and structural surveys are being allocated to schools just to provide basic holding responses.”
He added that he had spoken to schools with confirmed Raac who weren’t even on the government list of affected institutions, and warned that “there isn’t the money” to rebuild 100 Raac schools and maintain other commitments.
He said that even if work began now “at pace” to demolish, design and construct a new Raac-free school, it wouldn’t be ready before September 2026. But he added: “Having liaised with contractors in the construction industry over the past two months, they don’t have the capacity to deliver these rebuilds in the next 12 to 18 months.”
