Coronavirus - What Serious Incidents Should Academies Be Reporting to the ESFA?

Please see our previous articles:

• Reminder to Report Serious Incidents as New Charity Commission Guidance is Published
• Four Key Points to Take Away from the New Serious Incident Reporting Guidance

On 3 June 2020, the Commission published supplementary guidance for trustees on what matters might need to be reported during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Commission's key messages which apply to academies are that:

• Action to meet government rules (such as closing premises) is not in itself a significant incident. Trustees must consider whether the impact of such action merits a report.
• The thresholds relating to financial losses that don’t involve a crime are suspended. Trustees should focus on the significance of the impact of loss, not the amount.
• Trustees remain ultimately responsible for the decision to report or not report an incident. If that is delegated, it must be reported back to the trustees.
• Where trustees have considered whether an incident is reportable and determined it is not, a record of this decision and the trustees' reasons for it should be made.

The supplementary guidance includes a useful supplementary examples table which we recommend all trustees and senior leaders review. Of particular note is that all of the below are to be reported to the ESFA:

• outbreaks of coronavirus
• the closure of school (other than in accordance with the Government's expectations)
• the loss of a substantial proportion of income

 For further reading, please see our separate article, 'Academies FAQs on Serious Incident Reporting During Coronavirus'.

For advice on reporting serious incidents to the ESFA, please contact Chloe Brunton (07920 281 889) or Jaime Hobday (07467 220 552) in our Academies team, or complete the form below.