£400m for school buildings is 'too little, too late', says union

The government has announced £400m investment to repair school and college buildings in England, but the money will only be available to academies that can demonstrate pay restraint on executive salaries.

Academies and sixth form colleges have been invited to bid for a share of the money which can be used to replace roofs, upgrade sports halls or science labs, and deal with general wear and tear in ageing school buildings.

But as schools continue to struggle to balance their budgets in the face of funding cuts, ministers are concerned that too many executives in multi-academy trusts are still paying themselves excessive salaries.

Now the government has warned that any trusts where a single executive is paid more than £150,000, or there are two employees taking home in excess of £100,000 each, will be penalised in the case of an application for building repair money, and an award will be less likely.