“The work goes on”: school improvements to continue as PFI contract draws to a close

Stoke-on-Trent City Council will work closely with schools and Academy Trusts to continue improvement works at the end of the city’s 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

The PFI agreement, which expires on 25th October, covers the delivery of maintenance services to 88 schools. It was one of the first such deals in the country – as well as the largest.

Some £16.6 million of the £23.6 million surveyed handback works are already finished, with a further £2.1 million completed and undergoing validation. 

Despite this, works will remain to be completed at the end of the contract as the main contractor will not have completed all the works by the due date, including some of the smaller jobs logged with the PFI helpdesk. 

The council projected many months out that this would be the likely outcome and has been working intensively with schools and Trusts over recent months to seek to get work done to the right quality and prepare for the future.  

That included drawing up an agreement with the main contractor to enable completion of outstanding works beyond the lifetime of the PFI contract, and agreeing to take on some of the work itself.  

In addition, in April, the council created a £3.5 million “backstop” fund to reassure schools, Trusts and parents that vital work would be done as well as making provision to use further capital funding from its contingency funds if required, on top of the money that remains unspent from the PFI funding itself.  

While the first focus is on getting the remaining work resolved, the council will then want to work with partner organisations to ensure a full evaluation of the operation of the PFI agreement over its lifespan, particularly to inform and support other places with PFI contracts that are coming towards the end of their life.

Councillor Jane Ashworth, leader of the Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “The contract may be ending – but the work goes on.

“This was a very large, complex PFI agreement. Clearly we would have preferred all the works to be completed by this stage. 

“Our focus now is on getting the job finished and making sure all schools are safe, warm and dry.

“We are committed to making sure that the children of Stoke-on-Trent – and our hard-working teachers - have the right conditions in which to thrive.

“We are asking all schools and Trusts to keep working with us collaboratively to enable delivery of works in the interests of children, young people and staff.”