School buildings at risk and RAAC

NAHT is calling on the government to provide extra funding and support to help identify buildings at risk and make them safe as soon as possible.

The lives of children and staff are potentially being put at risk by the dangerous condition of some school buildings.

The government has halved real-terms funding for major school rebuilding and refurbishment projects since 2010, when it ended the Building Schools for the Future programme. The Department for Education (DfE) estimated in 2021 that £11.4billion is needed to bring the school estate up to ‘satisfactory’.

In 2021, the DfE upgraded its own assessment of the risk of buildings that are approaching the end of their life expectancy collapsing to ‘critical – very likely’. And it’s getting worse. Buildings that use materials now past the end of their working life, such as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), are at particular risk. Asbestos remains on site in 83% of schools. The government has not acted on this with any significant new capital funding. The DfE’s School Rebuilding Programme is only looking at 50 – from a total of more than 22,000 – state schools a year.

There have been several recent near-miss ceiling collapses, when by chance the school was closed to pupils and staff. We want the government to show the urgency and leadership needed to get a grip on where schools are at significant risk of collapse, before it is too late. It is only right that parents and staff should know about this and, more importantly, that urgent action should be taken by the department to make sure that these buildings are made safe. The alternative simply does not bear thinking about.

We believe the government should set out proper long-term capital funding to bring all schools up to ‘good’ condition.

Latest news

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of press coverage about reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete – RAAC for short, or ‘crumbly concrete’ as it’s becoming known – in schools and other buildings.

NAHT has been campaigning hard on removing RAAC, as well as other dangerous materials including asbestos, from the school estate.

Responsible bodies – usually your local authority or academy trust- have now nearly all returned surveys to DfE on the presence of RAAC on the school estate. The DfE is keeping a list of schools affected (see link below), which it will be updating regularly. As of 27 November 2023, there were 231 schools on the DfE’s list, an increase from the 214 as at 16 October 2023.

• See the Department for Education's non-statutory guidance on managing asbestos for an overview of the requirements for schools, trusts and colleges
• See the map of schools affected by RAAC
• Read this article from NAHT's Leadership Focus magazine, where journalist Nic Paton looks at the ongoing RAAC crisis and speaks to NAHT members
• The DfE's list of settings with confirmed RAAC
• TUC – government must publish national risk register for 'all public buildings' (7 September 2023)
• School leaders’ unions write to Education Secretary demanding apology for her ‘insulting’ and ‘unacceptable’ remarks (6 September 2023)
• NAHT responds to revelation that 13 schools hit by axe of building programme have RAAC (6 September 2023)
• Welsh school leaders need more information on RAAC says NAHT (5 September 2023)
• NAHT comments on suggestion schools have been slow to respond to RAAC (5 September 2023)
• Unions write to education secretary to demand answers on RAAC in schools (4 September 2023)
• NAHT comments as government informs schools of closures due to risk of buildings collapse (31 August 2023)
• NAHT comments as schools warned they may need to close due to risk of collapse (30 August 2023)

News from June 2023

• Read NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman's article for the Express, which is part of a longer article featuring head teacher case studies

• Watch NAHT president-elect SImon Kidwell speaking about the issues faced by schools on the sofa for BBC Breakfast
• Watch Devon head teacher Steve Hitchcock being interviewed at his school for Good Morning Britain, and in a shorter piece here
• Watch head teacher Rachel Jones, based in Cheshire, speaking to BBC Breakfast about her school.

News from March 2023

• ITV news: Children at risk in schools where concrete could collapse 'with no warning'

News from February 2023

• Joint union letter: seven education unions write to Education Secretary over risk of building collapse

Other useful resources

RAAC

• The DfE's Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete: guidance for responsible bodies and education settings with confirmed RAAC, which includes updated information on additional help with revenue costs
• NAHT articles from 31 March on the DfE's RAAC survey
• DfE December 2022 estates guidance on RAAC
• Local Government Association guidance on RAAC

Asbestos

• NAHT’s managing asbestos guidance
• NAHT evidence on asbestos to the Work and Pensions Committee enquiry, September 2021
• NAHT’s April 2022 response to the committee’s report
• July 2022 NAHT article on HSE school inspections

Policy and campaign work

As part of our Fix School Funding campaign, NAHT is committed to the following conference motion:

Conference further instructs National Executive to campaign for an increase in capital funding that will address the nation’s decrepit school estate, to ensure that school buildings and grounds are safe, fit for purpose and appropriate for the needs of the 21st century.

Related NAHT webpages

• NAHT’s School Business Leaders hub
• NAHT’s Fix School Funding campaign