1 in 3 school buildings past use-by date

27 Jun 2023

EMBARGO: 00:01 Wednesday 28th June

Around 24,000 school buildings are beyond their estimated initial design life, according to a new report published today (28 June) by the National Audit Office.

The report also found that:

700,000 pupils are in schools which require “major rebuilding or refurbishment”
At least 572 schools may contain RAAC, a concrete building material likened to an Aero chocolate bar. Officials have previously described RAAC as “life-expired and liable to collapse”.
The Department of Education believes there is a “critical and very likely” risk of a building collapse or failure causing death or injury.
The Government “currently lacks comprehensive information on the extent and severity of potential safety issues” in schools.

Responding to the report, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Munira Wilson MP said:

“Parents have a right to know that their child is safe at school. Yet this report shows that hundreds of thousands of children are learning in crumbling school buildings. To make matters worse, the Government is flying blind without a clue about how many schools pose a danger to our children.

“In dozens of communities, crumbling school buildings stand as concrete signs that the Conservatives have taken their area for granted. Liberal Democrats would invest in our schools urgently to remove RAAC where it is a risk to life and clear the backlog of school repairs.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Last year, Liberal Democrats uncovered that one in three schools had at least one building component graded as “life expired and/or serious risk of imminent failure”, according to a 2017-19 Government survey. Overall, officials estimated that it would cost £11.4 billion (p. 4) to carry out all the necessary repairs.

In February, Liberal Democrats revealed that at least 39 schools have closed partially or fully since the 2019 General Election because one or more school buildings were unsafe.