I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge concerns about the disruption to students, teachers and parents at schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools which have buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Over the last year, the Department for Education has been engaging with educational settings to identify buildings which may have RAAC. Up until now, the advice has been to take RAAC areas out of use immediately if assessed by surveyors as ‘critical’. Where they were assessed by surveyors as ‘non-critical’, the Department for Education did not consider the risk to require that these spaces be taken out of use.
However, that position has now changed, following recent cases that came to light over the summer. As a consequence, from 31 August, the Department for Education has been advising schools, colleges and maintained nursery schools with buildings with RAAC confirmed by a surveyor to take the affected space out of use until suitable mitigations have been put in place. This is a necessary and precautionary step to protect the safety of students while adequate mitigations are being put in place.
Whilst this is a very difficult decision, the UK Government has been proactive in addressing this issue - in sharp contrast to the devolved administrations - and has been updating guidance and prioritising the safety of students ahead of the new term. The vast majority of schools are unaffected and children should attend school as normal this term unless parents hear differently from school leaders.
Support is being made available for educational settings with RAAC. A Department for Education caseworker is being assigned to assess each site’s particular needs and implement individually designed mitigation plans. The capital costs associated with making these spaces safe will be funded by the Department for Education. Further information can be found here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/09/04/new-guidance-on-raac-in-edu…
