Worries over payments for services triggered city coucil’s inquiry into ‘superhead’ who was praised by politicians

CONCERNS over the payments regime at Outwood Grange were first brought to light three months ago when a Yorkshire Post investigation revealed that the services of superhead Michael Wilkins had cost the taxpayer more than £1m over four years.
By The Newsroom
Published 10th Jun 2011, 01:00 BST

As a National Leader in Education (NLE), Mr Wilkins has been commissioned to raise standards at struggling schools across the north of England. Under his leadership, Outwood Grange has been praised for transforming fortunes at Harrogate High, Scalby School in Scarborough, North Doncaster Technology College, which has made way for an academy sponsored by Outwood, Thornaby Community School and St Patrick’s Catholic College in Stockton, through the NLE programme.

Mr Wilkins has been praised by successive cabinet ministers and received a national award from the National College for School Leadership which manages NLE work. However, the way in which his services were paid for has been subject to a council investigation. This has now found that consultancy fees which were given to Mr Wilkins’s own private company, Challenge Leadership Ltd, were not properly authorised by school governors and should not have been made. Wakefield Council auditors have previously called on Mr Wilkins to repay £91,000 and have now amended this to £80,000.

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However, a statement from Outwood Grange last night insisted that the payments were legitimate. Outwood Grange became an academy in 2009 and is no longer funded through or accountable to Wakefield Council. This means that if any money were to be repaid it would go back into the school rather than to the council.

Mr Wilkins has personally received more than three quarters of a million pounds since April 2007 through his salary and payments made to his own company for NLE work.

In this time Outwood Grange has received more than £3.2m for carrying out school improvement work, with £2.4m of this going into a consultancy firm set up by the school. However, the three councils which commissioned Outwood Grange have been unable to give a detailed explanation of this spending.

Wakefield Council’s audit said its officers now plan to hold talks with these councils to help them review their NLE contracts.

Related topics:Wakefield CouncilYorkshire Post