Wandsworth decided to close the school in December<\/a> after racking up a \u00a31 million deficit and alleged \u00a35.3 million in debts owed by various councils.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWandsworth said the majority of this was owed by Kent County Council, which had two placements ahead of closure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Kent council has said there were errors in 15 of Wandsworth\u2019s invoices, and that other invoices were charging for provision that had not been outlined in Kent pupils\u2019 education, health and care plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
School closed in December<\/h3>\n\n\n\n In 2021 the two authorities began negotiations for Kent to take over the school, but the county council decided not to go ahead with the transfer in October 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wandsworth then launched a consultation on closing the school in early 2025, which was briefly paused to pursue an application to convert the school to an academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The council named Cygnus Academy Trust as its preferred provider, but it was informed in July 2025 that the application had been refused by the Department for Education. It finally decided to close the school in December last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Council documents said this was \u201cpurely driven by the unwillingness of some councils to pay fees at a level needed to ensure the school remains viable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legal documents sent by Wandsworth Council to the London Circuit Commercial Court claimed that Kent council owed them a total of \u00a34,576,578.43, with unpaid invoices dating back to late 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Documents say Kent had \u201cnot put forward any substantial ground for disputing payment of the sum referred to\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Never specified\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n But Kent council has said in defence documents that the invoices were for \u201cadditional or enhanced special educational provision that was never specified nor required by the relevant education health and care plan\u201d which was \u201cneither discussed nor agreed with the defendant\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGeorgia Gould<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nLawyers representing Kent have said the 15 invoices with errors sent by Wandsworth totalled \u00a3284,270.79.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They also wrote that Wandsworth was applying uplifts beyond original rates agreed between the parties and denied that it owed the sumsclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
School standards minister Georgia Gould<\/a> met with Kent council over the closure of Bradstow School on October 31, just nine days before the closure was announced by Wandsworth.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSchools Week<\/em> asked the DfE what was discussed at the meeting. It did not respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWandsworth council and Kent council were both approached for comment but declined due to the legal proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A court date has not yet been set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wandsworth council has launched legal action against Kent over a school it ran in the county<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315335,"featured_media":243817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[62],"post-theme":[2354],"class_list":["post-243874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-send","post-theme-inclusion"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
![\"Georgia](\"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Georgia-Gould-feat.jpg\")