Stoke-on-Trent pledges to fund £3.5m backstop as controversial schools PFI contract nears end

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has said it will fund a "backstop" of up to £3.5m to ensure completion of school maintenance works that may not be delivered by its PFI contractor.

The city council's 25-year-long PFI agreement with the contractor Transform School (Stoke) Limited (TSSL) is said to be the largest school PFI contract in the country and is set to expire in October.

The contract covers the delivery of maintenance services to 88 school buildings and has been running since 2000.

However, almost half of the schools were withholding payments under the contract over disputes about repairs, according to a BBC news story published in February.

The BBC claimed 35 of the 42 institutions withholding payments had received a letter from the council threatening them with legal action.

A spokesperson for TSSL told the BBC that the schools had been maintained "in accordance with the contract", adding that many of the school buildings were relatively old when it took over responsibility.

In its statement announcing the decision to backstop the contract, the council said it was prepared to step in to ensure essential improvements to the city's school buildings are completed.

The council said it intends to enter a further agreement with TSSL on a final programme of handback works that prioritises timely delivery of the most important works.

Stoke said the further agreement would allow the contractor additional time, where justified, beyond the current contract end date to complete outstanding or overrunning works, and to satisfactorily resolve any quality issues.

The contract was one of the first such PFI deals to get off the ground in the country, and "as such it gave the council fewer levers and controls than the contracts which were to follow", the local authority said.

The statement added: "Nevertheless, the council is determined to make sure the transition is as robust and as smooth as possible as the contract comes to an end and is working collaboratively with TSSL to achieve a successful handover."

Cllr Alastair Watson, Cabinet Member for Financial Sustainability and Corporate Resources at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: "The priority here is to work with schools and trusts to ensure they get the safe, warm and dry works they are expecting, and to the standard we all require for our city's children."

Adam Carey