Ministers handed England’s biggest academy trust £1 million to fight a legal challenge from a tech firm “with a history of litigiousness” in a bid to protect the wider academy sector, documents obtained by Schools Week reveal.
However United Learning Trust (ULT) went on to lose the High Court case against Bromcom over a £2 million contract to provide its schools with a cloud-based management information system (MIS).
Correspondence obtained by Schools Week shows the 89-school trust wanted to settle the case before trial. This would have been “cheaper than even a completely successful defence,” internal documents showed.
The settlement had to be ratified by the government as it would be classed as a “novel or contentious” payment under academy rules.
