Beaulieu accounts from 2022 still yet to be published

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Beaulieu Convent School is still yet to publish their 2022 accounts following a tumultuous year for the convent school.

And the most recent accounts, published in 2021, reveal a net decrease in the school's cash and cash equivalents of over £1million.

Organisations receiving Government grants over £75,000 have to submit annual accounts each year – which can then be made public.

In 2019, Beaulieu received a £7.3million from the Government to build new classrooms, a sports centre, cafe and sixth form centre.

The loan came with the condition that the money has to be repaid within 20 years, at a fixed interest rate of 4.25%.

The school also previously borrowed £500,000 from the Treasury in both 2008 and 2014 – which were due repaid in full in 2022.

But despite repeated enquiries from Express dating back to the beginning of last year, Beaulieu Convent School's financial statements for 2022 are yet to be made public.

The Beaulieu Governors confirmed this morning that "the school is working to close out the final points from the audit".

"Once complete we will finalise the 2022 accounts," they added.

Once the accounts are audited, they are then provided to the Government and become publicly available via the States Greffe office. 

Pictured: Former Beaulieu headteacher Chris Beirne's retirement was announced in September – a year before initially planned, and just nine months after he stepped down into an Executive Director role.

In June 2023, the States Greffe office said that they would expect Beaulieu's 2022 accounts "within the next month".

They explained that it is the responsibility of the Minister for Treasury and Resources to provide the report for publication.

In November 2023, the Government's Treasury and Exchequer department said that they had been informed that the accounts were with the school's auditors and due to be received “any day”.

Following queries from Express, the Government confirmed that there is no deadline for organisations receiving Government grants over £75,000 to submit their annual accounts by each year

However, officers work with grant receiving bodies to ensure the requirements of the Public Finances manual are met.

The Treasury and Exchequer Department said: “For the purposes of publishing annual accounts to the States Assembly there is no formal deadline, but we endeavour to publish on a timely basis.

"Individual departments will have specific agreements with the grant-receiving bodies that may set out deadlines. These can vary depending, for example, on when the body’s financial year ends.”

This is the latest in a series of controversies for Beaulieu, which culminated in the resignation of the school's Chief Operating Officer just 18 months after taking on the controversial new role.

A letter announcing the resignation of Pippa Davidson-Coleshill in November 2023 confirmed that she was to serve her notice period on Gardening Leave, adding that "all her responsibilities have been delegated to other members of staff on an interim basis, with immediate effect".

CLICK TO READ IN FULL: The letter from trustee Chris Walters announcing Pippa Davidson-Coleshill’s resignation.

The Beaulieu accounts from 2019-2021 were published last year following a Freedom of Information request from Express. 

The 2021 accounts – which are the most recent accounts available publicly –  revealed that school's 'cash in bank and in hand' dwindled from £650k at the end of the 2020 financial year, to a meagre £271 in 2021.

Pictured: Beaulieu's total 'cash in bank and in hand' (underlined in red) in 2021 totalled just £271, compared to £655,369 in the previous year.

The accounts revealed a 2021 profit of £321,898 – an increase on 2020's profit of £286,026.

However, further reading reveals that over a third of this profit is due to a huge donation from the Beaulieu Foundation.

Without this £106k donation, the school's actual profit for the year would have been less than that of the previous year at just £215,466.

Pictured: The school had a net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (underlined) of over £1m.

The 'statement of cash flows' shows a net decrease in cash and cash equivalents of over £1million, taking the school's total amount of cash and cash equivalents from over £650k at the beginning of the financial year to negative £400k by the end.

This is likely to be due at least in part to the huge increase in maintenance and repair costs across 2021 which totalled £415,314 compared to the £282,030 spent in 2020.

Pictured: Beaulieu were over £400k overdrawn (underlined) in the 2021 financial year.

The 2021 financial statements also forecast an additional £300k needing to be spent on the "fabric of the Main House" over the coming year. 

It is unknown how the school was planning to fund this additional work, with a £400k bank overdraft already being needed to keep the school running in 2021.