THE Government will be urged to help pay off the £6.3m deficit of a Bradford secondary school.

Earlier this month it was announced that Hanson School in Swain House would be taken over by the Delta Academies Trust.

It brings to an end the decade-long hunt for a sponsor that started when the struggling school was ordered to become an academy by the Government in 2011.

But the takeover means the school’s well-documented deficit – most recently estimated to be £6.3m, will now become the responsibility of Bradford Council.

This week the Council revealed it will push Government to share this debt, saying it was partly the fault of the Department for Education (DfE), and its “error in appointing failed sponsors.”

Under current rules when a local authority run school becomes an academy, any debt or deficit that school has is left with the authority – and the taxpayer.

But if the school has a surplus, that money is transferred to the academy chain.

In 2011 the Department for Education placed an academy order on Hanson School following a highly critical Ofsted report.

Since then three different academy chains have been linked to the school, but each failed to follow through with running Hanson.

During the decade of uncertainty the school’s deficit spiralled, partly due to a “costly contract.”

Much of the detail of this contract has been kept confidential, but it is believed to relate to a third-party business tied to the school.

In April Council finance documents revealed that the deficit had risen from £4.8m to £6.3m in one year.

The Authority said this big leap was partly due to the cost of resolving the contract – which would leave the school free to move forward with any Academy conversion.

The Telegraph & Argus asked Bradford Council if Hanson’s deficit had now been passed on to the authority, and what plans were in place to pay it off.

Councillor Imran Khan, Executive Member for education, employment and skills at the Council, said: “Under current legislation a school’s debt is left with the local authority when it transfers to academy status, yet if the school has a surplus then that money transfers to the academy chain.

“In the case of Hanson we have asked the Government for a contribution to these costs as it is their error in appointing three failed sponsors, which Ofsted inspectors found had hampered the school’s progress for so long notwithstanding recent improvements that they identified.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “While it has taken longer than we would have liked to secure a sponsor for Hanson, we are pleased that Hanson Academy has now opened as part of DELTA Academies Trust, and we look forward to seeing the academy grow as part of a strong family of schools.

“Our longstanding position is that Inadequate schools must convert to academies to get the support of a strong trust, with any deficit remaining with the local authority. We proactively encourage local authorities to work closely with schools becoming an academy to ensure that they manage the risk of an increasing deficit, including by withdrawing delegation of the school’s budget, if necessary.”