The Judicial Review proceedings brought by co-claimants the British Educational Suppliers Association, the Publishers Association, and the Society of Authors relating to the Department for Education’s operating model for the arm’s length body Oak National Academy will resume from today [30 September 2025].

The three organisations launched Judicial Review proceedings in November 2022, which were also publicly supported by the National Education Union.

All parties agreed to a stay in legal proceedings in November 2024 in light of the change of government and to gauge the impact of the Spending Review 2025, Market Impact Assessment and Independent Review process on Oak National Academy. 

The findings of the Market Impact Assessment and Independent Review were released on Friday 26 September 2025, two working days ahead of the agreed expiry date of the stay of Tuesday 30 September 2025.

The co-claimants said: 

“It is profoundly disappointing that 10 months after agreeing with the Department for Education (DfE) to halt legal proceedings we find ourselves no further forward.

“The pause in litigation was agreed upon in good faith to allow the findings of the Market Impact Assessment and Independent Review to be properly considered and for dialogue to continue. Instead, we have been faced with a wall of silence, reports with major implications for this issue published just a few days before legal action was due to resume, and still no indication that this government is willing to work with the sector to address our legitimate concerns. In fact, over the past 10 months we have seen Oak’s resources and its detrimental impact on commercial providers and educational authors continue to grow leaving us with no option but to continue down the path of legal redress.

“The long-awaited Independent Review has done little to answer the outstanding questions about legitimate public spending and the case for growth of an arm’s length body with high levels of dissatisfaction from school leaders. Far from being ‘optional’ the Independent Review’s findings, if accepted, will put Oak on a footing which would see the arm’s length body working even more closely with the Department for Education, Ofsted and Ofqual. Our teachers want the freedom to teach using high-quality, trusted and tested content. Government should be creating the conditions for teachers and schools to do this, not undermining their professional autonomy by force-feeding a centralised curriculum and pedagogy on schools that overlooks local needs and diverse communities.

“We were so hopeful that the incoming Labour government would take a different approach from its predecessor and seek resolution for all parties. We remain fully open to dialogue. In the meantime, our legal team will continue to consider the market impact assessment and independent review carefully.”