The government spent more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ cash to help move four academies in the West Midlands to new sponsors in the last financial year.

Two were in Birmingham: the Ark Academy Victoria, previously known as Perry Beeches V, and Arena Academy.

The transfer of Ark Academy Victoria to Ark Schools in March 2018 came with a government grant of £200,000, while the Arena transfer - to Core Education Trust, in the same month - was supported with a £150,000 grant.

The two other schools to get grant cash to support transfers in 2017/18 were both in Wolverhampton.

One was the Ormiston SWB Academy, formerly known as South Wolverhampton and Bilston Academy, which transferred in July 2017 with a £77,000 grant.

The other was the Ormiston NEW Academy, formerly known as North East Wolverhampton Academy, which transferred in September 2017 and received the same.

The academies were among 28 in the West Midlands - and 255 across the country - which moved to a new sponsor in 2017/18. The majority did not receive grants as part of the switch.

Nationally, the number of academies moving trusts has been mushrooming in recent years, having gone from just 21 in 2013/14, to 64 in 2014/15, to 92 in 2015/16, to 196 in 2016/17.

Academies can only change sponsor with the agreement of the Regional Schools Commissioner. An academy can choose to do this voluntarily, for example as part of a merger that sees it become part of a multi-academy trust - or it may be initiated by the RSC because of concerns about the performance of the academy.

This latter process is known as “re-brokering”.

The government introduced new grant guidelines for re-brokering in 2006, with guidelines for the amounts of grant that would typically be offered.

These grants are paid in one instalment and offset against any surplus the academy has when it is transferred.

Grants are generally only made when a academy is rebrokered, and not when it voluntarily changes trust.

Across the West Midlands, a total of 42 academies have changed trust in the last four financial years - including the 28 in 2017/18.

There were six cases in 2016/17, five in 2015/16 and three in 2014/15.

Today’s figures show the government spent £5.7 million on grants to academies changing trust in 2017/18.

That was down from £8.4 million in 2016/17.