How a multi-academy trust kept 5,000 water assets compliant overnight
When the incumbent walked away:
The problem
The trust is a large multi-academy trust educating more than 13,500 learners across 21 schools in ten local authority areas. The estate spans primary, secondary and further education across multiple regions of England. Unlike maintained schools, where the local authority carries a share of statutory responsibility, a multi-academy trust holds full legal duty of care for every site it operates. That includes water hygiene.
Under ACoP L8 and HSG274, managing more than 5,000 water system assets across a dispersed estate is a significant compliance obligation that includes temperature monitoring, legionella sampling, risk assessments, disinfection, and a full audit trail. When the incumbent contractor ceased service, that obligation did not pause. The compliance clock kept running.
The trust needed a qualified replacement, quickly, without cutting corners on safeguarding, service quality, or legal standing.
The solution
Using Inprova’s Compliance Solutions Framework, the trust made a direct award to a top-ranked specialist supplier in the lot for legionella testing and treatment. There was no need for a new procurement exercise. The framework provided a ready, compliant route to a pre-qualified specialist, which meant the Trust could move from decision to appointment in a matter of days rather than weeks.
The appointed supplier brought the full service the trust needed: routine and risk-based planned preventative maintenance, legionella sampling and laboratory analysis, review and maintenance of water hygiene risk assessments across every site, and a secure online reporting platform for compliance monitoring across its entire estate. All operatives were DBS-cleared, as required for a working in educational environments.
The outcome
The Trust maintained statutory compliance without interruption. A potential gap in a legally required service was closed without compromising safety, procurement integrity, or the Trust’s duty of care to its learners and staff.
The £414,782 contract runs for 24 months, giving the trust stability and a predictable compliance programme across more than 5,000 water system assets, including a reporting platform that makes audit-readiness straightforward rather than time-consuming.