Handsam Edsafe Audits 2026 - Another year-on-year improvement in results

Handsam Ltd are delighted to reveal that for the sixth academic year in a row the average EdSafe audit score has increased – to a new record of 92.56%!

Handsam’s rolling two-year average of the overall EdSafe audit score for academic years 2024/25 and 2025/26 increased by 085% from last year’s record of 91.71%. This is a further ringing endorsement of the excellence, dedication, progress and improvement shown by Handsam’s clients and their staff across the two most recent academic years.

Overall, 27 schools, colleges and academies achieved a score in the top 5% of all-time EdSafe audit scores (97% and above) compared to 15 in the previous period.

Congratulations too to our best performing overall MAT, whose four academies all scored 97.4% or above in a round of audits undertaken in February 2025, this also reflecting the long-term partnership between the trust and Handsam of around 9 years.

Overall 15 academies achieved a score in the top 5% of all-time EdSafe audit scores (97.5% and above).

The two-year period also saw the largest ever improvement in performance across two audits when a local authority primary school in Daventry joined the E-ACT Trust which, during its due diligence audit delivered by Handsam, scored 69.32% but after 18 months of being supported by E-ACT the same academy was awarded a score of 92.37%; an increase of over 23%. That academy also benefitted from having a fire escape reinstated to aid staff and pupils exiting from an upper storey as it had been removed, rendering the provision non-compliant.

Drilling down into the 10 categories of an EdSafe audit, more good news is evidenced as 8 of the 10 showed an improvement year-on-year. The biggest improvements were seen in the category of Leadership and Management (3.02%), while Curriculum Safety increased by 2.43%.

The highest scoring category overall remains Contactor Management at 97.98%, but safeguarding and Security, Pupil Off-site Excursions, Support Services are all above 95% on average, with three further categories (Curriculum Safety, Accidents, First Aid and Medicines & Office and Administration) only just below that figure.

There were two categories which showed reductions in their overall scores. Fire Safety has reduced by just under 3% to 85.7% on average. This is mostly due to the increased focus being placed on fire safety post-Grenfell enquiry. Standards of inspection have been increased nationally and Handsam’s auditors are highly trained in this aspect of safety to support you and your teams. We urge all clients to focus on Fire Safety as a key priority in the coming academic year.

Meanwhile Pupil Off-Site Excursions shows a very small reduction of just 0.37%, which is mostly due to a new aspect and question for managing trips and visits being introduced this year – Monitoring Trips. Handsam Ltd will be delivering training on this new and important topic as part of its EVC training programme and via future editions of Compliance Matters to increase understanding.

This overall heartening trend of improvement evidences how well Handsam Ltd supports its clients, but also how superbly client staff have enacted the support and guidance Handsam offers and made it live in their schools and academies, improving safety and compliance to record levels.

Hearty congratulations to everyone!