Life Wirral’s boss may have spent public money on family businesses

Panorama can also reveal that Saverimutto declared itself bankrupt in 1996.

When contacted by the BBC, Wirral Council said it was unaware of this and said it was responsible for carrying out due diligence checks placed with the DfE.

However, the DfE confirmed that its due diligence investigations did not examine the financial background of the prospective owners of independent schools.

Mr Saverimutto’s company Life Schools Ltd, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of SHE Ltd in January 2024, never filed full accounts before being liquidated in August.

Life Schools Ltd and SHE CIC went bankrupt with a combined debt of almost £500,000.

Since Panorama’s initial investigation, the school and gym have been closed and three former school employees have been charged with crimes including assault and battery.

In October, one of those former staff members, Elliot Millar, pleaded guilty at Wirral Magistrates’ Court to five offenses including common assault on an adult, a public order offence, two counts of common assault and common assault.

Earlier this month he was jailed for twelve weeks.

Responding to Panorama’s research, the former chief executive of the Council for Disabled Children, Dame Christine Lenehan, said: “It cannot be remotely acceptable that public money intended for children’s education is being diverted to other things.

“The local government was instructed to provide children with intensive education.

“The children have not received this service and that is a fundamental misuse of public money.

“This is yet another example of how the sector is not being regulated effectively.

‘The original Panorama program exposed shortcomings in protection, and now this indicates a misuse of public funds.

“The whole system has failed.”

Wirral Council paid up to £150,000 per year for one pupil for eight hours of education per week.

For this student it was said that the school had not offered good value for money and had not provided the agreed service.