As schools grapple with tightening budgets, new figures from School Space reveal that many school leaders planning next year's budget are overlooking a six-figure income opportunity.

The school lettings specialist has announced that it has now generated more than £20 million in revenue for schools and multi-academy trusts in England, with the average secondary school partner earning over £110,000 per year from its facilities – all through a fully managed model that does not add to staff workload.

School buildings remain one of the UK’s most underutilised public assets. School Space estimates that local authority-maintained schools are missing out on up to £1.79bn a year in lettings income.

School Space is working with schools across England to change that, boosting utilisation rates as high as 82% and, in some cases, increasing income by 292% in the first year.

Jemma Phibbs, co-founder of School Space, said: “Almost 80% of the schools we speak to who are managing lettings in-house are either making a loss or generating less than 10% profit because of low utilisation and high internal management costs. We take that burden off school teams and turn their facilities into a sustainable, high-performing income stream.”