The Education (Pupil Referral Units) (Application of Enactments) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 /1201 were laid before Parliament on 8 May 2012.
Regulation 3 remedies (with effect from 1 September 2012) a gap in section 10 of the Children Act 2004, by extending, so as to include PRUs, the list of relevant bodies with which local authorities are required to co-operate in order to improve children’s wellbeing.
Regulations 2 and 4, which come into force on 31 May 2012, applies the Academies Act 2012, with modifications, to PRUs, enabling PRUs to convert to become Alternative Provision Academies.
An overview of how PRUs converting to Academy status will be funded, can be found here.
It remains to be seen how PRUs attaining the autonomy of academy status, will interact in practice with the local authority and schools which PRUs are established to support.