Creditors of the closed St Joseph's College face a £5.1m shortfall and are told to expect nothing back. They vote on the administrators' plan on 3 November.
The trust that ran St Joseph’s College in Reading owes about £6 million, and most of it will not be repaid, according to its administrators. Their report says unsecured creditors, HMRC and staff with preferential claims are all likely to get nothing.
Creditors will now meet online at 3pm on Tuesday 3 November to vote on the administrators’ plan. The meeting was called at the request of one or more creditors, according to a notice in The London Gazette on 15 October.
The independent school on Upper Redlands Road closed on 10 July after 132 years. We reported the closure in September, when it ended the route 80 bus.
What the administrators found
The 38-page proposals were written by Danny Dartnaill and Timothy Townley of BDO, who were appointed on 14 July. They were filed at Companies House on 15 September.
They set out how the money ran out. Pupil numbers fell, costs rose, and VAT on school fees arrived in 2025. The governors looked at a sale, a merger, more money from the religious order that is its landlord and more lending from the bank. Nothing came through.
At closure the school had 516 pupils on roll and 46 more enrolled for September. The administrators say they understand most, “if not all”, found other schools for this year.
The school had 168 staff. Fifteen had already resigned. The other 152 were given notice of redundancy on 9 July, the day before the school shut. The last four, kept on to help wind things down, left by 15 July.
Who is owed what
The administrators estimate the position at 14 July like this:
| Creditor | Owed | Expected return |
|---|---|---|
| Unsecured creditors | £4,298,262 | Nil |
| Lloyds Bank, secured on the site | £923,807 | Part, amount uncertain |
| HMRC, for VAT and PAYE | £633,974 | Nil |
| Staff wages, holiday pay and pensions | £150,084 | Nil |
Lloyds took the school’s £336,227 cash balance against its loan after the appointment, so it is now owed £606,943. About £17,122 of that cash may be restricted charity money, and the administrators say they will ask the Charity Commission about it.
Leaving Lloyds aside, the estimated shortfall to everyone else is £5,082,320.
The published list of company creditors includes:
- Thomas Franks Ltd, £186,495
- Reading Borough Council, £110,457.38
- about two dozen other entries of between £1,000 and £50,000
The list does not itemise parents or staff. The administrators had received £1,167,000 of claims by the time they wrote the report.
The site is the only real asset
The school leased its campus from the Anglo-Irish Province of the Sisters of Saint Marie Madeleine Postel. The lease carried restrictions, which the report says limited what the trust could borrow against it.
Savills was marketing the site before the school closed. Two indicative offers came in, one just before and one just after the appointment. The administrators have now agreed heads of terms with one bidder, who paid a £20,000 non-refundable exclusivity fee.
A sale needs the lease assigned to the buyer and a number of changes to its terms. The administrators say they are negotiating those with the order. They will not say what the site is worth or who the buyer is, citing “commercial sensitivity”.
By 4 September they had collected £20,622.28, mostly from selling some of the school’s equipment and furnishings. Their own time costs by the date of the report were £279,654, over 619 hours.
What happens next
- 3 November, 3pm: the creditors’ meeting votes on the proposals. Proofs of debt must reach BDO by 4pm on 2 November.
- The site sale: the administrators will report the price in a later progress report.
- 13 July 2027: the administration ends unless it is extended. The plan is then to dissolve the trust.
The administrators also have to send the Insolvency Service a confidential report on the conduct of everyone who was a director in the last three years. That is a routine duty in every administration, not a finding.
The directors had not yet filed a statement of affairs when the report was written. They were given more time.
What it means for you
If you are a former parent, member of staff or supplier owed money, you are an unsecured creditor. On the administrators’ figures there will be no payout to that group.
You can still lodge a claim and vote at the 3 November meeting. Contact BDO’s Business Restructuring team on 0151 237 4432 or BRCMTLondonandSouthEast@bdo.co.uk, quoting reference 00493470.
Former staff owed redundancy pay, notice pay or wages can claim from the government’s Redundancy Payments Service. BDO has brought in ERA Solutions to help with those claims.
The school’s own website has been replaced by a maintenance page. Its July closure statement is no longer online.
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