Academy trust appears to pay its former chief executive £250,000 – for nine months’ work

Relatively lenient disclosure requirements on academy trusts in terms of senior leader pay make it impossible to know for sure the recipient of the money. But its leader for most of the year was Julian Drinkall – who strangely seems to have been in a similar position four years ago.

One of England’s largest multi-academy trusts appears to have paid its now-departed chief executive £250,000 in 2024-25, even though he left less than nine months into the year.

GLF Schools had a highest-paid employee on £250-£260,000 last academic year, its newly-published annual accounts show, but with a former chief executive, Julian Drinkall, who left on May 21^st, 2025. The 2024-25 year runs until August 31^st.

A figure in the region of £250,000 for nine months’ work would equate to more than £330,000 if scaled up for the year. This would have made Mr Drinkall one of the highest-paid leaders in the academies sector last year.

The case underscores an aspect of the academies system which seems less than transparent, with Mr Drinkall’s pay arrangements not set out against his name within the accounts, as would have been required if he were working in the local authority sector.

If the pay did go to Mr Drinkall, it would be the second time in four years that he had received remuneration in the order of £250,000 from an academy trust for only nine months’ work.