Academy trust directors “sacked after raising concerns”, never-published government report says

Wakefield, home of WCAT (Photo: David Johnston via Creative Commons)

Former directors at a multi-academy trust which has collapsed were sacked last year after raising concerns about a proposed three-year contract for its former chief executive which government investigators said would amount to £550,000, a leaked document suggests.

The claim, which has been backed by a source close to the trust, comes in an internal report of an Education Funding Agency (EFA) review of the Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT), dated July 2016.

Although this report has been subject to media coverage, the precise nature of all its contents has not, with the government never having published it. The report seems to raise further questions about the ability of governance to perform its check-and-balance function on decision-making within the academies structure.

The contract relates to WCAT’s former chief executive Mike Ramsay, who stepped down in May this year and who was paid for six months last year as a contractor via a company. WCAT announced in September that its 21 schools would be transferred to new sponsors.