Academy trusts running two schools paid nearly �2 million over four years to companies owned by directors

Two connected academy trusts, running just two schools between them, paid nearly �2 million to companies owned by three influential directors of the trusts, Education Uncovered can disclose.

Collective Spirit Oldham and Manchester Creative Studio, both running institutions which have since closed, made the payments over a four-year period for services including curriculum design, payroll and catering.

The spending is stated in the trusts’ accounts with a breakdown of the services provided in return.

But the expenditure on these related party contracts appears to have constituted a high proportion of the trusts’ overall income: some 17 per cent overall across the four years, and as high as 31 per cent – meaning almost one pound in every three went to related organisations – in one year.

In that year, cross-checking total spending on the related organisations against the number of pupils in the schools reveals that £2,714 was spent per pupil with these companies, including more than £4,000 per pupil in one school.