Beleaguered academy chain WCAT paid out more than �1m on staff “restructuring”

Wakefield, where WCAT is based.

The collapsed Wakefield City Academies Trust paid out more than £1 million in “restructuring” costs – redundancy and severance payments to staff – in the last academic year, Education Uncovered can reveal.

WCAT spent £1.094m on staff restructuring costs in 2016-17, comprising £454,000 on redundancy payments and £640,000 on “severance” pay-outs to staff, its just-published accounts disclose.

Included in the £640,000 severance bill is £232,122 in “non-contractual” pay-outs, which in itself is among the highest yet seen from an academy trust in this current reporting round.

Seventeen people received non-contractual payouts, ranging in size from £3,990 to £32,000, in settlements which took WCAT’s overall spending under this heading in the past two years to £387,270.