Catholic multi-academy trust saw top-paid person’s pay jump by six figures last year, to more than £300,000

Rise in remuneration for top-paid person at Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust in England’s north-east was the highest yet seen by this website in 2024-25.

 

A multi-academy trust whose chief executive stood down last year saw the amount paid to its most highly-remunerated person jump by more than £100,000 in 2024-25, making it one of the highest payments to an employee in the English academy system.

The 38-school Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NCPAT) paid an unidentified individual £320-£330,000 last year.This is the fourth-highest figure paid to any employee by academy trusts, at least in accounts seen so far by this website.

The hefty sum represented an increase in the order of 50 per cent on the £215-£220,000 which had been paid in 2023-24 to Hugh Hegarty, NCPAT’s then-chief executive.

Mystery, however, surrounds who was in receipt of NCPAT’s nationally-significant pay packet in 2024-25, and how the remuneration of anyone at the trust could have risen so spectacularly, given that the latest accounts indicate that less than £40,000 was paid to any of its employees in exit payments.

The accounts, which as with all academy financial statements were signed off by auditors, include one obvious reporting error.

NPCAT has been approached for comment.