Nearly 40 academy trusts failing to follow Department for Education “recommendations” on separation of governance powers

Academy chains are routinely not conforming to Department for Education recommendations on their governance structures, Education Uncovered can reveal.

A trawl of the accounts of 146 trusts found a total of 39 – more than a quarter - which did not meet the DfE’s recommendation, as stipulated in its Academies Financial Handbook (AFH), that a majority of their controlling members are not also serving as trustees.

Trusts were also even more likely not to meet another recommendation in the handbook, that they should have a minimum of five people who act as members, who sit atop the governance structures in ultimate control. Some 80 trusts, or 55 per cent, had fewer than five members at the time of their last published accounts.

Finally, two of the 146 trusts had employees serving as members, which recent editions of the AFH have said must not happen unless other the trust’s individual constitution – its Articles of Association – allows it to.

The findings seem to raise large questions about the strength and coherence of government regulation over the academies sector, and also present implications for the debate about academies and privatisation.