Revealed: government requiring academy trusts to “promote” the policy in exchange for public cash to expand

Academy trusts are being required to agree to “promote” the policy in exchange for government funding supporting their organisation’s expansion, Education Uncovered has learnt.

A seemingly standard set of conditions for all trusts wanting extra cash under the “MAT Development and Improvement Fund” (MFID) includes a pledge to support the policy and also to embark on a very specific planning regime called “integrated curriculum and financial planning”.

The conditions, which also see the Department for Education getting involved in seemingly very detailed monitoring of how trusts are spending money on support staff, have been revealed in a freedom of information disclosure.

This had attempted to track how a small multi-academy trust based in Norfolk sought to expand through the scheme, for which it was awarded £70,000 last year, only for those growth plans seemingly to founder, as academisation appeared to slow down in the county.

In what may be a cautionary tale relevant to other non-academy schools contemplating moving into academy status having set up their own trust, this MAT is now being swallowed up by another chain.