Revealed: Huge disparities in per-pupil spending on top management in large MATs, compared to LAs

England’s largest multi-academy trusts are forking out up to 12 times more per pupil on their chief executives’ salaries compared to their counterparts in the local authority sector, exclusive new analysis by Education Uncovered reveals today.

And the largest academy chains are also paying nearly five times more per pupil on all salaries over £120,000 in their organisation, compared to the largest local authorities.

My analysis also suggests that the pay packages of the 10 largest MATs grew at more than double the rate of inflation over the period 2016-2021, with these rises approaching two-and-a-half times that of local authority education/children’s services directors.

With the government pressing on this term, through its schools bill, to implement moves designed to underpin its desire for all schools to convert to academy status within multi-academy trusts (MATs), and with budgetary pressures across both sectors ramping up, the figures will raise new questions about whether the DfE’s favoured organisational model represents the best allocation of resources.

The detail

Five years after carrying out a similar exercise at the launch of Education Uncovered, this website sought to compare the spending on senior salaries of the largest academy trusts with that of their counterparts in the local authority sector.