United Learning Trust now 50 per cent larger than any other MAT in England, new data reveal

England’s largest multi-academy trust is now 50 per cent bigger than any other, with its schools spread across nearly a quarter of all England’s local authorities, Education Uncovered analysis for this new academic year has revealed.

The United Learning Trust (ULT), based in Peterborough, now has more than 66,000 pupils, Department for Education data shows. This makes it just over one-and-a-half times the size of the next-largest chain, the Harris Federation.

ULT, which was already comfortably the largest academy trust by the time of the last-but-one published school census in January 2023, then grew by more than any other in terms of pupil numbers, over the year to the time of the next census, in January 2024.

Having had 57,287 pupils in January 2023, its population was 65,455 by January this year, as the trust took over seven new schools during 2023. This was an increase of 8,168 pupils, or 14 per cent. The trust has further grown in recent months, taking on another school in March which itself had a pupil population of 825 as of January 2023.   

England’s next-three biggest chains, in terms of pupil numbers, are Ormiston Academies Trust;  the newly-named Lift Schools (formerly Academies Enterprise Trust); and Oasis Community Learning. None has grown by anything like as many pupils as ULT over the past two-and-a-half years.