Best-paid academy boss earns £530k after £15k pay rise

England’s best-paid academy boss has been given another pay rise, taking his salary to at least £530,000.

Harris Federation chief Sir Dan Moynihan took home between £530,000 and £535,000 last year, accounts show, after seeing his wages increase by around £15,000.

Schools Week analysis suggests all but three of the country’s largest academy trusts handed their leaders hikes over the same period.

Third rise in a row

This is Moynihan’s third pay rise in a row.

In 2022-23, he was given his first uplift since 2018-19, as he went from earning between £455,000 and £460,000 to a minimum of £485,000.

Moynihan became the first trust boss to cross the £500,000 threshold the following year, as he again topped the list in Schools Week’s annual CEO pay audit.

The next highest-paid – Simon Beamish, of Leigh Academies Trust – took home a minimum of £350,000.

Others given pay increases

Harris – which is the sixth biggest trust in the country – had six more employees earning over £200,000 in 2024-25. Of these, one made between £280,000 and £290,000.

The 55-school trust has frequently been at the centre of controversy for its executive pay figures.

Of the 21 biggest trusts in the country, 13 have published their CEO pay figures for last year. Of these, 10 – including Harris – improved the pay of their chief execs.

£30k payment

Harris’s accounts also show it “entered into certain supplier contracts in the year that were not fully compliant with procurement regulations”.

Meanwhile, a £30,000 severance payment “was not settled in line with the requirements of the academy trust handbook, which requires prior [Department for Education] approval of such payments”.

But in the accounts, the trust said “overall compliance and oversight” were “deemed to be adequate due to the improvements that have been implemented in the year by an experienced senior team”.

It has been approached for comment.