England’s best-paid academy trust boss has been handed a £25,000 pay hike – taking his salary to over half a million pounds. Harris Federation CEO Sir Dan Moynihan has become the first academy trust chief executive to cross the £500,000 threshold, latest accounts show. He took home between £515,000 and £520,000 in 2023-24, up from a range of £485,000 to £490,000 the previous reporting year. This represents an increase of just over 5 per cent. It is Moynihan’s second pay rise in a row. In 2022-23, his wages rose from between £455,000 to £460,000 to at least £485,000. This represented his first uplift in pay since 2018-19. The trust – which has frequently been at the centre of controversy for its executive pay figures – has six other unnamed members of staff earning more than £190,000, compared to seven in 2022-23. Of these, one employee is being paid between £250,000 and £260,000. Just nine other trust CEOs were on more in 2022-23, according to Schools Week’s last chief executive pay audit. This comes just weeks after Moynihan railed against Labour plans to take away academy freedoms, including on pay. Harris has been approached for comment.
Marianne 1 February 2025 Stealing money from our children’s education, and their futures. The Privatisation of our Schools needs to end under this Labour administration.
Matthew Wood 1 February 2025 Under Local Authorities, were the decision makers swallowing up as much public money? Eye watering amounts while teachers wash children’s clothes and buy pens for their classes.