Academy trusts are using Ofsted grades, in-house pay scales and length of service to justify bumper salaries for chief executives, sparking concerns they have been “forced to write their own rules”. In July, the Department for Education named and shamed 56 trusts for high executive pay, ordering them to explain how the salaries were “defensible” and represented “good value for money”. The correspondence remained secret, with the government refusing to confirm if further action was taken against any of them. But Schools Week can lift the lid on these discussions. Freedom of information (FOI) requests to the 20 highest-paying trusts on the list have uncovered that: In the absence of a government-produced CEO pay scale, trusts are devising their own. Documents for one of England’s largest MATs show those at the top of its 90-point scale could take home almost £405,000 Some argued executive pay levels were in line with their size, with one telling officials its chief would be “expected” to take home wages that sat within “the top 1 per cent” Trusts pointed to the reputation of their chief executives. One said its pay decisions reflected the “value for money inherent” in retaining “one of the most respected CEOs in the sector” Inspection and exam grades are informing pay decisions, prompting warnings not to use a potentially “dangerous metric” The findings of Schools Week’s annual CEO pay audit have been used to inform benchmarking Sam Henson, of the National Governance Association (NGA), said the findings pointed to some boards “still being left to build the case after the actual decision”. Sam Henson He said exam results, trust size, reputation and publicised pay investigations – which were never designed as benchmarks – had been “applied, or not applied, inconsistently, with trusts left to effectively invent their own criteria”. It did not feel like a robust framework that would be applied across the sector, he added. And as long as trusts feel forced to write their own rules, “inconsistencies that distract from the good the trust system is doing will continue to emerge”. Inspections and outcomes The government crackdown focused on pay in 2023-24. Guidance suggested trusts could factor in Ofsted and academic performance in decisions. Our FOI shows many did. The Advance Learning Partnership – which paid chief executive Kelvin Simpson about £245,000 in 2023-24 – sent the DfE a table showing each of its schools’ inspection grades, noting in bold any that were previously ‘requires improvement’ or with ‘serious weaknesses’. Leigh Academy Trust also told officials that “56 per cent” of its 33 schools were rated ‘outstanding’, “significantly above national levels”. The chain – led by Simon Beamish – also noted that its primaries had “substantially exceeded national averages for two years running”, while its secondary outcomes “were in line with or better than the national average in 2025”. Beamish took home at least £350,000 in 2023-24, which rose to between £380,000 and £390,000 the following year. At the Spencer Academies Trust, key performance indicators (KPIs) for then-chief executive Paul West included key stage 2 and 4 results in line with national averages. He was also charged with ensuring some of his schools were in the top 20 per cent in the country when compared with similar institutions. The trust later considered both targets were “complete”. Ofsted warning Henson warned inspections and exam results were a weaker basis than they looked as, if used carelessly, they could reward “playing the performance tables” rather than leaders with the highest ambitions for their pupils. Hayley Mintern, of executive search firm Anderson Quigley, also said it was a potentially “dangerous metric”. This is because inspection grades were influenced by many factors and were the “product of the work of whole organisations rather than an individual executive”. Bourne Education Trust’s executive pay policy echoed this sentiment. Pay rises were “automatic” for all executive positions, except the chief executive. The trust – one of the 56 quizzed – argued leaders were not solely responsible for performance outcomes, which made it important that awards were “applied across all levels”. But a Leigh spokesperson said inspection and exam outcomes “are the measures by which every academy and every trust in the country is held to account”. Its success “is not the product of playing the performance tables” but the “product of sustained ambition”. “If executives were to ‘play the performance tables’ they would never take on schools in special measures, which is clearly not the case.” Hayley Mintern Mintern said trusts should look at the overall size and complexity of the organisation, such as pupil numbers, income, school and employee numbers, geographical spread and the range of services or activities sitting within the trust. Cost per pupil could also be useful when considering whether executive costs were “proportionate”. ‘Top 1 per cent’ The 20 trusts we approached through FOI ran, on average, 26 schools in 2024. The responses revealed many of them pointed to their size after contacted by officials. E-ACT – which had 28 academies – argued it was the ninth largest trust by income, which meant “it might be expected for [the MAT] to pay within the top 1 per cent”. Meanwhile, Lift Schools said it was one of the largest trusts in the country – and was also “one of the most complicated and geographically diverse”. These factors – considered by its board when setting pay – made it “reasonable and to be expected” for it to be among the highest for chief executive pay. The Advance Learning Partnership also noted that free school meal eligibility in its schools averaged 17 per cent above the national figure, while its SEND rates exceeded countrywide and regional benchmarks. It also said it had more than doubled in size since 2021, expanding from seven to 23 schools and increasing pupil numbers by more than 115 per cent. ‘Unintended consequence’ But Stephen Morales, the chief executive of the Centre for Education Operational Excellence, said there was a risk that if pay became associated with pupil numbers, turnover and number of schools, it could encourage trusts to expand. “Growth may be entirely appropriate where it improves outcomes or strengthens the system, but size should not become a convenient proxy for leadership impact.” A report by the Kreston group, a network of accountancy firms, showed average pay among the largest MATs – those with more than 7,500 pupils – crossed the £200,000 threshold for the first time last year. Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), said “no two trusts” were the same. Leora Cruddas It was therefore important that pay and conditions for senior staff were based on the individual circumstances of each role, she argued. Two trusts could have the same number of schools, but “very different” pupil numbers, or schools needing different support. Benchmarking Benchmarking exercises could be useful, but did not not tell the whole story, according to Cruddas. However, Lift pointed to its benchmarking as it did not believe Becks Boomer-Clark, its chief executive, was paid a “disproportionately high” amount when compared with others. When deciding how much she would receive in 2023-24, trustees were provided with analysis from Schools Week’s 2022 pay audit and Kreston. The coverage indicated Boomer-Clark’s salary was “lower than that of counterparts, especially when measured on a per pupil basis” and was a key driver in the decision to move the pay towards similar benchmarks. The Schools Week study, though, only analysed 2020-21 accounts for 258 trusts that were previously sent letters by the government about high wages. Our audits now examine a much larger sample. Lift trustees also looked at “internally researched details of [10] comparator large / geographically diverse trusts”, including the likes of REAch2, United Learning Trust and the Harris Federation. Internal research by the Leigh trust noted a “stark” gap between Harris – which employs England’s highest-paid academy CEO, Dan Moynihan – and the rest. Moynihan is the only leader earning more than £500,000. But the study stressed the need to benchmark by scale-adjusted groups rather than raw averages. Using median data across all trusts “risks underestimating the market for CEOs of large, complex MATs”, it said. Market ‘danger’ Morales suggested boards might consider pay levels alongside comparable senior public-service roles, such as senior civil servants, leaders of national education bodies and council directors. He said “simplistic” comparisons were “unhelpful” as trusts were becoming increasingly complex organisations, with some employing thousands of people and overseeing substantial budgets. “There is also a danger in allowing a market for executive talent to become self-reinforcing. If trusts benchmark predominantly against other trusts, increases in one part of the sector can gradually become the justification for increases elsewhere.” Stephen Morales Chains have also drafted in specialist firms to conduct benchmarking. E-ACT board meeting minutes from October 2023 show trustees discussed how “pay inflation, driven by the leadership pay rise under the government’s award, has implications on executive pay, as the gap between leadership and executive salaries may diminish”. They also talked about capping executive pay to avoid unchecked progression as they proposed an external benchmarking exercise “to ensure fair and market-aligned salaries”. Press benchmarking A review commissioned by The Advance Learning Partnership in 2023-24 noted the trust should acknowledge the competitive nature of the labour market within education and understand that this influenced executive pay. It referred to figures in Schools Week, TES Magazine, the CST benchmarking study, the Kreston report and the DfE’s financial benchmarking tool. The last of these showed the average salary in “similar” trusts stood at £146,000, almost £100,000 less than the amount Simpson was given. Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, blamed the decision not to include executive salaries in leadership pay scales during the expansion of academies in the early 2010s for such variations. This left trust boards to “set their own policies” and pay the rates that they felt were necessary to attract and retain the executive leaders they needed. 90-point pay scale The Advance Learning Partnership report noted that, in the absence of specific guidance it had become common for trusts to extend existing leadership pay scales to roles “responsible for educational standards”. The method used “combined pupil numbers, weighted for different key stages, to determine a ‘group size’” as outlined in the government’s school teachers’ pay and conditions document. The trust adopted this approach in 2021-22. Despite this, a table sent to the DfE showed Simpson received inflationary pay hikes, with “additional” increases of up to 16 per cent between 2022-23 and 2024-25. In 2023-24, Delta Academies Trust’s 90-point scale topped out at £384,000. It rose to just under £405,000 in 2024-25. A spokesperson said “at no point” had any employee been paid at that level. Then-chief executive Paul Tarn received the most (up to £320,000). ‘Respected’ bosses and long tenures Trusts also cited the standing of some chief executives and the length of time they had been at the helm. Lift said its decisions reflected “the value for money inherent” in ensuring that the trust retained “one of the most respected CEOs in the sector”. Documents provided by Leigh noted Beamish, who started in 2014, had “been in post longer than most in similar organisations”. Pepe Di’Iasio This was “a key factor in the strong performance and consistency” across the trust. Henson acknowledged that length of service “may matter for stability”, but it should not be a reason for pay to keep climbing. “We need to be careful not to apply archaic forms of reward.” Of the 20 trusts contacted through FOI, 10 responded with answers. Two – the Gorse Academies Trust and South Farnham Educational Trust – refused to hand over the evidence they sent the DfE. Another, Brampton Manor, said it no longer held the information. It did not say why. Earlier this year, analysis suggested the two-school trust was the biggest executive pay outlier, with trusts of its size usually paying leaders about £148,000, over £200,000 less than Dayo Olukoshi, its chief executive, received. Did DfE take further action? In July, officials refused to say whether they had taken further action against any of the 56 trusts. But through FOI, the department confirmed there had been no intervention. Criticising the lack of action, Henson said: “A process that asks trusts to explain themselves and then takes no further step becomes a tick-box exercise with no consequence. “Resolving this matters for staff who have seen their own pay restrained, and for the many executives who are frankly fed up with being labelled with a problem that really belongs only to the outliers.” Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said the findings underlined his concerns about excessive executive pay, which he called an “unjustified waste of public money”. “Executive pay must be fair relative to the pay of others working in education. There must be transparent pay outcomes and appropriate challenge on pay decisions for academy executives.” ‘Baked into system’ This comes after Labour’s academy chief executive pay cap came into force last week. Under the new rules trusts will need to seek government approval before advertising roles over £174,000, or awarding performance-related bonuses of more than £25,000. Daniel Kebede Permission will also be needed if trusts want to lift executive pay at a faster rate than that of the trust’s teachers, regardless of the amount. Kebede said the move was “a start”, but was not enough as it would not work retrospectively, ensuring excessive pay was “baked into the system”. Hikes and cuts It is unclear what impact the DfE’s crackdown has had on salaries for 2024-25 and 2025-26. Figures for the latter will not be published until January. Leigh confirmed that Beamish, already the second-best-paid chief executive, received a rise in 2025-26, but would not say how much. “The overall increase for executives is tested against the average increase received by teachers across the trust, and no individual executive receives more than the highest percentage increase awarded to any single teacher,” a spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Delta has recruited a new CEO, Andy Barnett, who earned between £200,000 and £210,000 last year. Spencer Academies Trust is redrawing its executive pay scales in light of the cap. It is also preparing to recruit a new chief who “will sit on a lower pay range than the last permanent postholder”. The Advanced Learning Partnership papers also show its board decided last December not to award Simpson an inflationary rise or pay progression. This came after a trustee argued this would “recognise the current outlier status and…clearly demonstrate transparency and defensibility”. But Mintern said “this conversation cannot simply be about constraining” wages. If the extra accountability, scrutiny and complexity of stepping up to the top job was not reflected in pay, the role could become less attractive “at exactly the point when the sector needs to be developing its next generation of leaders”.