If your first reaction to news of a new academy trust handbook is relief that nothing much has changed, this year’s edition deserves a closer look. The Department for Education published changes to the handbook just before the summer break, and on first read it might not feel like a document that tears up the rulebook. There is no single headline change – but a clear pattern is emerging. The DfE is steadily narrowing the freedom trusts enjoyed over procurement, senior pay and financial leadership. At the same time, it is asking asking boards to take fuller ownership of inclusion, sustainability and transparency. For chairs, senior leaders and governance professionals, this is a handbook that encourages an eye to 2027, rather than a passive “wait and see”. The trusts that navigate it best will be those that treat the changes as strategy, not admin. Financial leadership: a qualification, not just a job title The most consequential change for larger trusts sits in part one. From 1 October this year, any trust with more than 3,000 pupils that begins recruiting a new chief finance officer (CFO) must specify that the successful candidate hold a recognised accountancy qualification. This is a meaningful shift in how the sector thinks about financial leadership, signalling that the CFO role is being professionalised further, as the accounting officer role already has. Trusts that start the conversation early will manage the transition best. Boards should build the qualification requirement into job specifications now. Trusts nearing the 3,000-pupil threshold should plan against this benchmark now. Senior pay: more scrutiny, a firmer ceiling The long-standing principle that executive remuneration should not rise faster than teacher pay without clear justification is reiterated, with DfE approval required where a trust believes an exception is warranted. But from October a new pay control applies. Any new appointment where remuneration exceeds £174,000 (or where performance-related pay would exceed £25,000) requires DfE approval. Approval before advertisement, not before appointment, changes the nature (and timing) of the recruitment process. Trusts contemplating a senior appointment at this level need to build DfE engagement into the front end of their timeline, not treat it as a late-stage formality. Boards should also expect continued scrutiny of pay policies more broadly. The handbook requires decisions to be independently scrutinised, proportionate and documented, with a clear rationale that would survive external challenge. Procurement autonomy is narrowing Perhaps the theme that will generate the most operational friction is the tightening of rules around centrally negotiated arrangements. Trusts must now consider DfE-brokered purchasing opportunities and record that consideration. In practice, that means supply staff contracts must run through the government framework unless a trust can show its own arrangement is as good. Energy contracts must default to DfE’s energy for schools service (or an approved alternative), and MIS contracts must align with the DfE’s framework by September next year. None of this removes trust autonomy outright, but it does compress it significantly. The direction of travel is towards default use of centrally negotiated deals, with the burden of proof shifting on to those trusts that want to do something different. Finance and procurement leads should map renewal dates across supply staffing, energy and MIS contracts now, and build in compliance reviews before each expires. More transparency or more bureaucracy? Electric vehicle schemes no longer need prior DfE approval, provided trusts can document mitigations against cost or liability. Such schemes are now common, so this is a sensible change. And trusts must publish a statement each year showing how central funds are used across their schools – welcome transparency, certainly (in an area which has attracted attention), but also another annual deliverable to plan for. What boards should do Trusts have a narrow window, and many will not meet again until after 1 October. Priorities should be to check any live CFO recruitment, confirm senior pay processes will trigger seeking DfE approval, audit contracts for supply staffing, energy and MIS, and satisfy the board that its governance statement evidences oversight of inclusion. These changes will not make headlines on their own, but together they show a regulator using incremental, technical amendments to steer trust behaviour toward centralised procurement, professionalised financial leadership and demonstrable inclusion.