Revealed: Troubled trust flew staff to New Zealand and US

A publicly censured academy trust investigated by officials sent leaders on trips to New Zealand, Vermont and Philadelphia.

Hull Collaborative Academy Trust (HCAT) also bought hundreds of iPads for one of its schools following visits to Apple’s offices in London and California.

The revelations come after the Department for Education found the 16-school chain had breached academy rules on 12 occasions.

The case has prompted warnings leaders should apply the so-called “Daily Mail test” – asking themselves how the spending would look if featured in the national newspaper – before deciding to part with public cash.

Finance expert Micon Metcalfe said: “You want to have some guardrails in place to question that kind of decision–making.  

“Going abroad for an educational training visit may be appropriate, but when you set it against difficulties with school funding, the overall amount you spend on training, what training is available for other staff, it’s about applying it case by case.”

The government launched the investigation into HCAT in 2024 after receiving whistleblowing allegations. The inquiry centred on information from 2016 onwards.

A report published in July said the MAT could not demonstrate “public funds were used as intended by parliament”, revealing senior staff had gone on several overseas trips.

‘Conflicts of interest’

Investigators found travel undertaken by senior staff was “wholly or partly funded” by an unnamed related-party organisation, creating “unmanaged conflicts of interest”.

Incomplete records made it impossible “to establish a total financial value”, with the trust only “able to provide documentation for £69,170”. No further information was provided.

But documents obtained through freedom of information (FOI) show the first trip was to New Zealand in early 2017.

The trust said the “educational study visits” were to observe practice and leadership approaches, with the delivery of workshops and keynote presentations.

Estelle Macdonald, the then chief executive, travelled with a trust leader and “school leaders from HCAT and other academy trusts”.

The trust also noted that the £69,170 quoted in the investigation report solely related to the “New Zealand project”. Papers suggest £8,355 was spent on “flight upgrades”.

The following year Macdonald and trust and school leaders attended “an international educational conference” in Vermont in eastern United States.

The event included “presentations delivered by trust representatives and a keynote presentation by the CEO”.

Called “Global unity and healing: building communities with a restorative approach”, the three-day conference was organised by the Vermont Law School.

Agenda papers show Macdonald ran a workshop exploring “the challenges and opportunities of leading a large organisation with restorative values and principles at its core”.

Philadelphia trip

In November 2019, Macdonald and trust and school leaders also attended “an international educational conference” in Philadelphia. HCAT did not provide any further details.

HCAT confirmed the related party referred to in connection with the New Zealand visit was the Hull Collaborative Teaching School Ltd.

The visit was “administered” through the teaching school and “supported by research grant funding”.

But “due to the age of the records, incomplete supporting documentation and the manner in which transactions were recorded at the time”, the trust could not determine “the precise funding split for each journey or calculate a comprehensive allocation between the trust and the related-party organisation”.

The trust could not provide detailed cost breakdowns for both Stateside visits.

It was also impossible “to establish from the information retained whether those visits were funded wholly or partly by the trust, Hull Collaborative Teaching School Ltd, or a combination of both”.

The investigation report said a “review of financial dealings with related organisations, including a teaching school entity and a restorative practice company, identified missing evidence of procurement, incomplete records and unclear cost allocations”.

The value of these was just under £405,000, based on the information available.

Through FOI, the trust confirmed the organisations referred to were Hull Collaborative Teaching School and the Hull Centre for Restorative Practice.

HCAT’s accounts show it had longstanding relationships with the pair. Macdonald – who left the trust earlier this year “by mutual agreement” – was listed as a director of both before they dissolved in 2024.

She has been approached for comment.

240 iPads

DfE investigators also stated that “conflicts were not adequately managed and procurement records were not retained” when the trust undertook an “IT device procurement that included a £69,120 tender”.

This concerned the purchase of 240 iPads, 240 protective cases, eight charging trolleys and associated software licences for one of HCAT’s primaries, after a lease for 68 tablets ended in 2023.

Tender documents noted this was part of the trust’s strategy “to increase the ratios of iPads to children incrementally over the next three to five years”.

It decided to move away from lease options “due to many hidden costs and consideration[s], which are not always obvious at the start of an agreement”, making the overall bill higher than the original purchase price.

The FOI showed the purchase came after HCAT leaders and representatives – with staff from a separate trust – visited Apple’s London base in 2022.

The overall bill for the trip came to just under £10,000, with almost 70 per cent used to pay for 27 hotel rooms.

Schools Week exclusively revealed three years ago that Macdonald spent more than £1,000 of public cash on “premium economy flights” to an Apple conference in California attended by other trust chiefs.

HCAT declined to comment, but it previously stressed the issues related “to historic trust-level systems, processes, and governance arrangements”.