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12 April 2026

Tag: MATs

RSC adviser roles thrown open to CEOs, with elections set for September

Academy trust chief executives without headship experience can now serve as advisors to regional schools commissioners, the government has confirmed as it prepares for fresh elections for the posts. Official documents seen by Schools Week show the board elections will begin in September, after planned polls last year were shelved because of Covid. The government wants […]

Bailed-out academy boss set for £150k payout, despite £1.1m budget hole

A single academy trust facing closure has set aside a £150,000 payout for its chief executive, despite reporting a £1.1 million budget black hole last year and needing two taxpayer bailouts. The Castle Trust is set to be wound up after it was stripped of Delce Academy in Kent last year following an “inadequate” rating. […]

Treasury marks DfE’s 11,500-word homework laying out its vision

The Department for Education has published an 11,590-word “outcome delivery plan,” detailing the wide-ranging goals and performance metrics it agreed with the Treasury last year to justify its funding. Sector leaders welcomed the move to greater transparency and accountability. But they said the DfE’s plan lacked detail overall and lacked metrics in significant areas, including […]

Academy transfers fall to four-year low during pandemic

 The government has spent £38.8 million moving academies between trusts since 2014, official figures show, but transfers fell to a four-year low during the Covid-19 pandemic. Analysis of new Department for Education data shows a significant drop in academies switching trusts over the past financial year, with both voluntary transfers and forced rebrokering drying up […]

Downsizing trust ‘failed to balance books quickly enough’

The Department for Education has slapped strict spending controls on an academy trust accused of failing to balance its books rapidly enough after it was stripped of a school. The Castle Trust, which is now preparing to close, has been issued a financial notice to improve after it “failed to act quickly enough to make […]

Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures

Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department for Education data confirms a 20 per cent jump in the average trust’s reserves, up from £0.96 million a year earlier to £1.15 million. The figures cover the year to the end of last August however, […]

DfE report: Schools in big MATs shun moves to share responsibility for excluded pupils

Schools in large multi-academy trusts have “refused to engage” in efforts to make them more responsible for excluded pupils in some parts of England, according to a government-commissioned report on alternative provision. New research for the Department for Education highlighted the need for “formal mechanisms” to deal with mainstream schools declining to work more closely […]