Engagement with academy trusts about executive pay: 2022 to 2023
Academy trusts that the Department for Education (DfE) contacted in November 2024 about executive pay.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The Director of Schools Financial Support and Oversight in the Regions Group wrote to the chairs of trustees of 55 academy trusts about the executive pay figures reported in their 2022 to 2023 accounts return.
DfE identified these trusts for engagement based on their highest executive pay figures, which were either in the top:
- 1% of highest-paid executives in the country overall, or
- 5% of highest-paid executives:
- overall, and
- as a proportion of general annual grant funding when compared with trusts of similar size and type
In some cases, trusts met both criteria.
The majority of trusts were asked for evidence of how they complied with conditions set out in the academy trust handbook. The exceptions to this were:
- 12 trusts identified as being in the top 1% for the first time – we sent them a letter to inform them of their position and outline our expectations about executive pay compliance
- 7 trusts identified as being in the top 5% that had provided evidence of pay compliance as part of the previous year’s engagement and had not seen a year-on-year increase in salary – we sent them a letter as part of this round of engagement, but did not require further evidence
Why we engaged with these trusts
We have a duty to ensure that, as autonomous bodies, trusts uphold high standards of transparency and accountability. Compliance with the academy trust handbook is a condition of every trust’s funding agreement.
To ensure trusts have robust processes for setting executive pay that comply with the handbook, we carried out sector engagement. Our approach aims to ensure the right level of sector support and guidance with regard to pay and benefits, so decisions about pay:
- represent good value for money
- are defensible relative to the public-sector market
We asked for evidence of how these trusts complied with the conditions set out in the handbook.
How we identified high executive pay
We asked trusts whose executive pay was in the top 1% for highest-paid executives overall for evidence, if:
- their highest executive pay was in this category in 2023
- it had remained so in consecutive years
We wrote to trusts in 2023 to notify them of this.
To identify trusts in scope – that is, where pay was in the top 5% of highest-paid executives – trusts were grouped into categories by:
- type:
- multi-academy trusts
- single-academy trusts
- trusts with special and alternative provision
- pupil numbers
We did this to minimise bias toward any particular type of trust.
We then applied 2 markers for pay – that a trust was in the top 5% of highest-paid executives:
- overall
- as a proportion of general annual grant funding
Trusts were in scope of this activity if they met both markers.