Transparency data

Engagement with academy trusts about executive pay: 2023 to 2024

Academy trusts that the Department for Education (DfE) contacted from November 2025 about executive pay.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 16 July 2026

Applies to England

Documents

Academy trusts we engaged with about the executive pay reported in their 2023 to 2024 accounts return

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Details

The Director of Schools Financial Support and Oversight in the Regions Group wrote to the chairs of trustees of 56 academy trusts about the executive pay figures reported in their 2023 to 2024 accounts return.

DfE identified these trusts for engagement based on their highest executive pay figure, which was 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.

We asked 55 trusts for evidence of how they complied with conditions set out in the academy trust handbook. 

One trust received our letter, but we did not ask it to respond, as it was closing.

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 the trust complied with conditions set out in the handbook.

How we identified high executive pay

Trusts were in scope of this activity if their highest executive pay figure was either in the top:

• 1% in the country overall, or
• 5% of highest-paid executives, for which we grouped trusts 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.

Published 16 July 2026