The 87 academy trusts whose chief executive pay has been challenged by the government can be named for the first time. Schools Week can exclusively reveal the trusts which received a letter from the Education and Skills Funding Agency demanding they justify CEOs salaries of more than £150,000. The letter from Eileen Milner, the head of the ESFA, landed in the postboxes of some of the most well-known and least-known trusts in the country. The pressure from government follows extensive media coverage of soaring CEO pay as teaching staff’s pay rises remain frozen at one per cent. A Schools Week investigation last week revealed that two-thirds of CEOs of 24 trusts with 20 or more schools trusts got pay rises last year. Together the trusts handed out £118,000 more than in 2015-16 – from £3.9 to £4 million – to their leaders. The named trusts are those which the ESFA has identified as paying more than £150,000 to their CEOs this year. Of the top 10 biggest trusts in the country, eight make it onto the list. These are Academies Enterprise Trust, ARK Schools, United Learning, Delta Academies, Harris Federation, The Kemnal Academies Trust, Oasis Community Learning, and Ormiston Academies Trust. The only two of the biggest trusts not to be sent a letter by Milner were Plymouth Cast and David Ross Education Trust. Schools Week has recently revealed that former CEO John Mannix’s salary at Plymouth Cast was £55,000 in 2016-17, and interim CEO Dr Karen Cook’s is presumably lower than £150,000 this year too. And Rowena Hackwood, new CEO at the David Ross Education trust, got a nearly £30,000 pay cut compared with her predecessor Wendy Marshall and was paid exactly £150,000 this year. The full list, provided by the Department for Education: Academies Enterprise Trust AIM Academies Trust Aquinas Church of England Education Trust Limited ARK Schools Ashmole Academy Trust Ltd Aspirations Academies Trust Aston Community Education Trust Bourne Education Trust Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust Brampton Manor Trust Central Learning Partnership Trust Chingford Academies Trust City Learning Trust City of London Academies Trust Community Academies Trust Core Education Trust Creative Education Trust Delta Academies Trust Dixons Academies Charitable Trust Ltd E-ACT Education South West Enfield Learning Trust Eynsham Partnership Academy Future Academies Gateway Learning Community GLF Schools Graveney Trust Great Academies Education Trust Greater Manchester Academies Trust Greenwood Academies Trust Guru Nanak Sikh Academy Limited Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust Harris Federation Hartismere Family of Schools Hatton Academies Trust Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Trust Inspiration Trust Inspirational Learning Academies Trust Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership L.E.A.D. Multi-academy Trust Landau Forte Charitable Trust Leigh Academies Trust Lion Academy Trust Loxford School Trust Limited Matrix Academy Trust North East Learning Trust Northern Schools Trust Nova Education Trust Oasis Community Learning Ormiston Academies Trust Outwood Grange Academies Trust Partnership Learning QED Academy Trust REACH2 Academy Trust RMET South Farnham Educational Trust Southmoor Academy Swale Academies Trust Tauheedul Education Trust The Boston Witham Academies Federation The Brooke Weston Trust The Cardinal Hume Academies Trust The Collegiate Trust The Dean Trust The Education Alliance The Education Fellowship Trust The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust The GORSE Academies Trust The Heath Family (North West) The Hoddesdon School Trust The Howard Partnership Trust The Kemnal Academies Trust The Laurus Trust The Park Federation Academy Trust The Rodillian Multi Academy Trust The Rosedale Hewens Academy Trust The Sabden Multi Academy Trust The Slough and East Berkshire C of E Multi Academy Trust The Spencer Academies Trust The Two Counties Trust The White Horse Federation Tollbar Multi Academy Trust Trinity Multi Academy Trust United Learning Trust Washwood Heath Multi Academy Trust Wellspring Academy Trust Wembley Multi Academy Trust
Mark Watson 27 March 2018 On March 12 Schools Week published a piece about how Transforming Lives Education Trust (a multi-academy trust) paid their CEO a salary of between 拢270,001 and 拢280,000 in 2016/17. However Transforming Lives Education Trust doesn’t appear on this list. I can only hope DfE’s analysis of CEO pay is rather more rigorous than Schools Week’s ‘investigation’. Also what about the academy trusts with just one school that have staff earning more than 拢150,000 a year, who were written to at the end of 2017 – has a list of those trusts been published?