Small academy trusts have been warned against asking for government-backed reviews after one chair said the results were used against them to force a merger. chair Pam Smith called in school resource management advisers (SRMAs) and governance professionals to help her bed into the role two years ago. She believes the MAT was pushed towards a merger by the Department for Education after checks threw up concerns later cited by officials among the reasons for it to make the switch. Pam Smith 鈥淭he finance and governance reviews were a request from me to find out where things were needed, so I could do the job I was supposed to do,鈥 Smith told Schools Week. 鈥淭hey gave me the support I asked for, but then the DfE used that to say certain things weren鈥檛 right 鈥 they didn鈥檛 give me the time to do what was needed.鈥 Minutes from a meeting with officials in November 2022 show that Smith and Nurture鈥檚 CEO Wahid Zaman were told the department 鈥渉ad to deploy multiple support programmes urgently 鈥 due to issues鈥 at the trust. The DfE praised the MAT鈥檚 鈥渨illingness to accept support but stated that these external experts are highlighting serious weaknesses鈥. However, the minutes show officials said that, 鈥渆ven without the concerns鈥, conversations 鈥渁bout the trust鈥檚 future strategic direction鈥 would probably have been held. ‘Intimidating and threatening’ Officials pointed to the aim in the since-scrapped schools white paper for trusts to be on a trajectory to serve at least 10 schools or 7,500 pupils. The meeting notes show that Smith and Zaman told the department of their frustration that 鈥渞equesting/accepting support had resulted in this situation鈥. 鈥淭he tone was very intimidating and threatening. It felt as though the chair of the trust and I were being bullied,鈥 Zaman said. 鈥淭he menace of, 鈥榠f you merge voluntarily, you may have the choice of a partner otherwise one will be imposed upon you鈥 was palpable.鈥 Smith added that she 鈥渨ould not recommend anybody to go to the DfE for any help or support鈥 as this would be used to 鈥減ush them into big trusts鈥. The minutes added that the Education and Skills Funding Agency had considered issuing Nurture with a notice to improve over prior financial concerns. A warning letter was sent instead as 鈥渢he trust has been working with us and are trying to resolve issues鈥. Smith insisted that Nurture 鈥渄idn鈥檛 have any problems in terms of financial viability 鈥 it was the process and procedures involved that required improvement鈥. At the time, one of the trust鈥檚 academies, Victoria Primary in Leeds, West Yorkshire, was rated 鈥榬equires improvement鈥 by Ofsted. Because it had been given the same grade before converting, it met the government鈥檚 criteria for re-brokerage as part of its crackdown on 鈥渃oasting鈥 schools. ‘Working to an agenda’ Zaman claimed officials were 鈥渋nsistent鈥 that Victoria and another of the trust鈥檚 academies were unlikely to receive improved marks at a later visit. 鈥淭he fact that both schools did secure 鈥榞ood鈥 judgments in Ofsted inspections in autumn term 2023 鈥 calls in to question the way in which the regional group conducted itself. 鈥淚t was evident that the regional group was working to an agenda other than school improvement.鈥 Unveiled in March 2022, the schools white paper set out the vision of then-education secretary Nadhim Zahawi. Among its 42 main policy proposals were targets for all schools to be in a MAT by 2030. Zahawi also wanted most trusts to work towards serving at least 10 schools, or 7,500 pupils. Both plans were ditched the following year. Despite this, Nurture opted to go ahead with a merger by joining another Yorkshire-based chain, Northern Star Academies Trust. ‘We remain optimistic’ Zaman stressed that the decision was made after seeing the economies of scale and bolstered school improvement that a merger would bring. The switch is expected to take place next month. 鈥淭rustees and I remain optimistic that the trust we are merging with will bring positive benefits and strong moral purpose,鈥 Zaman continued. 鈥淚t is a shame that the unique vision of [Nurture] 鈥 is not valued by the DfE, but I am hopeful that this will be continued in the Northern Star.鈥 The DfE said it has not received any formal complaints from the trust. Trustees are 鈥渧oluntarily transferring the academies to a trust of their choosing鈥. The department said its 鈥渞ole as regulator of academy trusts is to hold them to account鈥 all decisions are made for the benefit of pupils鈥. However, Confederation of School Trusts deputy chief executive Steve Rollett has previously said that, even when regional directors engage 鈥渃onstructively鈥 with leaders, conversations 鈥渃an feel 鈥 very high stakes鈥.