Co-op Academies Trust is set to take on six schools from a struggling trust in Cumbria, pending a final decision this month.
The move would be the Manchester-based trust’s first inroad into the county and push it into the top 25 biggest multi-academy trusts by number of schools.
Co-op Academies Trust, which currently has 38 schools (12 secondaries, four special schools, 21 primaries and one college), is set to absorb the six primaries run by South Cumbria Multi Academy Trust (SCMAT), which is being dissolved.
The Cumbrian trust’s say trustees “reluctantly” agreed last November to the rebrokering of its schools, having been issued with a by the Department for Education last June.
SCMAT faced ‘pressure from early expansion’
This DfE intervention reflected “the weak financial position of the trust and continued concerns on governance and oversight of financial management by the board”, the notice to improve stated.
The trust ended the 2024-25 financial year with a £561,000 deficit, according to its accounts, which say that its “early expansion placed significant pressure on central reserves”.
There have been numerous leadership changes at SCMAT over the past year, with the chair resigning last July and the chief executive officer leaving in September. Two successive interim chief financial officers were appointed from October 2024.
A spokesperson for Co-op confirmed to Vlog that it was “in advanced, positive discussions with the Department for Education about the potential for South Cumbria Multi Academy Trust to join us”.
Co-op Academies Trust’s current footprint covers four clusters in Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Liverpool and West Yorkshire.
“We’re excited about the potential to extend our work into South Cumbria, building on our presence across the North of England, and to work alongside local communities to support pupils and staff to thrive,” the spokesperson added.
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“We believe there’s a strong fit, with shared values around high-quality education, inclusion and working closely with our communities,” they continued. While “no decision has been made yet, we feel they’d be a wonderful addition”, they added.
The DfE’s recently published schools White Paper, , says trusts should be “rooted in their communities”, but adds that national trusts “could achieve coherence through local hubs or clusters”.
The decision over a transfer will be made by the DfE’s , after regional advisory boards were disbanded last month. The boards, made up of local trust leaders, had originally been set up to advise and challenge regional directors on academy-related decisions.
Smaller trusts merging
The rebrokering to Co-op would align with a trend for smaller trusts to merge with or be absorbed by bigger trusts, as set out in recent Vlog analysis and seen in plans being put before other regional directors this month.
In the , for example, a decision is due on whether all three schools run by Abbey Academies Trust can join the 17-school Infinity Academies Trust.
And in the , the two schools run by The Villages’ Multi-Academy Trust will move to four-school Avonreach Academy Trust if this transfer is agreed by the regional director.
