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Pay growth for academy trust leaders identified as salary outliers has flattened after government intervention, ����Vlog analysis shows.

However, there are still 11 leaders in this group who are paid more than £200,000, with one earning between £350,000 and £360,000 in his role running a two-school trust.

This is the first point at which it has been possible to assess the impact of a Department for Education crackdown on executive pay, in which 37 trusts were told in 2023 to justify their leaders’ 2021-22 salaries.

�ձ��’ analysis shows that, after a run of larger pay rises in 2022 and 2023, pay rises at the 28 trusts that are still operational saw a marked slowdown in 2024-25.

This shift comes after the trusts were told they were compliant with pay rules at the time, raising questions as to whether public scrutiny prompted trust boards to tighten their belts.

DfE scrutiny of trust leaders’ pay

The now-defunct Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in November 2023, asking them to justify the 2021-22 pay of their most senior leaders.

The letter asked the trusts whether they could demonstrate that pay was “reasonable and defensible”, properly benchmarked and appropriately challenged by trustees.

These trusts, which were in 2024, were all found to be compliant, based on their responses to the ESFA, which were not published.

�ձ��’ analysis of subsequent financial accounts shows that executive pay continued to rise at these trusts after 2021-22 - but growth slowed in 2024-25, the year after the letters were received.

In 2022-2023, 18 of the 28 CEOs had a pay rise, averaging 9.3 per cent - in a year when teachers received a 5.4 per cent rise on average.

The following year, pay rises averaged 6.1 per cent across the 17 leaders receiving a rise, compared with a 6.5 per cent increase for teachers.

But in 2024-25, only 15 of the “outlier” CEOs had a pay rise, averaging 3.3 per cent against a 5.5 per cent teacher pay rise.

The figures exclude one CEO whose pay dipped sharply in 2023-24 before rising again.

The DfE said early last year that it was preparing for another round of “executive pay engagement”. However, it has not released further details on this process and did not respond to �ձ��’ questions about it.

Two-school trust pays more than 96-school MAT

Although last year brought a slowdown in pay growth among the “outlier” leaders, some of them are still paid far more than in 2021-22, the year that triggered the DfE letters. And some are paid significantly more than peers in much bigger trusts.

For example, at Brampton Manor Trust, which runs one secondary school and one all-through school, the salary for its CEO, Dayo Olukoshi, has increased from £280,000-£285,000 in 2021-22 to £350,001-£360,000 in 2024-25.

The trust continued to operate two schools over this period, with a combined pupil roll of 4,978, according to its latest accounts.

Mr Olukoshi’s minimum salary per pupil was, therefore, £70.31.

His annual salary is at least £30,000 higher than that paid to the CEO of England’s biggest trust, United Learning, which comprises 96 schools and more than 75,000 pupils.

The found that the average CEO salary in 2024-25 was £204,548 for multi-academy trusts with more than 7,500 pupils and £152,143 for those with between 3,000 and 7,500 pupils.

The Brampton Manor Trust did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Outliers linked to trust growth

Teacher salaries are set nationally, but executive pay is determined locally by trustees.

There is no rule dictating that CEO pay rises should be aligned with teacher pay increases, but many trusts use this as a starting point in remuneration decisions.

also says pay rises should reflect organisational scale and responsibility.

Some chief executives whose salaries rose faster than teacher pay growth from 2021-22 oversaw trusts that expanded during that period.

These include leaders at Great Heights Academy Trust, Lion Academy Trust and St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, each of which increased the number of schools it operated.

In the most recent financial year, however, salary growth among these higher-paid chief executives has largely aligned with, or fallen below, the 5.5 per cent teacher pay award.

SAT exception

Flagship Learning Trust, which operates Wright Robinson College as a single-academy trust (SAT), was the only “outlier” case in which executive pay rose faster than teacher pay growth without an increase in the number of schools.

Executive headteacher Martin Haworth’s salary rose from between £185,000 and £190,000 in 2021-22 to between £280,000 and £290,000 in 2024-25 - a minimum increase of 47 per cent.

The trust’s latest accounts state that Mr Haworth voluntarily rejected an incremental pay increase in 2024-25, while still receiving a cost-of-living uplift in line with the School Teachers’ Review Body recommendations.

The secondary school has 1,810 students, meaning Mr Haworth was paid £154.70 per pupil in the most recent financial year.

The average secondary SAT leader was paid £121,097 in 2024-25, according to Kreston UK.

The Flagship Learning Trust was approached for comment.

Single-school leader receives £332 per pupil

Alexander Foreman, headteacher of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, has seen his salary increase by at least 20 per cent since 2021, earning £150,000 to £160,000 in 2024-25.

The secondary school has 452 students, meaning Mr Foreman was paid £331.86 per pupil. This is the highest per-pupil salary by more than £100 across the trusts that were questioned by the ESFA.

By comparison, the CEO of Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust (nine primaries, four secondaries and one all-through school) was paid £24.86 per pupil in 2024-25.

The Duke of York’s Royal Military School is a full state boarding school where students are residents during term time. The school, therefore, operates seven days a week.

Mr Foreman’s salary is funded through both DfE General Annual Grant funding and boarding income.

Two leaders see salaries fall

Only two leaders in the “outlier” list have seen their salaries decrease since 2021-22.

Elaine Wilson, headteacher at Mayfield Grammar School, was paid £145,000 to £150,000 in 2021-22 and in 2024-25 she had a salary of £135,000 to £140,000.

Jane Fearnley, headteacher at the Willow Tree Academy, saw her salary decrease from £145,000 to £150,000 in 2021-22 to £85,000 to £90,000 in 2024-25. The trust was contacted for comment.

‘Upward spiral’

Sam Henson, deputy chief executive of the National Governance Association, said the disparities highlighted by ����Vlog reflected long-standing structural weaknesses in how executive pay developed across the academy system.

“Executive pay was never given proper consideration when academy trusts were designed, and what followed was entirely predictable - salaries grew through a lack of framework,” he said.

“As trusts benchmarked against each other in an upward spiral, an unsustainable trajectory followed - one we are still unpicking today.”

He added that in the current financial climate, excessive executive pay risked being “both ethically indefensible and practically corrosive”.

Should CEO pay track teacher pay?

The apparent flattening of executive pay also raises questions on whether CEO pay should be more aligned with national teacher pay settlements, particularly given the ongoing teacher recruitment and retention issues.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said trust boards had to balance a range of considerations.

“The level of executive pay is something that trust boards carefully consider and keep under review,” he said.

“There are a number of factors to take into account, including the need to attract and retain leaders with sufficient knowledge and experience to run large and complex organisations.”

What does DfE guidance say?

by the DfE in November 2025 says responsibility for executive pay rests with trust boards, and that decisions must be transparent, evidence-based and capable of withstanding public scrutiny.

However, the guidance does not go as far as to introduce a national pay framework or salary bands.

Mr Henson said that while some leaders had worked with boards to establish proportionate pay, “the fundamental problem remains”.

“This isn’t just about affordability - it’s about equity and accountability,” he said.
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“If someone asks how this can be justified, there has to be a justified answer, which, unfortunately, in some of these cases, doesn’t exist.

“You cannot lead effectively when your staff see a pay differential that signals you operate by different rules,” he added.

All of the 37 “outlier” trusts that are still operational have been contacted for comment.

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