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The Department for Education demanded evidence from 55 academy trusts on their decision making for the pay of their highest-earning executives last year, it has been revealed.

This followed on from 48 trusts being questioned about executive pay , with 28 organisations being challenged in both annual rounds.

The DfE has today published the names of trusts contacted as part of a crackdown on outlier pay over the two years.

The list from relates to pay disclosed in trusts’ 2023-24 accounts, while those contacted�� were challenged over pay disclosed in accounts from 2022-23.

Last year the DfE wrote to the chairs of 55 trusts, who were asked to provide evidence showing how their executive pay arrangements complied with the Academy Trust Handbook.

The publication of the names of trusts contacted comes after the DfE announced earlier this month that, from September, academy trusts will need approval before advertising new senior appointments with proposed remuneration above £174,000.

Around 80 MAT CEOs earned above this threshold in 2024-25.

Highest-paid trust CEOs

The trusts were selected by the DfE because either their highest-paid executive was among the top 1 per cent nationally or because they met two measures placing their pay among the top 5 per cent for organisations of a comparable size and type.

The DfE considered both the overall level of pay and executive remuneration as a proportion of the trust’s annual grant funding.

A total of 28 trusts were required to justify their pay arrangements in the latest exercise that had also been contacted in the previous round.

The earlier exercise on executive pay reported in trusts’ 2022-23 accounts resulted in letters being sent to 48 organisations in November 2024.

Of these, 36 were required to submit evidence showing that their pay arrangements complied with the Academy Trust Handbook.

A further 12 trusts entered the top 1 per cent for the first time and were sent warning letters setting out the DfE’s expectations, bringing the total challenged or warned to 48.

Seven other trusts were contacted but did not have to provide fresh evidence because they had recently demonstrated compliance and had not recorded a year-on-year salary increase.

Third round of pay scrutiny

The government has now written to trusts for three consecutive years, challenging trusts on their executive pay.

The now-defunct Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) wrote to 37 “outlier” trusts in November 2023, asking them to justify the pay of their most senior leaders during 2021-22.

The names of the 37 trusts were published in October 2024.

All were found to be compliant based on their responses to the ESFA, although the evidence they submitted was not made public.

Previous Tes 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.

Pay decisions must be ‘defensible’

The DfE said its engagement was intended to ensure that trusts had robust processes for setting salaries and that decisions represented value for money and were defensible against the public-sector market.

Trust boards are required to use a robust, evidence-based process when setting executive pay, ensure that no one is involved in determining their own remuneration, and document the reasons for their decisions, the DfE said.

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