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One in four leaders at England’s largest academy trusts had a bigger proportional pay rise than teachers last year, ����Vlog analysis reveals.

Leaders at the 68 trusts running 25 or more schools received a combined salary of at least £13.6 million in 2024-25, analysis of the latest published accounts shows.

Six chief executives saw their pay increase by at least £30,000, while five had a rise of around £20,000.

Just over one in four (26 per cent) saw their salaries increase by between £10,000 and £15,000.

The same proportion had a pay increase of more than 5.5 per cent - the national pay rise for teachers and leaders in 2024-25.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said there is “no justification for spiralling CEO pay”, adding that these salary increases are “completely tone deaf”.

However, the Confederation of School Trusts said it expects salaries for chief executives at the larger trusts to reflect the additional responsibilities that come with those jobs.

MAT leader pay

Academy trusts generally list their top earner’s pay in bands, rather than providing specific figures. ����Vlog calculated the minimum pay increase for CEOs from the top of their pay band in 2023-24 to the bottom of their pay band in 2024-25.

����Vlog was also provided with the exact salaries of nine CEOs.

Our investigation reveals 32 CEOs earned at least £200,000 in 2024-25. Of these, 12 earned more than £250,000 and five earned more than £290,000.

In the previous year six CEOs earned more than £250,000, and five earned more than £290,000.

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

Last year was the first time that the average CEO salary in a large MAT exceeded £200,000, Kreston UK says.

����Vlog also revealed yesterday that some leaders of much smaller trusts that were previously named as being “outliers” on CEO pay were paid up to £360,000 last year.

Sam Henson, deputy chief executive of the National Governance Association (NGA), said there are cases where the “value to the taxpayer must be questioned”.

“A number of CEO salaries now exceed that of the prime minister [£166,000], at a time when both the national finances and school and trust budgets are under significant pressure,” he said.

The minimum average pay rise for CEOs across the 68 trusts was 4.8 per cent, and the maximum was 12 per cent.

Some 18 leaders had a rise of more than the 5.5 per cent given to teachers in 2024-25.

This proportion - 26 per cent - is higher than the year before, when CEOs at 11 out of the 59 trusts with 25 schools or more received a rise above the national 6.5 per cent pay deal for teachers.

Exact salaries disclosed

The exact salaries for eight CEOs were listed in the accounts analysed by ����Vlog, and one trust provided this figure when approached.

Sir Hamid Patel, CEO of Star Academies, had the highest salary of this group, earning £299,220 in 2024-25, slightly up from £296,392 the previous year.

At the time of the May 2025 census, Star Academies operated 36 schools (10 primary, 24 secondary and two all-through schools) and had a combined pupil roll of 23,752, meaning Sir Hamid was paid £12.60 per pupil.

Tom Campbell, CEO of E-ACT, saw his salary increase by 5.3 per cent, from £229,570 in 2023-24 to £241,669 in 2024-25.

E-ACT comprised 21 primaries, 14 secondaries, two all-through schools and one special school in 2024-25. It had 23,760 pupils across its academies, according to its latest accounts. This means Mr Campbell was paid £10.17 per pupil.

The CEO who saw the highest pay increase in the group of trusts that provided exact salaries to ����Vlog was Dr Tim Coulson, who was CEO of Unity Schools Partnership until September 2025. Now the director general of the Department for Education’s regions group, he earned £209,000 in 2024-25 as CEO, up 11.6 per cent from £187,288 the previous year.

Unity Schools Partnership operated 40 academies (26 primaries, nine secondaries and five special schools), and had 16,425 pupils on roll in 2024-25, meaning Dr Coulson was paid £12.72 per pupil.

Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust, was the only MAT leader in this group to see his salary drop, from £202,203 in 2023-24 to £198,663 in 2024-25. Mr Rees was named as the chair of the government’s advisory group on inclusion in March 2025. His trust had a pupil roll of 34,567, meaning he was paid £5.70 per pupil.

Ormiston said this salary change reflected “combined adjustment to salary and internal benefits”.

Biggest salary increases

Among the trusts that provided banded salary ranges, Chris Wheatley, CEO of the Flying High Trust, saw his salary increase by at least 15.8 per cent, from £185,000-£190,000 in 2023-24 to £220,000-£225,000 in 2024-25.

Flying High Trust operates 38 primary schools, with a combined roll of 8,385 at the October 2025 census. This means Mr Wheatley was paid at least £26.24 per pupil.

Rebecca Boomer-Clark, CEO of Lift Schools, the fifth-biggest trust in England with 58 schools (31 primaries, 22 secondaries and five special schools), saw a rise of at least £30,000. She was paid between £280,000 and £285,000 in 2024-25, up from £245,000 to £250,000 the previous year.

The trust has around 33,000 pupils on roll, meaning Ms Boomer-Clark was paid at least £8.48 per pupil.

Lift Schools declined to comment on this salary increase.

Stuart Burns, CEO of the David Ross Education Trust until September 2025, saw his salary increase by at least 9.5 per cent in his final year to £230,000-£240,000.

The trust operates 24 primaries, 10 secondaries, one all-through school and one special school, with a combined roll of 14,450. This means Mr Burns was paid at least £15.91 per pupil.

Paul James, CEO of River Learning Trust, received a salary of £190,000-£195,000 in 2024-24, up from £170,000-£175,00 the previous year.

River Learning Trust runs 20 primaries, 10 secondaries and one alternative provision setting, with a combined roll of 16,621. This means Mr James was paid at least £11.43 per pupil.

Sir Paul Tarn, CEO of Delta Academies Trust until September 2025, saw his salary rise from at least £290,000 in 2023-24 to at least £315,000 in 2024-25.

The trust runs 39 primaries, 24 secondaries, one all-through school and two alternative provision settings, with a combined roll of around 33,000 pupils, putting Sir Paul’s pay at approximately £9.55 per pupil.

Samira Sadeghi, director of trust governance at the Conferation of School Trusts, said: “Trust boards must have clear pay policies and robust decision making, and we recommend that they should consider pay rates and changes overall in the organisation - pay changes are not just about cost of living.

“They might also reflect changes to the number of schools in a trust, or other changes to how it operates.”

The highest-paid CEOs

Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of the Harris Federation, remains the highest-paid MAT leader in the country.

Sir Dan’s pay increased from £515,000-£520,000 to £530,000-£535,000 - a minimum 1.9 per cent increase. His salary in 2022-23 was £485,000-£490,000. Sir Dan’s salary in 2024-25 was equivalent to at least £12.32 per pupil.

Simon Beamish, CEO of Leigh Academies Trust, earned £380,000-£390,000, up from £350,000-£360,000. His salary increased by at least £40,000 from 2022-23 to 2023-24. Mr Beamish’s salary in 2024-25 was equivalent to around £17 per pupil.

Of the biggest MATs, the chief executives of the following trusts earned at least £250,000 in 2024-25: the Harris Federation, Leigh Academies Trust, Delta Academies Trust, United Learning, Star Academies, Lift Schools, Shaw Education Trust, Spencer Academies Trust, LEAD Academy Trust, the Kemnal Academies Trust and Bourne Education Trust.

Sir Jon Coles, CEO of the biggest MAT, United Learning, saw his salary increase from £290,000-£300,000 to £310,000-£320,000 - a minimum 3.3 per cent increase. This was equivalent to around £4 per pupil.

Sir Jon is remunerated by the United Church Schools Trust, which also includes 14 independent schools.

No CEO pay framework

published by the Department for Education 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 Kebede said the NEU has “long called for a cap on CEO pay”.

“Trusts should not be allowed to divert vital school funds to pay the bloated salaries of CEOs,” he said.

“Teacher pay is regularly behind inflation, and the current pay proposal from the government is unfunded. That is why teachers and support staff are voting in our current indicative ballot to save education.”

The NGA has also long called on the government to consider introducing a national framework for CEO pay.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, will introduce unified national pay scales for teachers, support staff and maintained school leaders across the sector.

However, this will not include trust leaders. Mr Henson said: “It is difficult to justify this anomaly.”

In a recent survey of its members, the NGA found that 67 per cent of MAT trustees wanted guidance on suggested pay bands for leaders, compared with just 10 per cent who did not.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the union would “certainly be interested” in discussing ideas for a national CEO pay framework.

“However, it is hard to see how this would be implemented across a system where salaries are already contractually agreed,” he added.

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