CASE Report
May 2023

Organising English schools through multi-academy trusts is costing millions of pounds in extra management overheads, when compared to schools run by local authorities - taking money from classrooms.

 

More than 10,000 schools, about half of all of England’s state-funded institutions, are academies, arranged in over 2,400 academy trusts.

 

The 50 largest academy trusts have around 850k learners.

 

The 10 largest local authorities are responsible for around 870k learners.​

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• Academies do not provide better quality education than local authority schools, with no evidence that forced academisation guarantees improvement. 

• The DfE claims all schools are funded at the same level, so extra spending on management means lower classroom spending.

• The chief executives of the largest trusts earn more than directors of education in even the biggest local authorities.

• In 2021-22 the 10 largest local authorities spent £3.7 million on the salaries of employees on more than £130,000. The 50 largest academy trusts spent £27.8 million.

• Since 2010, the leaders of the 10 largest academy trusts have seen salary increases four times that of experienced classroom teachers.

• Between 2017 and 2022 top pay at the 20 largest trusts rose 12 per cent, whilst teachers saw their salaries rise 7.6 per cent.

• Government rhetoric on restraining high pay among academy trusts has com to nothing.

• The introduction of Regional Schools Directors to oversee the academies sector has created an additional 500 civil servants at a cost of more than £30 million a year.

• As trusts get larger, their per-pupil costs on highly-paid managers increase, negating economies of scale.

• Smaller trusts do not spend as much per pupil on highly paid managers, but they still easily outrstip local authorities.

• Academies pay heads more and teachers less than local authority maintained schools.