Academy trusts are both charities and companies limited by guarantee and must operate to further the trust’s educational charitable purpose.
We are accountable to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), the Secretary of State for Education as principal regulator, and the communities they serve for the education they provide to pupils.
It is essential that we have the best people to lead our schools but, at the same time, it is important that salaries:
- can be justified and are in the best interests of the Academy Trust
- reflect the individual’s responsibilities
- demonstrate value for money
Academy trusts are free to set their own salaries for staff. This places an even greater responsibility on the board to ensure that the use of public money represents the best value for money, and that decisions are underpinned by the 7 principles of public life, as set out by Lord Nolan, which are:
The Trust must publish on its website in a separate readily accessible form the number of employees whose benefits exceed £100k, in £10k bandings, as an extract from the disclosure in its financial statements for the previous year ended 31 August. Benefits for this purpose include salary, employers’ pension contributions, other taxable benefits and termination payments. When the academy has entered into an off-payroll arrangement with someone who is not an employee, the amount paid by the trust for that person’s work for the trust must also be included in the website disclosure where payment exceeds £100K as if they were an employee.