Each year academies and MATs are required to publish their accounts. These accounts include a table showing the salary bands for staff paid more than £60,000. Each year, I track the changes for academies and MATs across one geographical area. Sadly, the table isn’t complete for 2025, as a small number of schools and MATs still have not seen their account for 2024/25 published at Companies House.
| MAT | highest salary band in annual accounts | |||
| SALARIES 2024 | 2025 | difference | ||
| 1 | £90,000 | £100,000 | £10,000 | 11% |
| 2 | £140,000 | £151,000 | £11,000 | 8% |
| 3 | £140,000 | £160,000 | £20,000 | 14% |
| 4 | £180,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 5 | £260,000 | £270,000 | £10,000 | 4% |
| 6 | £110,000 | £120,000 | £10,000 | 9% |
| 7 | £90,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 8 | £120,000 | £140,000 | £20,000 | 17% |
| 9 | £130,000 | £130,000 | £0 | 0% |
| 10 | £170,000 | £250,000 | £80,000 | 47% |
| 11 | £90,000 | £100,000 | £10,000 | 11% |
| 12 | £150,000 | £170,000 | £20,000 | 13% |
| 13 | £90,000 | £110,000 | £20,000 | 22% |
| 14 | £120,000 | £120,000 | £0 | 0% |
| 15 | £130,000 | £150,000 | £20,000 | 15% |
| 16 | £140,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 17 | £160,000 | £190,000 | £30,000 | 19% |
| 18 | £120,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 19 | £190,000 | £200,000 | £10,000 | 5% |
| 20 | £90,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 21 | £120,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 22 | £130,000 | £120,000 | -£10,000 | -8% |
| 23 | £140,000 | £0 | 0% | |
| 24 | £140,000 | £150,000 | £10,000 | 7% |
| 25 | £190,000 | £210,000 | £20,000 | 11% |
| 26 | £150,000 | £160,000 | £10,000 | 7% |
In 2023/24 the bands for highest paid staff member in an academy or MAT in this group of academies ranged from £90-100,00 to £260,000-£270,000. In 2024/25 the range, so far, is from £100,000-£110,000 to £270,000-£280,000.
Ten of the 26 reporting bodies (there were 17 with details for both years) saw an increase of more than 10% in the band in which their highest earner was placed. This took at least six of the reporting bodies into a band above that of the salary of the Director of Children’s Services in the authority.
Of course, the salary does not reveal the number and size and complexity of schools within the MAT, not all of which are within the geographical area of the local authority where the schools studied are located. However, there does seem to be an element of the Wild West and Frontierland in general around the issue of salaries for senior leaders.
This lack of control over public spending by the DfE mirrors a long-standing refusal to grasp the nettle of what is an Executive Headteacher, and how should they be remunerated.
If the direction of travel, foreshadowed in the recent White Paper comes about, and all schools become academies, then the DfE will be directly responsible for all schools. If such a situation comes about, then there will need to be clear rules about how much freedom over the spending of public money should be allowed.
Regiments don’t bid up the pay of their colonels, and the salaries for most public sector jobs are not subject to the vagaries of the market: it’s time to look again at how senior staff in the school sector are paid.
Is it justifiable to pay Chief Executives of MATs more than Directors of Children’s Services? Should there be a book of some colour that Trustees of MATs should consult when deciding pay and conditions, and other employment matters. Or should the market remain the deciding factor in deciding the employment rights of the leaders of our state schools in England?
John Howson 