Earning curve
Educashun newz , Issue 1674 CHIEF executive pay at multi-academy trusts (MATs) continues to escalate, following the demise of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

The funding body was reluctant to use its powers to intervene over whopping salaries. But it did at least write to trusts asking them to justify the highest (Eye 1470); and it helpfully published a list of all the MATs it had contacted. The last one, based on 2022 data and published in October 2024, showed 37 school trusts being asked to explain how fat cat salaries gave good value for public money.

MAT scan
After ESFA's functions were taken into the Department for Education (DfE) last year, at least the education press is keeping watch on MAT chief executive pay. Schools Week last week calculated from published trust accounts that bosses earn an average of £140,000, with many on more than £200,000.

The highest paid remains Harris Academies boss Dan Moynihan, now on more than £500,000. But he is at least in charge of 55 schools, making him possibly better value for money than third-placed Dayo Olukoshi, paid £350,000 by Brampton Manor Trust, which has just two east London secondary schools.

Close to home
Will the DfE take action over high MAT executive pay, though, when its own officials have enjoyed the lucrative situation?

The department recently recruited former Mulberry Schools Trust chief executive Vanessa Ogden as its regional director for London. Ogden's Mulberry salary didn't appear on the final ESFA list, but thanks to a whopping raise since 2022 she is recorded in the trust's latest accounts as receiving between £230,000 and £240,000, plus a further £70,000 in pension, last year.

The Mulberry Trust comprises eight secondary and five primary schools.