Academies fuel explosion in school costs

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/apr/16/academies-fuel-explosion-in-school-costs

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Cllr Jonny Crawshaw outlines the financial perils of an education sector that is no longer fit for purpose

There is undoubtedly a crisis of funding hitting classrooms across England’s secondary education sector (Half of England’s state secondaries forced to cut staff in budget squeeze, poll finds, 10 April). It is not as simple as a lack of cash coming into schools, however (though this is a significant contributing factor).

A cursory look at the published accounts of the many multi‑academy trusts (Mats), which now control at least 80% of state secondary schools in England, shows an explosion in chief executive pay, with many new ancillary roles – chief finance officers, executive headteachers and trust performance directors – also adding to “central services” bills. Many of these roles didn’t exist a decade ago, yet they leach millions of pounds each year out of the classroom and into the bank balances of the disproportionately white, middle‑class men who fill them.

Take my home town of York as an example: where once the 63 state schools were maintained by a director of children’s services on circa £110,000 and an assistant director of education on circa £80,000, we now have six Mats whose focus is increasingly drawn outside the city boundaries. Together they now employ six CEOs on salaries ranging from at least £130,000 to more than £160,000, six CFOs and several executive heads, and sport a combined wage bill for “key management personnel” that exceeds £7m – money the former education authority could only dream of. Meanwhile, more than a third of the city’s schools remain under the local authority.

With school attendance tanking, young people’s wellbeing in the doldrums and a special education needs system in crisis, public money that should be going into the classroom is instead going on duplicated roles and high individual salaries. This, and the lack of any meaningful local accountability, is the real scandal that needs addressing if we are to resolve the financial perils of an education sector that is no longer fit for purpose.Cllr Jonny CrawshawLabour, City of York council

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