Why are school academy bosses paid so much?

Analysis: As government pressure leads to salary cuts, Eleanor Busby looks at how ministers allowed pay to get out of control in the first place

Most secondary schools are now academies (iStock)

A number of state-school leaders across the country now receive six-figure salaries – and one academy chief takes home up to £450,000-a-year, which is three times the salary of the prime minister.

The government has repeatedly been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money on excessive salaries for academy trust bosses – and, in recent years, ministers have begun calling on academies to justify high pay.

Newly published financial accounts of academy chains suggest that the increased scrutiny of salaries has led to a number of leaders accepting five-figure pay cuts or pay freezes in the past year.