Academy bosses take pay cuts of up to £50,000 a year after crackdown

Ministers repeatedly call on state school leaders to justify excessive salaries

Increased scrutiny of state school leaders’ pay has led to a number of their salaries being frozen (PA)

Academy bosses are taking pay cuts of up to £50,000 a year following government calls for salary restraint, analysis has found.

Increased scrutiny of state school leaders’ pay has led to salaries being reduced or frozen over the past year, according to experts.

One boss took a pay cut of up to £20,000, while another saw his salary fall from £260,000-£265,000 to £215,000-£220,000, analysis by trade magazine Schools Week revealed.

Ministers have repeatedly asked academy trusts to justify the high salaries of senior staff.

But not all bosses are accepting pay cuts. The head of Telford City Technology College Trust, which runs just one school, saw his pay rise to at least £280,000 last year, accounts show.

Meanwhile, Colin Hall, head of Holland Park School – dubbed the “socialist Eton” – received a pay rise that could take his salary as high as £275,000 per year – despite being asked twice to justify the figure.

Accounts for Joseph Leckie Academy Trust, which operates only one school, reveals its chief executive Keith Whittlestone saw his pay fall from £195,000-£200,000 in 2017-18 to £185,000-£190,000 last year.

The single-school trust was one of the academy groups the government wrote to last year asking them to justify paying their executives more than £100,000.

John Tomasevic, the boss of Nova Education Trust, which operates 15 schools in the Midlands, also saw his remuneration drop from £260,000-£265,000 to £215,000-£220,000 during the same period.

Sam Henson, of the National Governance Association, said greater scrutiny of excessive executive pay had led to a “change in attitude” among academy leaders and their trustees.

Mr Henson said: “One of the risks in the early days of academy trusts was that the emerging role of trust chief executive created a ‘race to the top’ in executive pay which now appears to be levelling.

“Trusts must be conscious that it is public money that they are spending and therefore that executive leadership roles cannot attract the same premiums as they would in the corporate sector.”

Sara Ford, deputy director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We welcome the fact that trusts and their leaders have clearly considered the issue of executive pay very carefully, looked at guidance on this subject, and acted accordingly.

“They are acutely aware of the need to ensure that executive pay is commensurate with the level of responsibility involved and represents excellent value for money while valuing the commitment and outstanding performance shown by many leaders.”

Lord Agnew, academies minister, said: “We welcome efforts from academy trusts to reduce excessive pay, and will continue in our drive to challenge trusts that pay excessive salaries until we are satisfied that they represent good value for money.”

Both Nova Education Trust and Joseph Leckie Academy Trust were approached for comment.