There is “no justification” for the Department for Education not publishing the actual salaries of academy trust senior executives and trustees, the teaching union NASUWT says in a new report published today.
All schools and academy trust leadership salaries should be on the public record, the report argues.
Launched as the teaching union’s annual conference gets underway this morning, the report, Where has all the money gone?, argues that there is “no justification for the DfE’s continued failure to report the actual salaries of academy trust senior executives”, particularly after the auditor general said its use of reporting exemptions to withhold pay details “reduces transparency”.
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The auditor general, in the academies consolidated annual report and accounts: 2016 to 2017, said: “The use of some exemptions, provided by HM Treasury, from standard reporting requirements - including on related-party transactions and senior staff pay - has made production of the first sets of Academy Sector Accounts practical, but ongoing use of these exemptions reduces transparency.”
The NASUWT insists that the most important omission in the DfE’s reporting is that salaries above £200,000 are grouped into one band, and called on the department to publish all salary figures in £10,000 bands.
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The report reads: “As long as the DfE fails to do so, it will be hiding the reality of excessive leadership pay in the academy sector.”
It looks into the school funding crisis and argues that academy leadership pay is one of the factors preventing funds from reaching the areas that need them the most.
The report reads: “Despite the school funding squeeze since 2010, much education spending still does not reach the front line.
“Substantial levels of unspent reserves, inefficient and wasteful school-level procurement, together with excessive levels of academy trustee and CEO leadership pay, are now hardwired into the school system.”
The report also highlights “eye-watering” supply agency expenses faced by schools.
It says: “Expenditure by schools and academy trusts on supply agencies has reached eye-watering proportions.
“The NASUWT’s research indicates that in 2015-16, £792 million was paid to supply agencies by schools and academy trusts.”
A recent Tes investigation found that at least seven academy leaders were earning salaries of a quarter of a million pounds or more, according to the latest academy accounts.
The DfE has been approached for comment.
