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.

But how did we get to the point where school bosses were awarded such large salaries?

The number of academies, which are state schools independent of local councils, grew dramatically after 2010 when Michael Gove became education secretary. Most secondary schools are now academies.

The Conservative government has heavily endorsed academies, arguing that the programme has helped to drive schools improvement across the sector.

Most academies are run by autonomous trusts, which decide how to remunerate their bosses, and they have come under fire for not adequately explaining why decisions were taken to hand out excessive salaries.

England’s highest-paid academy boss, Sir Dan Moynihan, has a salary and benefits package of £550,000 for leading the Harris Federation, which runs 48 schools in and around London.

The academy trust has previously argued that his pay is justified because the organisation has turned around a number of failing schools and improved the progress of disadvantaged kids.

For many, this eye-watering salary will still not sit easily, but ministers appear to be more concerned about the headteachers who run only one school while also receiving a large pay packet.

For example, one of the best-paid state-school heads in the country recently saw his pay rise to £270,000-£275,000 per year.

Colin Hall, head of Holland Park School – dubbed the “socialist Eton” – has seen his salary rocket in recent years despite twice being asked by ministers to justify the salary.

These large salaries could become less common in the future, however, now that the government and teaching unions have begun singing from the same hymn sheet.

In addition, the argument for rising academy bosses’ pay has become increasingly difficult as state schools struggle to make ends meet.

Chief executives who want a pay rise will have to convince trustees that they are worth the cash at a time when schools are adopting four-and-a-half-day weeks and asking parents to donate resources because of funding cuts.