£174,000, and a rule that academy bosses cannot outpace their teachers
What happened
On 29 September 2026, the Department for Education published new guidance called "Senior pay controls for academy trusts". The controls it explains sit in the 2026 Academy Trust Handbook and take effect from 1 October 2026. From that date, an academy trust must get DfE approval in two situations. The first is before advertising a new appointment where the proposed executive pay package would be more than £174,000, pro-rata for part-time staff, or where performance-related pay would go above £25,000. The second has no money threshold at all. If a trust wants to increase executive pay at a faster rate than the pay of its own teachers, it must seek approval regardless of the sums involved. The guidance is careful about what counts as pay. Remuneration covers base salary, fees, any pension above the normal level available to comparable staff, and allowances, meaning extra cash or benefits in kind on top of the package. Performance-related pay sits outside that definition and is considered separately. The controls apply to chief executives and accounting officers, chief financial officers and finance directors, executive head teachers and principals, and any other executive leadership post. The DfE also updated its longer-standing guidance, "Setting executive salaries: guidance for academy trusts", on the same day.
Why this matters
Academy trusts run a large share of England's schools, and they set their own pay. That freedom is deliberate, and it has produced some genuinely difficult headlines: chief executives on salaries well above what a council director or a hospital chief executive would earn, sometimes at trusts whose schools were struggling. The DfE's own guidance does not dodge this. It says plainly that high pay in the academies sector "has been a divisive issue that has been a topic of media scrutiny", and that boards should be conscious their use of public money must represent best value. What is new here is the second rule, and it is the more interesting one. Capping the top of the range is a familiar idea. Tying executive pay increases to teachers' pay increases is not. It turns a question about absolute amounts into a question about fairness inside the same organisation. The practical effect is that a trust cannot give its chief executive a 6% rise in a year when its teachers got 3%, without going to the department and making a case for it. That applies whether the chief executive is on £180,000 or £90,000. For teachers, who have spent several years watching pay awards argued over in public, that is a change with some symbolic weight. For trust boards, it is a new piece of arithmetic they will have to do every year.
What the evidence actually says
The £174,000 figure is not arbitrary. The DfE says it aligns with HM Treasury's senior pay controls for appointments in central government and for further education colleges. The stated aim is a consistent point at which higher pay gets extra scrutiny, and the guidance says this brings academy trusts into line with other senior public sector positions. The comparison rule is more demanding than it first sounds, and trusts should read it closely. Trusts must compare any proposed increase in executive pay against the average percentage increase across the trust's own teaching workforce over the same period. Teachers here means staff in teaching posts whose pay is set through teacher pay arrangements. Executive leaders means primarily non-teaching leadership staff held to account for standards across the trust. Crucially, the comparison must reflect actual pay changes within the trust, including the annual pay award, pay progression and other relevant changes. The guidance says explicitly that it should not be based solely on the national teacher pay award. Trusts calculate this themselves, must be able to explain the method, and must provide supporting evidence if asked. The DfE's stated expectation is that executive pay must not increase at a faster rate than teachers' pay. It is not an absolute bar. The guidance allows for applications in exceptional cases, giving the example of responsibilities increasing substantially because of a large expansion. Where a proposed increase exceeds the teacher figure, a trust must be able to show why it is justified, proportionate and best value. The guidance also acknowledges that trusts remain bound by employment law and existing contracts, which will limit how quickly some of this can bite.
Practical advice
If you are a trustee, chair, accounting officer or governance professional: - Note the date. The controls are effective from 1 October 2026, which is tomorrow. If you are about to advertise a senior post, check the threshold before the advert goes out, not after. - Work out now how you will calculate your trust's average teacher pay increase. Doing it retrospectively, under time pressure, in the middle of a recruitment, is the worst moment. - Remember that remuneration includes allowances and enhanced pension, not just salary. It is easy to cross £174,000 without a salary of £174,000. - Read the new guidance alongside "Setting executive salaries", which was refreshed the same day, and the Academy Trust Handbook. - Keep a written record of your reasoning. The guidance anticipates that you may be asked for evidence. If you are a parent, teacher or governor without a finance role: - Academy trusts publish their accounts, which include the pay bands of their highest paid staff. They are public documents. - If executive pay at your trust concerns you, the annual report and the trust's remuneration committee are the right places to start asking. - Trust boards generally welcome informed questions more than people expect. An informed question at the right meeting is worth a great deal more than a complaint afterwards.
What to know
From 1 October 2026, academy trusts in England must obtain DfE approval before advertising an executive post where proposed remuneration exceeds £174,000 pro-rata, or where performance-related pay would exceed £25,000. Separately, and with no financial threshold, approval is required wherever a trust wants to increase executive pay faster than the pay of its own teachers. Remuneration includes salary, fees, enhanced pension and allowances. The £174,000 threshold matches HM Treasury controls for central government and further education colleges. Trusts must compare executive increases against the actual average percentage increase for their own teaching workforce, not the national pay award, and must be able to evidence how they calculated it. Exceptional cases can still be argued, for example where a role has grown substantially. Sources: Department for Education, "Senior pay controls for academy trusts", 29 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-pay-controls-for-academy-trusts. Department for Education, "Setting executive salaries: guidance for academy trusts", updated 29 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-executive-salaries-guidance-for-academy-trusts. Department for Education, "Academy Trust Handbook", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook. This article is for general information. It is not legal, employment or financial advice, and it does not replace advice from a qualified professional. Academy trusts should take their own professional advice on pay decisions.
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