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Multi-Academy Trust Rich List
Anyone who follows our work, which should be all of you since you’re receiving this email, will know very well that we’re quite fond of producing rich lists revealing how many people in different parts of the public sector are receiving over £100,000 each year. Our Town Hall Rich List ([link removed]) is probably our most famous with the 18th edition due out in just a few weeks time. Most of the time the reaction is as you expect, taxpayers don’t like seeing huge pay packets awarded for bureaucrats that fail to perform.

With our commitment to transparency for those spending taxpayers’ money, our latest rich list takes a look at those heading up multi-academy trusts ([link removed]) (MAT). If you’re wondering what they are, well, while private, they’re not for profit companies that run schools using funds provided by central government, rather than a local authority.
So naturally, when we saw the top earner riding high on a whopping £565,000 in 2022/23, we feared this would be yet another list of well paid executives barely justifying their title, let alone their pay packets. Add in that there were a total of 757 MAT heads receiving over £100,000, on an average of £156,491 and it doesn’t look like a pretty picture.

But…

When we dug into the actual performance of these high earners, it wasn’t quite as clear cut as you might expect. The ten highest-paid MAT heads managed a total of 290 schools, with 264 rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, despite the fact that most were previously failing schools under council control. Pretty good going. Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of the Harris Federation, who topped the rich list oversaw 52 schools, 49 of which were Good or Outstanding. Add in that he oversees 40,649 pupils, making the cost per pupil of his remuneration £13.90, and it doesn't actually look like bad value.

Jonathan Eida, the lead researcher on the project, explained ([link removed]) to the Telegraph: “Critics love to attack academy-leader pay, but the reality is that the schools they lead are delivering results for pupils. Multi-academy trust leaders oversee thousands of students, manage significant budgets, and have a proven track record of turning around struggling schools. Their strong performance in raising standards means many of these pay packets look justified.”
With ideologically-driven ministers seeking to curb the very freedoms that have made academies such a success ([link removed]) , Joanna Marchong, our investigations manager, wrote on CapX: MAT heads “manage thousands of students, oversee multi-million-pound budgets and turn failing schools around. Their average total remuneration of £156,491 is barely above the maximum for local-authority school heads, despite delivering far superior results… Labour aren’t levelling the playing field, they’re kneecapping the best players.”

Ultimately, with such large sums being involved, it’s right that multi academy trusts face rigorous scrutiny but, with results like these, there’s a fair argument that they’re justified in what they’re doing. If all those that feature on our other rich lists were performing like this, we’d probably be getting the services British taxpayers deserve.
A nation of taxpayers
Common sense politics with Mike Graham

One of our most opinionated episodes ever! Fleet Street legend and presenter of Talk's Morning Glory, Mike Graham, joins podcast host Duncan Barkes and the TPA's Elliot Keck.
They talk about the state of today's political journalism, scrapping the BBC and the current spat raging within Reform UK. Mike also chats about his time in Fleet Street and about his ratings busting radio show. You can find this must-listen episode on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , and YouTube ([link removed]) .
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A rare outbreak of commonsense
As we always say, when someone does the right thing, whichever party they’re from, we’ll happily give them the credit they deserve. So when the prime minister stood up and declared the abolition of NHS England, it was music to our ears.
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With a promise to slash regulation and regulators alike, Keir Starmer took the axe to the UK’s largest and most expensive quango. Of course, we’ve heard this sort of thing before. We remember well the coalition’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’ and how well that went. With this in mind William Yarwood, our media campaign manager, sat down to give us his take ([link removed]) : “Since coming to office, Labour has set up 27 new quangos including the office for value for money which isn’t going to save any money, GB Energy which isn’t going to produce any energy, and the national wealth fund which isn’t going to raise any wealth… Politicians are addicted to farming out responsibility.”
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
Threshold freezes hammering taxpayers

Once upon a time, the higher and additional rates of income tax were meant to affect only those earning significantly more than the average taxpayer. But thanks to ongoing threshold freezes, more and more hard-working Brits are being stung by these rates.
New TPA analysis ([link removed]) this week revealed that the higher rate of 40p now kicks in at just 37.6 per cent of the average wage compared to 83 per cent higher in 2010. The additional rate of 45p now hits someone earning 3.4 times average earnings when it used to be 6.2 times. Darwin Friend, our head of research, hit the nail on the head when he shared our findings ([link removed]) with the Telegraph: “Our tax system has gone from being progressive to punishing, with even relatively modest earners now paying eye-watering tax rates. While those on low wages have seen frozen thresholds draining their incomes, the damage done by the higher and additional-rate freezes must not be ignored given their role in disincentivising work."
Parliamentary traffic wardens

The saying may go that charity begins at home but perhaps our politicians should also think about tackling waste on their own doorstep ([link removed]) . This week we learnt that £4.3 million has been dished out to pay for traffic wardens on the parliamentary estate since April 2019, more than £2,000 a day!
Elliot was having none of it ([link removed]) when he spoke to the Spectator: “No wonder public spending is out of control when parliament itself has fallen asleep at the wheel as its own costs have spiralled. Taxpayers will be expecting the authorities to slam the brakes on this unnecessary spending and find a much cheaper system for managing traffic on the estate.” Quite right!
Blog of the week
The law works when there's the will to enforce it

In this week’s blog, William argues that many of the problems facing the country, from illegal migration to benefit fraudsters, could be solved if ministers simply enforced existing laws and showed just a smidge of political will ([link removed]) .
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Using the example of Insulate Britain ([link removed]) (remember them?) Will argues: “For years, climate activists were able to block roads, disrupt cities, and make people’s lives a misery with little consequence. But the moment serious legal penalties were introduced and actually enforced, these disruptive stunts ground to a halt… The Insulate Britain saga proves that government action can be swift and effective when ministers have the will to enforce the law. The real question is: why isn’t this approach applied across the board?"
War on Waste
A classic of the genre this week from supposedly cash-strapped Kent county council as it was revealed that £30,000 has been spent on driving lessons for refugees ([link removed]) in the last three years, including £20k in the last 12 months.

With Brits having to pay through the nose for their own lessons, it’s not right for KCC to be doling them out for free to refugees. KCC, like any other town hall offering the same, should immediately close the scheme.

Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager

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