The education system should work towards all schools being run by trusts by 2030, an academies leader has said.

However, Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), has said this should not be achieved through forced academisation.

The target for moving toward a single status in the school system is part of the CST’s new “white paper” on the future of schools.

Background:  Scrap academies programme says ex DfE adviser.

Opinion: Forced academisation is not the answer

Scrutiny: DfE wants more oversight of maintained school finances

The organisation which represents academy trusts has also said schools should be given financial incentives to join trusts and that the government should commit to keeping per pupil funding in line with inflation and increasing cost pressures.

Its also recommends the creation of a new schools regulator reporting to directly to Parliament, and which is not part of the Department for Education, to take on the work of regional schools commissioners (RSCs) and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Ms Cruddas said: “We are not proposing compulsory academisation. Academisation is not and has never been the panacea.

“I am talking about the power of a group of schools working together in deep partnership overseen by single governing board.

“It has taken a 10-year horizon for schools to start to form groups.

“To complete this journey is likely to take another 10 years. Therefore, the time horizon for the system to work towards all schools in a strong and sustainable group is probably 2030.

“And let me be clear, this is about focusing direction. It is not about compulsion.”

The CST white paper also makes recommendations on the future of school funding, governance and teacher training.

They include:

• Creating a single regulator bringing the functions of the RSCs and ESFA together in a non-departmental government body reporting directly to Parliament. 
• Introduce curriculum knowledge into initial teacher education.
• Increase funding to at least  match spending per pupil in 2015-16 and to further raise the rate of post-16 funding.
• Set a timeline for passing legislation to implement the national funding formula and make funding available for a transition period.
• Create a new standard or code of trust governance.
• Pass legislation allowing intervention in underperforming schools to happen at trust level because the trust is the accountable body.
• Establish “a body of evidence that underpins teaching”, which is shared jointly by the Education Endowment Foundation and Chartered College of Teaching.