The ability to offer salaries beyond the confines of the national teacher pay scale is a significant area of autonomy for academy trusts during a recruitment crisis.

But how many trusts are grasping this freedom, and what impact does this have on schools that cannot afford - or are not permitted - to stray from the status quo?

Tes has approached every academy trust in the country, along with leaders and experts from other parts of the sector, to find out.

Our investigation has identified hundreds of academies paying teacher salaries and benefits over and above the nationally set deal.

Some leaders fear this disparity is creating an “aggressive market” for teacher recruitment that could result in an “imbalanced, lottery-like system”.

So, why depart from the national scale in the first place?

Pressure on teacher pay

The national pay scale sets out the amounts that teachers can expect at different points of their professional career, which in 2023-24 ranges from £30,000 to £46,245 outside of the London area.

These amounts reflect the 6.5 per cent pay rise awarded after a long-running dispute and months of strike action by teachers last year.

But there is pressure to raise teacher pay further, with recruitment to initial teacher training courses falling far short of need, and experts fearing the trend will only worsen.

Many trust leaders say they need to pay at a higher rate than the national scale in order to attract and retain staff.

• Related: Which MATs pay teachers above the national scale?
• Need to know: How much are teachers paid in England?
• MAT Tracker: Mapping the country’s multi-academy trusts
• Background: MAT boosts teacher pay to meet living costs

As part of our MAT Tracker project, Tes asked all trusts across the country if they pay in line with national pay scales set out by the government, or deviate from that standard.

Of the 625 trusts that responded, the majority - 592 trusts - pay in line with the national rate.

But 12 trusts, running 271 academies across the country, said they exceed the pay scales.

A further 21 trusts, running 262 academies, differentiate on small points of the national deal or provide staff with additional benefits.

The extra amount paid varies from 0.1 per cent to 5.6 per cent above the national teacher pay points.

Of the 12 trusts that pay at a higher rate, 58 per cent run six or more schools.

Some 124 of the schools paying a higher rate were primaries and 125 were secondaries.

As of the beginning of June, there were 7,379 primary academies in England and 2,669 secondaries.

While Tes did not ask trusts whether they offered other forms of incentives, some volunteered that they provide recruitment and retention payments, which schools can choose to do at their own discretion, under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.

United Learning pays 5.6% above national scale

On average, United Learning pays 5.6 per cent above the figures set out in national pay and conditions by the government, as previously reported by Tes.

The trust runs 90 state schools as well as 13 independent schools, and its CEO Sir Jon Coles told Tes earlier this year that its scale helps it to pay teachers a higher rate.

Meanwhile, Ark Schools, which has 39 trusts across the West Midlands, London and South East, took the decision to pay approximately 2.5 per cent above the national scale on each pay point this year.

Economies of scale may make it easier for some larger trusts to deviate from the scales, but others have chosen to stick to nationally set rates.

Only three of the 20 biggest trusts that responded pay at a higher rate, while two said they deviate from the national scale slightly or offer other financial perks, and the remainder pay in line with national scales.

REAch2 Academy Trust, with 62 schools across the country, is one such MAT. A spokesperson told Tes there are currently “no plans to move away” from the pay scales and they “provide a helpful structure...with flexibility built-in”.

But the spokesperson added: “It is understandable that some trusts may want to explore this, especially in areas that are hard to recruit to.”

Retention is a key factor in teacher shortages. More than 40,000 teachers left the state-funded sector in the academic year 2021-22.

The reasons for this will vary, but research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that teachers have seen bigger falls in their average pay in real terms since 2010 than the public sector as a whole, while roles outside of the classroom are seeing increasing flexibility.

‘Horrendous’ cost of living

For Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of Harris Federation, the “horrendous” cost of living in London is also driving the problem. The trust has to take action to attract and retain teachers - an effort that is “really, really difficult”, he said.

The 54-school trust based in London paid on average 2 to 3 per cent above the national rise in 2023, and offers additional allowances and bonuses to staff each year.

Sir Dan said the question of whether the money for this higher pay level can be raised is made year-by-year “based on the budgetary situation”. Harris generated “over £5 million” in economies of scale last year and fundraises around £3-4 million a year, he said.

He added that smaller organisations will inevitably find paying above the national pay scales “much harder”, and warned that the challenge is even greater in the current context of squeezed budgets and supply problems.

This is true for Bengeworth Multi-Academy Trust, a two-school trust in the West Midlands. CEO David Coaché said the trust is “too small to deviate” from national scales and has “insubstantial capacity to consider it, even in the long term”.

Some smaller trusts pay more

However, some smaller trusts are paying above national rates.

For example, Durrington Multi Academy Trust, a two-trust school in West Sussex, pays teachers 1 per cent more.

Stuart Lock, CEO of Advantage Schools - a five-school trust in Bedfordshire - told Tes his trust also currently pays teaching staff 1 per cent higher than the nationally agreed scales.

Many trusts are considering ways they can increase their offer without forking out for huge pay increases, due to financial pressures.

As Tes recently revealed, the proportion of trusts with reserves at 5 per cent of their income or less had grown, leaving them more vulnerable.

One anonymous CEO in the North of England told Tes that trusts may look to adjust other terms and conditions, such as sick leave.

Their trust pays most teachers in line with national scales but sometimes differentiates for roles that are particularly hard to recruit for.

‘Market competition’

Other trust leaders hope that benefits such as flexible working will entice new recruits.

Jane Chambers, CEO of Achievement Through Collaboration, which has four schools in the North West, said the trust currently pays in line with national pay scales due to considerations about “long-term affordability”.

However, the “market competition” potentially created by other nearby trusts paying at a higher rate means that they are “reflecting upon their offer” around flexible working, she said.

Dixons Academies Trust - which has 17 schools across Yorkshire and the Humber and the North West - recently announced the introduction of a nine-day fortnight for teachers. The trust did not respond to Tes’ freedom of information request on teacher pay.

Should trusts pay consistently across schools?

While trusts were slow to take advantage of the freedoms around terms and conditions, law firm Browne Jacobson is now ”seeing more of a move towards exploring these opportunities”, said education employment partner Heather Mitchell.

But trusts increasingly find their schools offer differing conditions due to a rebrokering or merger, which can ”cause challenges”, she added.

At Athena Learning Trust, which has nine schools in the South West, one academy that joined it in 2023 had a different upper pay scale, under which staff could move up half a point every year.

However, all new appointments to Pool Academy’s upper pay scale are in line with national scales and staff members on the differentiated pay scales are expected to reach the top of the band in two years, bringing them in line with national levels.

‘Imbalanced lottery-like system’

Some leaders, including those from maintained schools, fear the current disparities in pay will increase competition for staff.

Tom Coen, headteacher at St John Payne Catholic School in Essex, which is local-authority run, thinks the differentiation “makes some schools particularly vulnerable” and creates “potentially quite an aggressive market”.

This is “something that would pose a problem” for his school in time, he said, and added: “I can see it’s already placing some schools in hugely difficult circumstances.”

And there are trust leaders who share these concerns.

Warren Carratt, CEO of Nexus MAT - a 15-school trust across Yorkshire and Humber and the East Midlands - said his trust does not deviate from the national scales for teacher pay, but there are trusts in Nottinghamshire and Doncaster, where Nexus has schools, that do.

“This heightens the risk of a more imbalanced, lottery-like system, where schools in most need can’t compete with other schools who pay more, when their need may not be as acute,” he said.

There is “no right or wrong” in this scenario, “just risks and unintended consequence”, he added.

Recruitment and retention crisis

Sara Tanton, deputy director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the current supply crisis and pay concerns mean it is “understandable why the small number of trusts that can afford higher pay may choose to”.

“But if this is necessary to solve the recruitment and retention crisis in trusts that can afford it, it will also be necessary in those that cannot, and indeed across the maintained sector,” she added.

David Thomas, a former Department for Education adviser who now runs a maths education charity and is standing as the Conservative’s parliamentary candidate for Norwich South, lacks sympathy for maintained schools in this situation.

“If they think it’s putting them at a disadvantage then it’s very easy for them to academise and no longer be at that disadvantage,” he said.

Mr Thomas also makes the case for variety within the system, a point that is echoed by Mr Moynihan.

“Every industry on the planet has varying salaries,” the Harris CEO said.

Are teacher pay changes on the horizon?

Academisation is likely to continue, whichever party forms the next government.

The current government wants more schools to join multi-academy trusts but ditched its Schools White Paper ambition for all schools to be in a trust by 2030.

Despite previously calling for a “pause” on academisation, Labour now appears more agnostic towards the sector and its freedoms. Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has made clear that Labour does not intend to meddle with school structures.

Liberal Democrats’ policy in recent years has not focused on trusts, and policy motions passed at last year’s annual conference avoided the topic altogether.

Meanwhile, some unions and sector groups are calling for a more universal approach to pay.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said there should be “national mandatory pay points as part of a national pay structure”, and added that the NEU does not want ”competition between schools”.

Ian Hartwright, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said it believes there should be a “reformed national pay structure, with mandatory minimum pay points that apply at all schools”.

Steve Rollett, deputy CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts, wants changes to the “pay-setting system”, such as the alignment of budgeting and teacher pay awards with the trust academic year, rather than the local authority financial year.

But regardless of policy tweaks or political change, it is likely that trusts will continue to seek to innovate and plug gaps where they can, either through pay or - increasingly - other means.

You can see how your school or trust compares with others on pay via our MAT Tracker interactive map