United Learning, the country’s biggest multi-academy trust, is using its reserves to fund a substantially higher pay rise for teachers than the 6.5 per cent awarded by the government because of the cost-of-living pressures faced by staff.
Its latest annual accounts state that directors were to use reserves to fund “a meaningfully higher rate of pay than the equivalent in national pay and conditions” in 2023-24.
On average, United Learning is paying 5.6 per cent above the figures set out in national pay and conditions by the government for 2023-24, Tes understands.
At the lowest pay band, this rises to 9.5 per cent above national pay rates.
Sir Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning, said that while the trust has paid above the national award for some time, it decided to make a “particularly big pay award” this year, because of the cost-of-living pressures.
Sir Jon said that the trust’s approach was to “bottom load” pay awards “so that the lowest-paid staff got the biggest percentage rise - reflecting the fact that inflationary pressures were highest in ‘core’ spending areas, like food, and therefore affected the least well paid the most”.
The accounts note that the pay award reflects both a consideration of current cost-of-living pressures and “the excellence and dedication of colleagues”.
Academies have the freedom to establish their own pay scales outside of the national pay and conditions set by government each year. However, the Confederation of School Trusts’ national school trust survey last year found that just 2 per cent of trust leaders did not follow the national arrangements for either teachers or support staff.
United Learning has built reserves ‘for a rainy day’
The accounts say the trust will also use reserves in the current financial year - which runs up to August 2024 for academies - to invest in school buildings and IT infrastructure, and fund pupil mental health counselling support.
According to the accounts, United Learning had reserves of £44.5 million in unrestricted funds, up from £31.5 million in 2021-22.
Sir Jon told Tes that the trust had built its reserves “for a rainy day”.
“The need is to spend more on pay as best we can because the labour market is extremely difficult.”
Asked if the trust’s ability to pay a higher rate than the national pay scales was an example of the system favouring bigger MATs, Sir Jon said that the scale of the trust helps.
Sir Jon said: “I do think our scale helps us pay more: we get the same funding as everyone else and only the same freedoms as any other academy or trust.
“But scale helps us to run ‘back office’ functions as efficiently as possible so we can put more money back into pupil-facing work, including teacher pay,” he added.
Tes understands that Sir Jon’s salary has increased in line with the pay rises across the trust.
His salary is not paid by United Learning Trust but by the United Church Schools Trust (UCST) - another charity that is part of the United Learning group.
The UCST has not yet published its accounts for 2022-23. In 2021-22, Sir Jon was paid an annual salary of between £250,001 and £260,000. Tes has asked United Learning Trust how much Sir Jon was paid in 2022-23 and was told his salary rose by 5 per cent in line with the standard cost-of-living award.
The number of schools in United Learning Trust rose from 75 in 2022 to 81 last year.
United Learning’s total free reserves for the 2022-23 financial year were £44.5 million, up from £31.55 million in 2022, according to its accounts.
Total staff costs for the trust rose to £315,502,000 in 2022-23, compared with £293,649,000 in 2021-22.
The number of staff employed by the trust increased from 6,902 in 2022 to 7,332 in 2023.
There has been concern expressed by some leaders that the government’s 6.5 per cent pay offer would place “huge pressure” on already “exhausted school funding”.
The government is set to put forward a proposed pay award to the School Teachers’ Review Body next month, with a final decision to be made in the summer for the 2024-25 pay award.
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