A multi-academy trust has paid out more than £2.3 million in redundancy and severance payments over the past two years following a major restructure, accounts reveal.

The disclosure comes after the trust warned that it was “on the brink of being broken up” and needed to tackle multi-million-pound annual deficits. 

The latest annual accounts for Academies Enterprise Trust show that it paid £558,000 in redundancy payments and another £572,000 in severance payments in 2019-20.

The year before, it spent £416,000 on redundancies and £824,000 on severance payments.

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A new report into the chain’s finances reveals that it has also spent close to a quarter of a million pounds on other restructuring costs in 2019-20.

In total, Academies Enterprise Trust has spent £1,377,000 on redundancy, severance and restructure costs in 2019-20 and £1,240,000 on redundancy and severance in 2018-19.

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The highest single payment made in the most recent accounts was £32,000. Three other members of staff were paid around £25,000 each and another was given £16,571 in 2019-20.

In 2018-19, the trust’s spending included two non-statutory/non-contractual severance payments of £45,999.

A spokesperson for AET said: “Redundancy and severance costs were incurred due to restructuring and performance management within the trust, establishing AET as a much stronger MAT with better educational outcomes and much-improved operations. 

“Overall, severance payments were £250,000 less than in the previous reporting year.”

AET revealed last year that it had been on the brink of being broken up and that its chief executive, Julian Drinkall, had to make “swingeing cuts initially” to help eliminate annual £8 million deficits.

At the time of the restructuring, there was a threat of a vote of no confidence from staff unions in 2019, although a vote was not ultimately held.

Mr Drinkall, who has been the chief executive of the trust since 2016, has been credited with helping to turn it around.

Earlier this year, AET’s chair, David Hall, said that the trust today is “simply unrecognisable from the organisation that was the bane of the sector back in 2016”.

AET was one of the first fast-growing national academy chains but was banned from taking on any more schools in 2013 by the Department for Education because of concerns about its performance.

At its largest, the trust was responsible for 77 schools. It now runs 58 primary, secondary and special schools educating 33,000 children.

Mr Drinkall is set to leave AET this year to play a leading role at the new the Aga Khan schools organisation, which will deliver education across 15 countries.