Academy Trust Teacher Pay Transparency Index (39 Trusts)
39 academy trusts, graded by what we could verify about teacher pay: above scale, national scale, live dispute or uncertain. Each links to its full profile.
Independent guidance, not affiliated with the DfE, Teachers' Pensions or any teaching union.
Short answer
The index at a glance
3
Above scale
6
Live dispute
5
Uncertain pay
25
National scale
3 of 39
Profiled trusts with evidence of pay above the national scale
Above scale (3)
A published policy or corroborated job adverts show pay above the national scale. Check the contracted hours that come with it.
| Trust | What the profile found |
|---|---|
| Ark Schools | Publicly states it pays 2.5% above the main pay scale — but sits outside STPCD's 1,265-hour cap, requiring an 8am–5pm contract. |
| Harris Federation | A £1,500–£2,000 London allowance on top of national scale, against documented cases of running well over the 1,265-hour cap. |
| United Learning | Runs its own PT1–PT6 / EPT1–3 pay scale, averaging 5.6% above national — front-loaded, not flat, plus a major pension dispute the trust later abandoned. |
Live dispute (6)
A documented, ongoing dispute, strike or financial problem sits at the centre of the profile. Pay is usually the national scale; the dispute is the story.
| Trust | What the profile found |
|---|---|
| Arthur Terry Learning Partnership | A £8.4m–£9m deficit, a nine-day strike, and the resignation of the CEO, CFO and chair — now being broken up, with all 24 schools transferring to other trusts. |
| Charter Schools Educational Trust | A small nine-school London trust with a concrete, well-documented two-tier maternity pay dispute inherited from legacy local authority terms. |
| Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic MAT | A 98% strike ballot and a restructure proposed by a trust that was actually in healthy surplus — plus an unresolved NASUWT teacher dispute. |
| Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) | National-scale pay; the real story is an unresolved 2025 dispute over an extended school day and whether it breaches the STPCD hours cap. |
| St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust | England's largest reported trust deficit in 2024-25, a 16-day NEU strike, and disclosed governance breaches — what's verified for teacher pay specifically, and what isn't. |
| Star Academies | National-scale pay, overshadowed by a live December 2025 NEU strike over the trust's use of a remote "virtual teacher". |
Uncertain pay (5)
We could not verify what the trust pays, or the evidence is mixed. The profile says what is and isn't known.
| Trust | What the profile found |
|---|---|
| Aspirations Academies Trust | A £486k deficit and "reshaped" leadership structures, against a CEO on £275k–£280k — but genuinely no evidence either way on teacher pay itself. |
| David Ross Education Trust | No published pay policy found, a union allegation we could not verify, and a documented history of financial pressure. |
| Dixons Academies Trust | Pay is unknown — the trust refused to disclose it. The real story is a nine-day fortnight now tangled up with a class-size dispute. |
| Durrington MAT | Verified ~1% above scale historically, though current adverts say national — with an unusually specific workload and wellbeing offer. |
| Meridian Trust | 30+ schools across five counties with no published pay policy — what live vacancies actually pay. |
National scale (25)
Evidence shows the trust following standard STPCD pay. Nothing wrong with that: it is what most trusts do.
| Trust | What the profile found |
|---|---|
| Academy Transformation Trust | Standard national MPS/UPS scale — live vacancy figures, and the 2016 and 2025 redundancy drives explained. |
| Astrea Academy Trust | Once gave every teacher a 2% pay rise above the national cap — what it pays now, verified. |
| Cabot Learning Federation | 37 South West schools using a "CLF Grade" system — what it actually covers against the national scale. |
| Chiltern Learning Trust | Standard national STPCD scale, verified against its own published 2025/26 pay policy — no enhancement found. |
| Co-op Academies Trust | A genuinely detailed published pay policy, a formal union recognition agreement, and Real Living Wage for support staff — one of our best-evidenced profiles. |
| Creative Education Trust | Plain national STPCD scale, negotiated through a 2018 union recognition agreement — no trust uplift. |
| Delta Academies Trust | National-scale pay — this page is really about culture and leadership pay, including the trust's "flattening the grass" controversy. |
| E-ACT | Pays the national scale, but publishes a full pay policy stating annual progression is automatic and not linked to performance. |
| GLF Schools | Brands teacher pay as GLF MPR and UPR — but the evidence points to it tracking the national STPCD, not an enhanced scale. |
| Greenshaw Learning Trust | 39 schools from Sutton to Plymouth on standard STPCD pay — the JCNC agreement and real job-advert figures. |
| Greenwood Academies Trust | Standard national STPCD scale with no trust uplift — plus a dated NASUWT finding on pay progression worth checking before you apply. |
| Inspiration Trust | 18 Norfolk and Suffolk academies on standard MPS/UPS pay — real adverts and Ofsted history, verified. |
| Leigh Academies Trust | No scale of its own — standard MPS/UPS spanning all four STPCD pay areas across its 33 academies. |
| Lift Schools (formerly Academies Enterprise Trust) | National-scale pay; the CEO publicly called the 1,265-hour cap "archaic", and the trust survived a 2019 seven-union no-confidence vote. |
| Northern Education Trust | 30 North of England academies on the standard national pay scale, not a bespoke one. |
| Nova Education Trust | 19 schools on the standard national pay scale, not its own uplift — plus its own SCITT and CPD offer. |
| Oasis Community Learning | Its recognition agreement explicitly commits to national pay terms — the strongest such written commitment we found anywhere. |
| Ormiston Academies Trust | 45 academies on standard STPCD pay, not a bespoke scale — its own pay policy plus real job-advert figures. |
| REAch2 Academy Trust | National-scale pay with an unusually strong seven-union recognition agreement and a CEO pay cap tied to M1. |
| Redhill Academy Trust | Standard national MPS/UPS scale — what its DfE-designated Teaching Hub means for CPD. |
| Spencer Academies Trust | Says its terms "align with or exceed" the STPCD — the live salary evidence, pension and CPD offer. |
| Swale Academies Trust | 19 schools across Kent, East Sussex and Bromley on the national MPS/UPS scale, not its own structure. |
| The Elliot Foundation | A current, published pay policy with automatic progression — plus a real, unresolved contradiction in its own leadership pay cap. |
| The Sigma Trust | Standard national MPS/UPS scale across 12 North East Essex schools — real 2026 adverts and TLRs verified. |
| TKAT (The Kemnal Academies Trust) | Explicitly confirms standard STPCD and Burgundy Book pay — no separate trust scale, across 45 academies. |
How to read it
Evidence, not endorsement
Frequently asked questions
What does this index measure? +
It summarises, for each of the 39 trusts we have profiled, what we could verify about its teacher pay from its own published pay policy, job adverts and corroborated reporting. It is a map of evidence, not a ranking of which trust is best to work for.
Does 'live dispute' mean a trust pays less? +
No. Most trusts in that group pay the national scale. The label means the profile is dominated by a documented dispute, strike or financial problem that a teacher considering the trust should know about. Each profile explains which.
Why only 39 trusts? +
Because each profile has to rest on verifiable evidence. There are well over a thousand trusts in England, and we have deliberately left out trusts where we could not find enough independently verifiable material to write an honest page.
Is a trust that pays above scale a better employer? +
Not necessarily. Trusts that set their own pay also set their own conditions, and some pair a salary uplift with longer contracted hours. Our hourly rate calculator shows how an uplift compares with extra hours.
How often is it updated? +
A trust's status can change without announcement. Each profile shows when it was last updated and how to check the live position for yourself; always check a live vacancy or ask the trust before you accept a post.
Related guides
Academy Trust Teacher Pay
How MATs set their own pay and how to check a trust before you apply.
Teacher Hourly Rate Calculator
Pay per contracted hour against the national scale's 1,265-hour limit.
Academy Pay Floor (2026 Act)
What the statutory pay floor does and doesn't change.
Teacher Pay Scales 2026/27
The national scale these trusts are measured against.