Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review March 2023

The Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review has looked at how to maximise the difference that academy trusts can make to children’s lives and set out a timetable for the development of the sector.

More than 10,200 schools are now part of an academy trust. Over 55% of pupils in state-funded education study in academies, which includes 80% of secondary schools, 40% of primary schools and 45% of special schools and alternative provision.

The aim is to have a trust landscape with coherent geographical clusters, with high-quality trusts operating in each local area to provided effective capacity for support and improvement nationwide. The review recognises that there is no one size fits all model and wants to continue to foster a diversity of models and scales of trust, including those with faith schools, special schools and alternative provision.

An understanding of what it means for a trust to be ‘high-quality’ will enable Regional Directors to make more effective decisions to promote quality across the system and inform leaders’ strategic plans for developing their trusts. Although the Schools White Paper ‘Opportunity for all’ was shelved, the DfE are still committed to the five ‘trust strength’ pillars.

• Delivering high-quality and inclusive education for all pupils
• Quickly improving and maintaining school performance
• Operating effective and robust governance, which provides strong and strategic leadership, oversight and direction
• Managing finances and prioritising resources, including the estate, in a way that delivers the best educational experience for children
• Training, recruiting, developing, deploying and retaining great teachers and leaders throughout their careers.

The review has reinforced that these pillars are the right ones as they believe that in the best trusts, effective financial management, an excellent workforce and focused school improvement enable high-quality and inclusive education for all pupils, particularly for those who are disadvantaged or have Special Educational Needs. Through strong strategic governance, this is channelled towards trusts’ wider civic purpose of advancing education for the communities they serve.

In June 2023, the DfE will publish the results of stakeholder engagement in consolidated guidance on the commissioning process for use by the end of the year. They will also launch the next round of Trust Capacity Funding, publish new Trust Development Statements for the 55 Education Investment Areas in England.

Over the course of 2023, they will continue to streamline their regulatory approach, embedding the recommendations of the ESFA Arm’s Length Body review and work with the sector to inform changes to the Academy Trust Handbook, ESFA regulatory practices, and their delivery of support.

In early 2024,  they will begin to train the first cohort of the new MAT CEO Leadership Development Programme and trial regional trust development networks.

The DfE still believes that as these changes become embedded, they will help grow the number of high-quality trusts across England, paving the way to their ambition for every school and pupil to be in a high-quality multi-academy trust, for the benefit of communities, teachers and pupils everywhere.