FAQs
What is a multi-academy trust (MAT)?
The Confederation of School Trusts (CST) define School i.e. Academy Trusts as being education charities that run schools to give children a better future. Every Trust has a single legal and moral purpose: to advance education for the public benefit.
Who are MATs accountable to?
Academy Trusts have very clear lines of accountability and are held to account to a higher standard than local authority schools i.e. "maintained schools". The obligation of transparency and accountability is much greater than maintained schools. Trusts are held to account by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), Ofsted and Regional Directors at the Department for Education.
What are the governance arrangements in a MAT?
There are three tiers of governance in a MAT which provide support and promote a culture of accountability that is recognised and accepted as an essential element of sustainable school improvement. These tiers are:
- Members of the MAT
- Board of Trustees of the MAT
- Local governing bodies (LGB’s) for each academy school
Our Scheme of Delegation provides details of the roles and responsibilities of each tier.
What does joining your Trust mean for our staff?
Enable Trust becomes the employer through a TUPE process however staff will retain their roles and their pay and conditions.
What won’t change if we join Enable Trust?
We do not operate a one-size fits all approach to the schools in our Trust. Things like the school name, logo and uniform will not change. Schools will continue to operate with the current leadership and teaching staffing structure, and teach the current curriculum unless there are reasons for it to change.
What will change when we join Enable Trust?
There will be changes to how the business operations function. Processes such as purchasing, human resources and payroll will change, as will any support providers either immediately or over time.
Where Trust policies are in place these will need to be adopted and will replace the school versions. Examples include complaints, safeguarding, health and safety, finance, and whistleblowing.
How much do you charge from school’s budgets for central services and what do we get for this?
Enable Trust moved top-slicing to General Allocated Grant (GAG) Pooling from September 2022 as it was felt this better aligned with our vision “Achieving More Together”, moving from a culture of “my school” to “all learners in the trust”.
The pooling allows a Trust to amalgamate GAG for its academies to form one central fund. This can be used to meet the running costs at any constituent academy within the trust as well as fund the Trust central team. In essence, it allows us to direct resources to the areas in most need across the Trust to ensure that all learners within Enable Trust are provided with the best resources possible.
The centralised services include finance, human resources, payroll, premises management and compliance, health and safety, GDPR, Legal, Education, Health and Care plan administration. IT licences for finance, budgeting, on-line payments, management systems, compliance, human resources including staff absence management, the Child Protection Online Monitoring System (CPOMS) are all procured centrally.
What will joining Enable Trust mean for our families?
The support of families is vital to any school, and we would not want these relationships to be undermined in any way by joining our Trust. Retaining Local Governing Bodies ensures that parents and carers are represented at each of our schools.
Where can I get further information?
The Department for Education:
Convert to an academy information for schools
Academy Trust Governance Structures and Role Descriptors
Confederation of School Trusts https://cstuk.org.uk/knowledge