Football-style ‘bidding wars pushing up academy pay’

A football-style “transfer market” is pushing up multi-academy trust leaders’ pay by creating “bidding wars” for school leaders, one MAT boss has warned.

Andy Goulty, chief executive of Rodillian Academy Trust, was paid at least £255,000, including pension contributions, in 2017-18, according to a report in The Sunday Times today.

Mr Goulty is quoted in The Sunday Times as saying there was a “football transfer market” among academy schools. He reportedly said he had been contacted as a result of “bidding wars” by more than a dozen headhunters after a think tank described his trust as successful.

According to the newspaper, he added: “I became a commodity. Other trusts were trying to poach me, and my salary rose in response to that.”