Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many paid severances have been made by (a) all schools and (b) academy trusts in each of the last five years; and what the total cost to the public purse for those severances was in each of the last five years.

The Government requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trusts’ status as companies, charities, and public sector bodies means they have a rigorous tri-partite framework and are held up to greater scrutiny.

Academy trusts’ responsibilities on severance payments are set out in the Academy Trust Handbook available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trust-handbook. Additional information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-severance-payments-form. Data on severance payments is provided in academy trusts’ accounts and at sector level in the Academies Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-sector-annual-reports-and-accounts. In each report, severance payments are covered under the ‘Staff Costs’ section. Special severance payment (payments paid to employees outside statutory or contractual requirements) are listed under ‘Losses and Special Payments’. The latest sector data for the Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts year ending 31 August 2022 will be published in autumn 2023.

As the responsibility for maintained schools’ severance payments sits with the school and the local authority, the department does not collect the number of severances or amounts paid by Local Authority maintained schools.