Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2023 to Question 197731 on Schools: Redundancy Pay, if she will take steps to ensure that all severance payments over £50,000 for school staff are approved by her Department or the Treasury.

The responsibilities for academy trusts on severance pay and exit packages are set out in the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH), which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trust-handbook. Where the academy trust is considering a staff severance payment, including a non-statutory/non-contractual element (also referred to as a special severance payment) of £50,000 or more, the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s (ESFA) prior approval must be obtained before making any offer to staff. The ESFA will refer such transactions to HM Treasury. Additionally, in accordance with HM Treasury’s Guidance on Public Sector Exit Payments, academy trusts must obtain prior ESFA approval before making a non-statutory/non-contractual staff severance payment where: an exit package, which includes a non-statutory/non-contractual severance payment, is at, or above, £100,000; and/or the employee earns over £150,000. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-sector-exit-payments-guidance-on-special-severance-payments.

The ATH is also clear that staff severance payments should not be made where they could be seen as a reward for failure, such as gross misconduct or poor performance.

The responsibility for maintained schools’ severance and exit payments sits with the school and the Local Authority.