The growth of multi-academy trusts (MATs) in the UK has accelerated in recent years, fuelled by cashflow difficulties of standalone academies, financial incentives, and the promise of shared resources and expertise.
Today, MATs play a prominent role in shaping the educational environment, prompting many to ask: is a move towards larger MATs not just likely, but inevitable?
The 2025 Kreston UK Academies Benchmarking Report took a closer look at the trends of MATs and their steady growth in numbers. For instance, the number of academy schools that are part of a MAT has soared from 7,971 in 2020 to 9,806 in 2024 - a 23% increase across the four-year period.
Another figure on the up is the number of schools per MAT, with an average of 10.3 schools per trust in 2022, increasing to 11.7 in 2024. This suggests that the move towards larger MATs has already begun - but why might that be the case?
A primary reason for so many trusts anticipating growth comes from the natural element of collaboration that MATs bring, collating the resources of multiple schools to bolster finances. A recent survey by IMP Software supported this approach, with 61% of respondents putting in place increased centralisation of operations to help improve their trust's financial position.
As costs rise, so do pressures on schools to provide the best level of education for students while not overspending and holding onto a portion of reserves for a rainy day. By joining a MAT, schools can take advantage of reserves pooling, and recent figures suggest this is another trend on an upward trajectory.
For instance, pooling finances has grown across the board, most notably in large MATs, where the figure has jumped from 29.7% in 2022 to 43.6% in 2024. And it’s easy to see why, as pooling allows trusts to be more flexible over their allocations and achieve objectives, enabling higher performing trusts to make quicker changes that can increase their impact. There are, however, some restrictions with pooling resources, particularly from grant funding, as the money allocated must be spent for the purposes intended within the grant, limiting the actual control over this money that some trusts may desire.
Pooling resources does have its potential drawbacks, however, particularly if some schools are performing better than others in the same trust. This can result in uneven financial contributions, leading to some schools altering spending habits to meet the requirements of other schools, rather than just their own.
The £25,000 conversion support grant ceased on 1 January 2025, which incentivised and reimbursed costs for a school to reach academy status. Coupled with the fact the Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) grant also ceased at the start of the year, this will impact MATs’ ability to grow, given that academy conversion will now have to be funded by the schools themselves, without any government support along the way.
As well as this, the recent Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill set out further changes, such as no longer requiring schools rated ‘Inadequate’ by Ofsted to automatically join a trust and removing the presumption that all new schools will be academies. Instead, the Bill gives local authorities the ability to apply to open and maintain schools of their own accord.
The Kreston report found 48% of respondents considered that the withdrawal of conversion grants and TCaF will slow down future growth, so time will tell how these changes will impact the sector. The key question MATs need to consider is whether the benefits of MAT growth outweigh the additional costs.
A MAT with five or more schools and over 3,000 pupils is eligible for School Condition Allocations (SCA), while single academy trusts and smaller MATs can apply for Condition Improvement Funding (CIF). Meanwhile, trusts of all sizes receive Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) alongside one of the above.
Due to SCA funding being far higher than the standard DFC, it can give extra security and stability to larger MATs that are planning future capital spending. The concern for smaller trusts is that CIF funding competition is very high, and many trusts end up with nothing.
But in some cases, funding awards can be higher in value than SCA’s to cover larger projects, though maybe at the expense of being able to plan for repairs and improvements more strategically?
The shift towards larger multi-academy trusts appears increasingly inevitable, particularly as financial management within education grows more complex and resource-intensive. With MAT leaders juggling numerous responsibilities, carving out time to evaluate financial performance and adapt strategies can be challenging.
Expert financial advisors and accountancy services are now essential partners in helping MATs maximise their financial outcomes. From voluntary VAT registration to community income-generation strategies that benefit from charitable tax exemptions, these services enable MATs to navigate the nuances of tax efficiency and financial sustainability.
We’ve seen a consistent trend in the consolidation of MATs that is showing no signs of slowing. The smaller trusts are merging, and standalone academies are joining larger groups.
As trusts grow, so does their internal scrutiny and audit requirements. Larger organisations are more complex, and the constituent schools will need more monitoring and support to ensure they comply with central trust procedures and expectations.
To find out more about Duncan & Toplis and how our team can help improve financial delivery for MATs, contact us here.
