MAT Development: hints, tips and resources for achieving financial sustainability

As the education sector experiences an ever challenging financial climate, many see multi-academy trusts as providing some form of solution through the economies of scale and efficiencies that they can potentially bring to their schools. Indeed, recent analysis from the Education Policy Institute showed that MATs generally spend less on running expenses and more on teaching staff than local authority schools. That is not to say that converting to become or joining a multi-academy trust presents a solution in itself. Academisation is – as we’ve said many times – no panacea and MATs’ success (as with all organisations) depends on a combination of strategy, expertise, carefully developed systems and processes, and a good dose of innovation.