MATs & Academies
A Guide to
Multi-Academy Trusts
Practical information for education suppliers
Understand how academy trusts operate, who makes purchasing decisions, how budgets work, and how to build successful trust-wide partnerships.
Why I created this guide
Through my conversations and experience in the education sector, and attendance at leadership events, I understand how trusts operate and make decisions. I also understand the impact of strong partnerships between MATs and suppliers and how they can lead to improved pupil and staff outcomes, better learning environments and positive system changes.
To help education suppliers better understand MATs and build strong, lasting relationships that effectively support teachers and pupils, I’ve shared practical insights and key information with you in this short guide.
What are Academy Trusts?
Academy trusts are charitable companies limited by guarantee that run academies. They can run just one academy or a group of academies. Just like other companies, they employ the staff who work there, and they also have trustees who take responsibility for how the academies are performing in the trust. They have a funding agreement with the Secretary of State for Education.
Single Academy Trusts (SATs)
Single academy trusts are charitable companies that have a board of academy trustees who look after one academy within the trust.
Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs)
Multi-academy trusts are charitable companies that have a board of academy trustees who look after all the academies within the trust.
How are MATs structured?
Size & scale
There are over 1,300 MATs in England and they vary in size. Some consist of just one or two schools, whereas larger ones can include over 50 schools. They can cover multiple phases of education too like primary, secondary, all-through, and further education.
For example, Dixons Academies Trust runs 20 schools (14 secondary academies, 4 primary academies, 2 all-through academies) plus one standalone sixth form college. Whereas United Learning, one of the UK’s largest multi-academy trusts, runs over 90 primary and secondary academies.
Governance structure
Academy trusts are founded by members (there must be at least 3, but it’s recommended they have 5 or more) who have the power to appoint and remove trustees. The trustees run the trust together – they provide strategic leadership and decision-making and share accountability and responsibility for the trust. Both trustees and members work to support and progress the trust’s charitable object (its purpose).
Sponsors
Academy trusts can also have sponsors who, through a collaborative process, help them to improve the performance and outcomes of the schools in the trust. Sponsors can be universities, businesses, other schools, voluntary groups or faith groups.
How do MATs operate?
The levels of autonomy within multi-academy trusts can vary significantly.
Some trusts, such as Dixons Academies Trust or the Harris Federation, operate with a highly standardised approach across all their academies where they set clear expectations and uphold strict standards.
Other trusts, however, allow schools much greater freedom over their identity and how they operate, allowing them to decide on things such as term dates, teaching approaches, uniforms, and overall vision.
What job roles are there in academy trusts?
Members
The members of an academy trust work together to progress the trust’s charitable purpose.
Academy Trustees
Charity trustees and company directors who sit on the board, accountable for the trust’s performance, providing strategic decisions and leadership.
Chair of Trustees
Leads the board, ensures it functions effectively, and champions high standards of governance – making sure trustees fulfil their role requirements.
CEO / Accounting Officer
The senior executive leader of the trust, accountable for value for money, regularity, and propriety. In MATs this should be the CEO or equivalent role.
CFO
Responsible for the trust’s financial procedures, oversight, and reporting – a key contact for suppliers navigating procurement and contract processes.
Executive Leaders
Look after the performance of the trust and are held accountable by the board. May include head teachers, executive head teachers, and other senior employees.
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How are MATs funded?
Government funding
Each academy school receives funding from the government through the same National Funding Formula used for maintained schools.
Top-sliced funding
The trust retains an agreed percentage of each school’s budget (known as top-slicing) to fund central services.
Central services
This funding is used to provide services such as Finance, HR, IT, Procurement and Training for the trust.
This model is not entirely dissimilar to the traditional local authority approach. However, MATs often have greater flexibility to procure services from the open market, which can result in better value for money.
That said, smaller trusts may not always have the capacity to provide the full range of services. For example, IT support may still be managed at the individual school level in some cases.
Why do schools join MATs?
The government’s policy paper, ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’, published in February 2026, indicated a clear intention for all schools to become part of a Multi-Academy Trust. As a result, there is renewed momentum for schools to join trusts.
One key driver is the concern about being “left as the last school standing.” As more schools join MATs, the role and capacity of local authorities is expected to diminish. This could lead to a decline in the quality of services traditionally provided at a local authority level, such as training, governance support, finance, and IT.
As a result, many schools are now considering joining MATs to ensure they continue to receive strong, reliable support in the future.
“We will put collaboration at the heart of the system by moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts, including enabling new local authority established trusts.”Every Child Achieving and Thriving, 2026 Government Policy Paper
By joining a multi-academy trust schools can benefit from:
Smoother school operations
Areas like finance and HR can be covered more efficiently by the MAT central team, giving schools greater capacity in other areas.
Budget flexibility
Academy schools have more freedom over how they use their budgets. Plus, by being part of a MAT, schools can benefit from economies of scale, helping them reduce costs through access to cheaper, centralised services.
Collaborative teaching and learning opportunities
Through the MAT network, schools can benefit from shared assessment and learning resources, subject expertise, teaching support and more, helping them deliver better outcomes for both pupils and staff.
Improved CPD opportunities for staff
Lots of MATs have clear progression models meaning teachers can access better training, support and career progression opportunities.
Although there are benefits, there are also some perceived drawbacks for schools to joining a multi-academy trust:
Surplus budgets may be reinvested in to the trust
If a school doesn’t use up all their budget, instead of carrying it over, it may be reinvested into the trust rather than being directly used in the school.
Loss of autonomy
If a school doesn’t use up all their budget, instead of carrying it over, it may be reinvested into the trust rather than being directly used in the school.
Trust-wide decisions
Strategic decisions are made at trust level, which may mean schools have less influence over certain policies and priorities.
Benefits for education suppliers of marketing to MATs
Marketing to multi-academy trusts can unlock bigger opportunities, longer-term contracts and stronger growth for your education business.
check_smallExpand your education outreach
By working with a few academies who are part of multi-academy trusts, you can establish yourself as a trusted MAT supplier. A couple of strong recommendations and case studies from academy schools can go a long way, opening up new avenues for sales trust-wide, in hundreds of schools.
check_smallGenerate long-term sales
Multi-academy trusts often invest in multi-year contracts with education suppliers. That’s why building relationships with MATs can help you secure repeat business for years to come. Plus, if the MAT expands over time to include more schools, your business opportunities will grow too.
check_smallFlexible processes
Multi-academy trusts have more freedom over their curriculum and how they spend their budgets meaning there may be less barriers to schools choosing you.
Start marketing to MATs today
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The key information in this guide has been sourced from the Government website.