Academy Trust Handbook 2026: What Trust Leaders Need to Know

The Department for Education published the Academy Trust Handbook 2026 today. It takes effect on 1st October 2026, a month later than the usual September start, and it is one of the more consequential updates in recent years.

Most annual editions adjust financial thresholds and tidy up wording. This one adds a whole new section on inclusion and collaboration, brings in DfE sign-off for senior pay before posts are even advertised, and mandates national frameworks for MIS, energy and supply staff purchasing.

Below is a summary of the Academy Trust Handbook changes that matter most for CEOs, CFOs and trustees, followed by the harder question: where boards will find the evidence to show these duties are being met.

Key change 1: a new inclusion and collaboration section

The biggest structural change in the Academy Trust Handbook 2026 sits in Part 1 (paragraphs 1.16 to 1.20). For the first time, the handbook sets out trusts’ responsibilities for inclusion alongside their financial duties.

Trusts must comply with their legal duties on SEND, admissions and place planning, and must cooperate with local authorities and other agencies. The DfE also expects trusts to embed inclusion across their provision: a consistent trust-wide approach to identifying and meeting need, expertise deployed across schools, and systems that monitor how pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and those known to social care access school, participate and achieve.

Boards should also designate an inclusion trustee, or establish a committee, to oversee inclusion. Note the wording: this is a “should” rather than a “must”, but most boards will want a named lead before their next external governance review asks about it.

The section connects directly to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and the wider SEND reforms, including the Experts at Hand offer. Inclusion is now a governance matter, and the board is expected to hold assurance over it.

Here is the practical challenge. Most trusts will read the monitoring duty as attainment and attendance data, but those numbers show outcomes, not access or participation. Whether a pupil with SEND feels safe, supported and able to take part in school life is an experience question, and it only shows up when you ask pupils directly. Pupil survey data segmented by SEND, pupil premium and other groups gives boards that experience-level view alongside the data they already collect, and turns a new compliance requirement into something a board can actually interrogate.

Key change 2: mandatory DfE frameworks for MIS, energy and supply staff

The 2026 handbook moves the DfE from recommending its purchasing routes to requiring them (paragraphs 2.27 to 2.30). Trusts must now:

• consider DfE deals when making purchasing decisions, and record how the decision was made
• use the Government Commercial Agency agreement for supply staffing, unless an existing compliant agreement offers rates at or below the framework
• use DfE Energy for Schools or a DfE-approved energy deal when energy contracts come up for renewal
• move all Management Information System (MIS) contracts onto the DfE’s MIS framework by September 2027

The MIS framework requirement is the one to act on early. Contracts expiring before 1st September 2027 can only be extended or replaced for a maximum of 12 months as a transitional step, and trusts must not use extension options to delay the move.

Key change 3: senior pay controls from 1st October 2026

Executive pay was already under scrutiny. The 2026 handbook formalises it (paragraphs 2.31 to 2.34).

From 1st October 2026, trusts must obtain DfE approval before advertising any new post where remuneration exceeds £174,000, or where performance-related pay exceeds £25,000. Executive pay must not rise faster than teachers’ pay without a clear justification and advance DfE approval. Trusts must also document their approach in an agreed pay policy covering independent scrutiny, proportionality and recorded decision-making.

For any trust with a senior recruitment round planned for the autumn, the approval step now needs building into the timeline before the advert goes out.

Key change 4: qualified accountants for CFOs in larger trusts

For trusts with over 3,000 pupils, CFO recruitment starting on or after 1st October 2026 should specify a qualified accountant with membership of a professional body such as ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA or CIPFA. From 1st September 2027 this becomes a requirement, and trusts planning to appoint someone without the qualification must tell the DfE in advance and explain why.

Alongside this, the handbook strengthens the expectation that boards hold sufficient financial knowledge and expertise, with financial training for trustees and in particular for finance and audit and risk committee members (paragraph 1.31).

Key change 5: MATs must publish how funds are distributed

School trusts must now publish a summary statement on their website by 31st January, alongside their annual accounts, showing how funds are distributed across their schools (paragraph 5.32).

This is a transparency change with an audience well beyond the DfE. Governance statements and accounts are already public documents, open to parents, staff and local journalists, and this new statement joins them. A weak one reads as compliance boilerplate and carries reputational risk; a strong one pairs the financial picture with evidence that resources follow need and are improving staff and pupil experience. Evidence rather than assertion is what separates the two.

Smaller Academy Trust Handbook changes worth noting

A few further updates deserve a place on the next board agenda:

• Accounting officers must notify the board where the trust’s ability to operate as a going concern is at risk, with trustees expected to act and inform the DfE (paragraph 2.21).
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes are now permitted without prior DfE approval, provided the trust documents its mitigations and is not under a Notice to Improve (paragraph 2.37).
• Any alternative to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme or LGPS needs DfE approval early in planning, before staff are told (paragraph 2.40).
• The severance payments section has been expanded, including firmer rules on confidentiality clauses (paragraphs 5.7 to 5.14).
• Part 6 now explains what action the Secretary of State may take where a trust breaches duties under its funding agreement (paragraph 6.17).

Safeguarding assurance beyond the checklist

Boards must safeguard and promote the welfare of children and assure the suitability of staff and volunteers (paragraphs 1.14 and 1.15), and safeguarding failings are grounds for DfE intervention. The handbook stops at compliance checks such as DBS and Prevent. It offers no way to test whether the safeguarding culture holds up day-to-day. Staff and pupil surveys give trustees an answer to the question every board should be asking: how do we know safeguarding is working, not just that the paperwork is in order?

Parent engagement with no definition or measure

The board must involve parents, schools and communities so that decision-making is supported by “meaningful engagement” (paragraph 1.10). The handbook never defines meaningful or names a way to measure it. Parent survey data does both, and lets trustees cite the evidence directly against the paragraph in their own governance reporting.

Non-financial assurance for the audit and risk committee

The audit and risk committee must give the board independent assurance over financial and non-financial controls (paragraphs 3.13 to 3.16), yet the handbook only ever describes the financial ones. Trust-wide survey data slots into the committee’s existing reporting cycle as the non-financial assurance the handbook asks for but never supplies. No new process required, just a new data source in a rhythm the trust already runs.

Trust culture across every school

The board establishes the trust’s culture (paragraph 1.10), but a multi-school trust has no consistent way to see whether that culture holds in every school. Finances consolidate; culture does not. Trust-wide benchmarking gives boards the same side-by-side view of staff and pupil experience that they already have for budgets, which matters most for trusts that are growing or absorbing new schools, where culture rather than finance is the real integration risk.

Staff experience before it becomes a severance cost

Staff appear in the handbook through health and safety duties, DBS checks and severance rules, and the severance section has just been expanded. Workload, morale and retention are absent, even though special severance payments of £50,000 or more need the DfE’s prior approval. A staff survey catches disengagement while it is still fixable, before it turns into a resignation, a grievance or a settlement that needs sign-off from the DfE.

Five things to do before 1 October 2026

1. Review the DfE’s Schedule of Musts 2026 against your current compliance framework and note the new requirements.
2. Agree how the board will oversee inclusion: designate a trustee or establish a committee, and decide what evidence it will receive on access, participation and pupil experience.
3. Check your MIS contract end date and map your route onto the DfE framework.
4. Review any senior recruitment planned for autumn against the new pay approval thresholds, and update your executive pay policy.
5. Start planning your funds distribution statement now rather than in January, and agree what evidence of impact will sit alongside it.

The Academy Trust Handbook 2026 tells trusts what they are accountable for. Evidence of how staff, pupils and parents actually experience the trust is what turns those duties from assertions into assurance. If your board needs that evidence base, explore Edurio’s staff, pupil and parent surveys, or talk to us about building inclusion and culture oversight into your governance reporting.

Academy Trust Handbook 2026: frequently asked questions

When does the Academy Trust Handbook 2026 come into effect?

It takes effect on 1st October 2026, a month later than the usual 1st September start in previous years. It was published on 15th July 2026 and applies to all academy trusts in England as a condition of their funding agreement.

Do trusts need a designated inclusion trustee?

The handbook says boards should designate a trustee, or establish a committee, to oversee inclusion (paragraph 1.19). It is a “should” rather than a “must”, but boards will be expected to show how they hold assurance over inclusion, including SEND, so most will want a named lead or committee in place.

What are the new senior pay rules for academy trusts?

From 1st October 2026, trusts must obtain DfE approval before advertising any new post with remuneration over £174,000, or performance-related pay over £25,000. Executive pay must not rise faster than teachers’ pay without advance DfE approval.

When do trusts have to move to the DfE MIS framework?

All MIS contracts must be on the DfE’s MIS framework by September 2027. Contracts expiring before then can only be extended or replaced for a maximum of 12 months as a transitional arrangement.

Source: Academy Trust Handbook 2026, Department for Education, published 15th July 2026, effective 1st October 2026.

How Edurio can help

Inclusion oversight, non-financial assurance and consistent culture across every school all come down to the same thing: real evidence of how staff, pupils and parents experience the trust. Edurio’s survey packages let trusts tailor what they measure, whether that’s SEND and inclusion, safeguarding culture, or parent engagement, so the evidence maps directly onto the specific assurance each board needs.

Book a walkthrough to see how survey findings can support your board’s assurance over inclusion, culture and governance ahead of October.