Key Questions about Multi Academy Trusts (MATs)?

What happens to our financial reserves when we join a MAT? This is one of the most common questions asked by governing bodies and for obvious reasons. Once again MATs differ on their approach to school reserves. Some MATs will "pool" the money and hold this at the Trust centre so this money can be used as and when necessary as decided by the Trust Board. Tilian has a different view. We believe that the funds provided to a school should be used for the school and not pooled. This is because the income was generated from the pupils at that school and therefore should be used to provide the best for them. Therefore when a school joins Tilian, its reserves are protected and carried forward to the new budget. Whatever the position of the MAT on financial reserves, this information should be clear to all schools in published materials, eg a reserves policy, and should be in line with the MAT's vision and values ie the more autonomy their schools are given the more local leaders...

Are MATs all the same? MATs differ in many ways including size, structure and whether they are secondary specialists, primary specialists or cover all both. But perhaps the most important areas of difference is the Trust's values and focus. Some MATs have a strong belief that making the key decisions for the schools should be predominantly a responsibility of the Trust Board and Chief Officers of the central team. In these MATs budget setting and curriculum is likely to be decided by the MAT for its schools. Other MATs sit at the opposite end of the spectrum and believe that the schools should be in control of the local decisions. In these MATs the Head and Governing Bodies are key and retain similar control of their budgets, identity and ethos to those in local authority control. Therefore when looking at a MAT it is very important to understand what their values are; the delegation of powers they provide to their schools and compare this to what your school, staff and pupils need...

Do all MATs have local governing boards? No. The structure of the MAT and the level at which decisions are made should be consistent with the aims and values of the MAT. MATs that prioritise autonomy for their schools will retain governors for each school and this is known as a local governing body (LGB) or in Tilian we call them School Governance Committees (SGC). Other MATs may have a vision centred around the majority of decisions being taken by the Trust. They may have advisory panels or no representation at local level. There is no right or wrong - it is though important that Heads and Governors of schools understand what powers they will have after joining the MAT. The key document for this is the Scheme of Delegation - this is a document from the Trust Board which explains where the responsibility sits for key decisions. If the MAT supports LGBs it is also important for Heads and Governors to understand how the new governing body will be appointed, ie are the roles similar to cu...