Finance
What Schools Need to Publish Online
The financial publishing requirements for maintained schools are very specific. You must publish the following information on your website:
High Earner Salaries: The number of your employees, if there are any, whose gross annual salary is over £100,000. This must be presented in £10,000 bandings (e.g., £100,000-£110,000, £110,000-£120,000, and so on).
Financial Benchmarking Link: A direct link to your school's dedicated page on the government's Schools' Financial Benchmarking service. You can find your school's page by searching on the service's website and then copying the URL.
For Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs)
For MATs, the requirements are focused on trust-wide accountability. You must publish:
Annual Reports: Your audited annual report and accounts on your website by the 31st of January each year.
Executive Pay: The number of employees whose salary and benefits were over £100,000 in the last academic year. This must also be presented in £10,000 bandings. It’s important to remember that this figure includes full remuneration, such as pension contributions and other benefits.
For Further Education (FE) Colleges
FE colleges have a more extensive list of financial duties, reflecting their structure and governance. They must publish:
Annual Report and Financial Statements: Your annual report and audited financial statements must be published in an easily accessible location on your website by 31st January each year. These documents need to be kept on your site for at least two years.
Higher-Paid Staff Salaries: The salaries of higher-paid staff must be published within your annual accounts, similar to the requirements for schools and MATs.
Intervention Reports: There is a very important rule for FE colleges in intervention. If you are in intervention, you must publish the FE Commissioner's summary intervention report on your website within 14 days of receiving it. This report must remain online until the notice to improve is lifted.
Energy and Carbon Reporting: The DfE encourages FE colleges to also publish an Energy and Carbon Reporting disclosure.
A Note on Trust vs. School Websites
A common question we hear is whether trust-level financial documents can be hosted solely on the MAT website. The answer is yes, that is absolutely fine. However, the individual school websites within the trust must provide a clear and direct link to where these documents can be accessed on the trust's site.
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