Blogs/Vlogs

Multi-academy trusts: is GAG pooling for you?

23 June 2017

A multi-academy trust (MAT) has the freedom to amalgamate a proportion of general annual grant (GAG) funding for all the academies under its control to form one central fund. GAG pooling gives trusts the advantage of being able to use any surplus GAG funds available within the trust for individual academies with a funding commitment. This can help to alleviate financial pressures in the individual academy, ironing out periods of fluctuating income and expenditure.

However, many MATs do not use GAG pooling as a method of financing an individual academy’s running cost expenditure because a MAT must:

  • give individual consideration to the funding needs of each academy;
  • set up an approvals process to consider the needs of each academy;
  • be seen to be treating headteachers/principals of each academy within the trust fairly in the allocation of GAG pooled funds.

Any disputes by headteachers/principals over the allocation of GAG pooling should in first instance be dealt with by the trust. However, if the dispute cannot be amicably resolved within the trust then the headteacher/principal can appeal to the Secretary of State via the Education and Skills Funding Agency, whose decision will be final.

If you would like to discuss GAG pooling and whether it could work for your multi-academy trust, please contact your local UHY academy expert. To learn more about the services we offer to academy schools, click here.

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