Schools in multi-academy trusts spend less on “back office” costs and more on primary teaching staff, compared to standalone academies and local authority schools. Primary schools in multi-academy trusts spend £23 more on teaching staff per pupil than local authority schools, according to a new report from the Education Policy Institute. And secondary schools in MATs spend £49 less per pupil on running costs – such as maintenance, water, energy, IT and catering expenses – compared to local authority schools. Yet savings for secondary schools in MATs are “not necessarily translating into increased expenditure on teaching staff”, said the report. At secondary level, MATs spent a similar amount to local authorities. Costs are also not further reduced for individual schools as a MAT grows, said the report, which examined the cost savings and “economies of scale” of belonging to a local authority, single-academy trust or multi-academy trust. There are 6,334 open academies, free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools in England.. Local authority maintained schools remain the largest proportion of schools, followed by those in MATs. There are more pupils in single-trust academies, than in MAT academies – even though there are slightly more MAT academies than single-trust academies. Two-thirds of…http://schoolsweek.co.uk/multi-academy-trusts-spend-less-on-back-office-but-dont-pay-teachers-more-and-6-other-epi-findings/