Twenty-three academy trusts breached funding rules last year when they made payments of more than £4 million to companies related to members of their staff or trustees. For the first time, Schools Week can reveal who the trusts are and the 26 transactions in which they failed to show they were fully compliant with rules laid down by the Education Funding Agency (EFA). Trusts wanting to purchase services from companies linked to their staff, sponsors or trustees must follow regulations, including that they are provided at no profit and that they disclose the payments in their accounts. But 23 trusts breached those rules, including Bright Tribe and the Adventure Learning Academy Trust, both set up by the venture capitalist Michael Dwan, and both of which made non-compliant payments of more than £2.3 million to companies connected to him and his family. Ark Schools, regularly complimented by ministers, also did not meet regulations over payments worth £4,500 to a cleaning firm linked to one of its trustees, Lord Stanley Fink. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the companies that received the payments; it is for trusts to check compliance. Such payments should be banned The government said irregular payments were…http://schoolsweek.co.uk/revealed-the-23-trusts-that-broke-rules-over-4m-related-party-transactions/