Academy chain boss now earning £210,000 despite crackdown on high salaries

Sir John Townsley, chief executive of Gorse Academies Trust, awarded pay rise

Eleanor Busby
Education Correspondent
Monday 04 February 2019 14:57 GMT
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The chief executive of Gorse Academies Trust, which runs 11 schools around Leeds, was given a pay rise
The chief executive of Gorse Academies Trust, which runs 11 schools around Leeds, was given a pay rise

The head of an academy chain has seen his pay rise to more than £210,000 despite a government crackdown on chief executives’ salaries.

Sir John Townsley, chief executive of Gorse Academies Trust, which runs 11 schools around Leeds, saw his salary increase last year to between £210,000 and £220,000, according to financial accounts.

It comes after the head of an academy in Kensington, in west London – once dubbed the “socialist Eton” – saw his pay rise by at least £10,000 last year to £260,000.

The government has sent letters to academy chains who pay their bosses more than the prime minister (£150,000) to ask them to justify the salaries as part of a crackdown on high pay.

A report from the Public Accounts Committee last year said academy trusts that pay their bosses “unjustifiably” high salaries could spend taxpayers’ money better on improving children’s education.

But Terry Eliott, chair of the board of trustees at Gorse Academies Trust, defended the rise by saying that Mr Townsley had exceeded “the very challenging targets that were set for him” last year.

In a statement, Mr Eliott said: “During the course of time from July 2017 to July 2018, Sir John oversaw the inspection of five establishments within the trust. Four are academies all of which serve areas of significant disadvantage.

“The Ruth Gorse Academy and Elliott Hudson College were subject to their first Ofsted inspection as free schools and both were judged to be outstanding overall and in all areas.

“In addition to this Morley Newlands Academy was inspected in January 2018 and judged to be outstanding in all areas and overall.”

Ofsted also inspected the trust’s teacher training provision which was judged as outstanding.

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In 2016, Mr Townsley threatened to sue parents over comments likening him to a “dictator” in a Facebook group.

His solicitors asked them to issue an apology, as well as financial compensation.

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