IT leadership for multi-academy trusts is becoming essential as MATs face rising costs, growing cyber risks, and increasing pressure to use data more effectively. Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are a dynamic part of the education sector in the UK, but many leaders now face difficult operational and strategic decisions.
The right IT leadership can make the difference. For many MAT leaders, IT leadership for multi-academy trusts provides the structure needed to balance cost control, security, and long-term educational outcomes. Our latest CEO’s briefing outlines how a fractional CIO, CTO, or CISO can help MATs reduce costs, strengthen security, and improve student outcomes.
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IT leadership for multi-academy trusts in practice,
Since it was first conceived in the early 2000s, the academy model has grown to the point where some 50% of all students in England attend an academy, and there are more than 1,200 multi-academy trusts (MATs).
MATs have been successful in many ways. We’ve seen them turn around underperforming schools, and many benefit from the sharing of expertise and resources that come from having several schools under the same management. MATs have additionally allowed for innovation and flexibility in curricula and teaching methods.
However, they do come with challenges, particularly when it comes to finances. Government funding has not always kept pace with inflation or the expanding responsibilities of MATs. Many MATs face financial pressures due to rising operational costs such as energy prices and staff salaries. The situation is particularly acute this year, with the government mandating a salary increase for teachers without increasing funding for schools to match.
Our role is to provide IT leadership for mid-sized businesses and non-profits, experienced, commercially minded CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs, and we have worked with many school trusts. We’ve found several ways to help them become more efficient, lower costs, and improve the experience for staff and students at the same time.
In this situation, the goal of an IT leader is ultimately the same as staff: to help provide students with an excellent education in a safe environment.
In MATs, the goal of an IT leader is the same as staff: to help provide students with an excellent education in a safe environment.
For many boards, IT leadership for multi-academy trusts provides a practical framework for balancing budgets, risk, and educational performance. Here’s how it can happen…
How IT leaders bring down costs
As mentioned above, we’re seeing a lot of belt-tightening across the education sector. IT leaders in MATs can play a critical role in driving cost efficiency without compromising the quality of education or cyber security. One immediate benefit lies in the “multi” of multi-academy trust, capitalising on economies of scale. MATs have unique opportunities to streamline operations and consolidate services.
Standardising systems. One of the first steps an IT leader might take is ensuring all schools operate on a single unified platform such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. This relatively simple move brings immediate cost advantages, reducing maintenance and training costs.
Standardisation also makes licensing easier to manage. We’ve seen several situations where trusts were spending unnecessarily simply because no one had time to review whether appropriate contracts were in place.
Cloud migration. Cloud adoption in British schools is surprisingly slow, despite making standardisation easier and supporting productivity and backups. It also reduces hardware costs, energy bills, and support requirements.
Centralising procurement. Education now depends heavily on technology, including broadband, telecoms, software licences, and devices such as smart boards, tablets, and laptops. Trusts benefit from economies of scale and greater bargaining power than individual academies. We’ve even seen cases where academies failed to take advantage of education discounts.
MATs have unique opportunities to streamline operations and consolidate services.
Cyber security: protecting schools and students
The government’s recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey paints an unnerving picture for education institutions. Breaches occurred in 60% of secondary schools, and schools at every level are more likely to experience a breach or attack than businesses overall (43%).
Whilst education institutions reported higher Board engagement with cyber security, many expressed low awareness of government guidance such as National Cyber Security Centre toolkits, certification schemes like Cyber Essentials, and campaigns such as Cyber Aware.
This contradiction, understanding the importance of cyber security but not knowing how to improve it, suggests a gap in IT leadership. Here are a few vulnerabilities MATs face and what an IT leader can do, even on limited budgets:
Cyber Essentials certification. Cyber Essentials is a government-backed scheme helping organisations protect against common threats. It is relatively inexpensive, often just a few thousand pounds, and the Department for Education encourages or requires many trusts to comply. Certification identifies vulnerabilities and helps close them.
Training and awareness. Threats evolve constantly, and tools like generative AI make phishing harder to detect, where criminals use fraudulent emails, messages, or websites to steal sensitive information such as passwords or bank details. Regular training is essential, and an IT leader can identify cost-effective programmes.
Cyber resiliency. Most breaches can be prevented with the steps above. But if one succeeds, an IT leader will already have response plans and backups in place to ensure schools continue operating.
The government’s recent cyber security breaches survey paints an unnerving picture for educational institutions.
Data management for efficiency and improvement
Schools generate enormous amounts of data, critical for tracking student progress, applying for grants, and demonstrating compliance. For MATs, effective data management is vital, and IT leaders shape how data is collected, stored, accessed, and secured across all schools.
Streamlining data management. An IT leader centralises systems and standardises processes, reducing duplication, improving accuracy, and making insights more accessible, ultimately making reporting more efficient and affordable.
Safety and compliance. These steps also protect sensitive information such as pupil records and staff data in line with GDPR and legal obligations.
Using data to improve performance. Through strategic technology use and collaboration with leadership, IT leaders turn data into a strategic asset that drives improvement and accountability.
Enormous amounts of data are generated by schools. And the data matters.
How Freeman Clarke can help
The education sector is becoming more complex while financial constraints continue to increase. Experienced IT leadership is essential. The right IT strategy delivers cost savings, strengthens security, improves data management, and supports better educational outcomes.
Strong IT leadership for multi-academy trusts helps move organisations from reactive problem-solving to proactive improvement.
Freeman Clarke’s team of commercially minded CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs helps MATs across the country achieve this. We understand education’s unique challenges and how to turn technology into a strategic advantage. Our fractional model keeps costs manageable, and because we have no vendor relationships, our advice is always in the best interests of your schools, staff, and students.
Whether your trust needs to reduce costs, strengthen cyber security, or unlock the power of data, we provide expert leadership to make it happen. For a no-pressure, no-obligation conversation about your trust’s needs, get in touch.