Academy sector webinar 2026

In our 2026 sector webinar, our expert team shares the updates that matter most to academy trusts this year, from the latest changes to the Academies Accounts Direction and Academy Trust Handbook through to the financial reporting developments coming down the track.

The sector's operating environment remains challenging. Financial sustainability, cost pressures and deficit recovery continue to test trust leadership teams, and this year brings a further layer of change: a revised Academy Trust Handbook that raises the bar on inclusion, governance and pay oversight, and an Accounts Direction that starts preparing trusts for the next generation of Charities SORP.

Our 2026 webinar walks through these developments and what they mean in practice, alongside findings from our 2026 Charity Sector Development Report, which you can download here.

Key topics covered in the session include:

• The changes to the Academy Trust Handbook 2026, effective from 1 October 2026, including new inclusion duties, a requirement for MATs to publish an annual statement showing how funding is distributed across their schools, tighter executive pay and severance approval thresholds, and new pension and CFO recruitment requirements.
• Updates to the Academies Accounts Direction 2025/26, which apply to year ends of 31 August 2026. These are more limited than last year’s but still matter: an expanded definition of key management personnel, a requirement to disclose payments in lieu of notice within restructuring costs, new FTE banding disclosure for staff earning over £60,000, and the removal of the trade union facility time disclosure. We also flag the new Annex B, which starts preparing trusts for the SORP and leasing changes due to land in the 2026/27 accounts.
• Risks facing the sector, including financial sustainability, cyber, and falling pupil numbers.

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