Working in an academy vs a maintained school

For most staff the day-to-day job in an academy and a maintained school is close to identical: the same curriculum pressures, the same Ofsted inspections, the same safeguarding rules. The differences sit in the contract. A maintained school must follow the national pay and conditions documents for teachers, while an academy is employed by a trust that can write its own terms, although most copy the national ones closely.

Who your employer is

In a maintained school, which includes community, voluntary controlled and foundation schools, the legal employer depends on the school type. For community and voluntary controlled schools it is the local authority, even though the governing body does the recruiting. In foundation and voluntary aided schools it is usually the governing body.

In an academy or free school, your employer is the academy trust. That might be a single-academy trust running one school or a multi-academy trust running dozens. The trust is a charity and a company, funded directly by the Department for Education rather than through the council.

This matters most when something goes wrong. A grievance, a redundancy or an appeal in an academy goes through the trust’s own policies, not the council’s. In a large trust, the person making the final decision may work at head office rather than in your school.

Teachers’ pay

Maintained schools in England must apply the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). For 2026/27 the government accepted a 3.5 per cent rise on all pay and allowance ranges from 1 September 2026, with 5 per cent on the minimum of the unqualified range. The 2026 document was still in draft in October 2026, and maintained schools cannot legally pay the new rates until it is in force, so expect the rise to arrive backdated.

Point (England excluding London)	From 1 September 2026
M1	£34,069
M6	£46,940
U3	£52,835
Unqualified range	£23,732 to £36,494

Academies do not have to use these figures. Many trusts adopt the STPCD scales word for word, and some pay above them to recruit in shortage subjects or hard-to-staff areas. A smaller number use their own pay structures with different points or progression rules. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill included a measure to make the national pay ranges a floor for academy teachers, so check gov.uk for whether that part is in force when you read this.

Full figures are in teacher pay scales in England.

Support staff pay

Teaching assistants, office staff and site teams in maintained schools are normally on the NJC “Green Book” pay spine, set nationally. The 2026/27 award was 3.3 per cent on pay points 3 to 43 from 1 April 2026, with SCP 2 deleted, so SCP 3 (£25,614 full time) is now the bottom point.

Academies may use the NJC spine or their own grading. Most do use it, but the grade a trust attaches to a role, and whether it pays term-time-only staff on the NJC model, can differ from the council down the road. The School Support Staff Negotiating Body, provided for by the Employment Rights Act 2025, is intended to set pay and terms for support staff in both maintained schools and academies. Its first pay outcomes are expected in 2027/28 at the earliest.

Pensions

Pensions are one of the few areas where there is little difference. Teachers in academies and maintained schools are both in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, with member rates from 7.4 per cent to 12 per cent depending on salary. Support staff are in the Local Government Pension Scheme in both types of school. If you move between an academy and a maintained school, your pension carries on in the same scheme.

Hours, notice and induction

The STPCD sets 1,265 hours of directed time over 195 days for full-time classroom teachers in maintained schools. Academy contracts often copy this, but some set different directed time or extra days, so read the hours clause.

Notice for maintained school teachers follows the Burgundy Book: you resign to leave on 31 December, 30 April or 31 August, giving two months’ notice (three in the summer term). Academies often copy these dates. A few use ordinary calendar-month notice. The dates are in teacher resignation deadlines.

Statutory induction for early career teachers is not a legal requirement in academies and free schools, though in practice most offer it. If you are an ECT, ask the school to confirm in writing that it will register and run your induction, because induction completed elsewhere is what lets you work in a maintained school later.

Sick pay, leave and other terms

Burgundy Book sick pay for teachers runs from 25 working days’ full pay in the first year to 100 days’ full pay and 100 days’ half pay from the fourth year. Green Book support staff get the same scale as the NHS. Academies usually match these, sometimes with small changes to how service is counted.

Ask specifically whether previous service in other schools and councils counts towards sick pay, maternity pay and redundancy pay. Most trusts recognise it, but this is a contractual promise, not a guarantee in law.

When a school converts

If your maintained school becomes an academy, you transfer to the trust under TUPE on your existing terms and continuous service. The trust cannot change your terms because of the transfer itself. It can propose changes later for an economic, technical or organisational reason, and those still need consultation. Unions are usually involved at conversion, and it is worth attending the staff consultation meetings. More on what transfers in TUPE explained.

Before signing with any academy, read three documents: the pay policy, the contract’s hours and notice clauses, and the policy on recognising previous service.