How trust boards can comply with new rules on senior pay - and the data that can help them.
CST has released its 2026 salary benchmarking report in conjunction with partners Brightmine and Browne Jacobson.
The 2026 survey has been expanded to cover a broader range of roles in school trusts, and now covers some 40,000 jobs across the sector. It still comes senior salary roles across trusts as well as providing comparisons with the wider public sector, charities, and business.
The survey comes as the Department for Education has introduced increased scrutiny on school trust pay, with new rules on salary and pay rises for senior staff.
In this webinar, CST's Director of Trust Governance Samira Sadeghi and Browne Jacobson's Emma Hughes look at the report and how it can help trust boards in their deliberations and evidencing of pay decisions. Brighmine's Jennie Jakubowski looks at some of the detailed findings, and how trusts can get more detail and participate in sharing salary data to support the wider sector.
Trusts submitting data to the survey receive a personalised report exploring their position within the data - trusts can submit data at any point in the year and receive a proportionality analysis.
- Read the 2026 and past school trust salary survey reports
- CST guidance on Setting executive pay
