E-ACT

Until 2009 the Chief Executive of the Trust was Ian Comfort, who left his post alleging whistleblowing concerns, whilst the trust claimed "poor performance" issues.[7] In March 2013 an audit by the UK Department for Education concluded that "boundaries between E-ACT and its subsidiary, E-ACT Enterprises Ltd (EEL) are blurred" (page 3), "activities undertaken by the subsidiary have been paid for with public funds and so appear irregular" (page 3), and "there has been a flow of public monies into EEL that cannot be said to directly benefit teaching and learning in E-ACT academies" (pages 12–13).[8]

A 2011 Guardian article reported that in 2010 its director-general Sir Bruce Liddington had a salary package of £280,017.[9] Sir Bruce Liddington resigned in 2013 after E-ACT received an official warning from the government regarding "financial mismanagement".[10] The investigation report into E-ACT found that internal financial controls were weak, there was a culture of extravagant expenses, governance procedures were unusual, and that payments were made to trustees in a manner unusual for the charitable sector.[11]

In 2014, the Department for Education removed E-ACT as sponsor from 10 academies after Ofsted inspectors raised serious concerns,[4] noting extravagant spending on expenses and £393,000 of spending with "procedural irregularities" including on unapproved consultancy fees.[12]

E-ACT Enterprises LTD was dissolved shortly after Sir Bruce Liddington's departure. In addition, E-ACT has made considerable changes to its previous administration practices (including reducing back office costs by 73%) as audited in its public accounts and the salary of its subsequent CEO, David Moran, reduced significantly.[13]

In January 2016, E-ACT moved to a centralised process for monitoring standards. There is now a single central governing body covering all academies in the group across the country.[14] Ambassadorial Advisory Groups were introduced at a local academy level.[15]

In 2017, E-ACT introduced a mental health first aid programme, aiming to train every member of staff to understand and recognise the early warning signs of mental health problems in pupils.[16] E-ACT also announced plans to pioneer a pupil-led mental health curriculum in all its schools.[17]

In August 2019, David Moran stepped down as CEO. When he joined the organisation in 2013, 17% of E-ACT’s academies were rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. As of 2019, that figure was over 70%.[18] E-ACT's Board of Trustees announced Deputy CEO Jane Millward as David’s successor.[19]