E-ACT is a multi-academy trust responsible for 28 academies in England. As an academy trust, it is an exempt charity regulated by the Department for Education. E-ACT supports its 28 academies through four regional clusters in London and Bucks, Midlands, North and South West, each of which is led by a regional education director and a regional operations director and is supported by a team of system experts in areas like safeguarding.
History
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. In March 2013 an audit by the UK Department for Education concluded that "boundaries between E-ACT and its subsidiary, E-ACT Enterprises Ltd are blurred", "activities undertaken by the subsidiary have been paid for with public funds and so appear irregular", 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". A 2011 Guardian article reported that in 2010 its director-general Sir Bruce Liddington had a salary package of £280,017. Sir Bruce Liddington resigned in 2013 after E-ACT received an official warning from the government regarding "financial mismanagement". 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. In 2014, the Department for Education removed E-ACT as sponsor from 10 academies after Ofsted inspectors raised serious concerns, noting extravagant spending on expenses and £393,000 of spending with "procedural irregularities" including on unapproved consultancy fees. 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 as audited in its public accounts and the salary of its subsequent CEO, David Moran, reduced significantly. 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. Ambassadorial Advisory Groups were introduced at a local academy level. 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. E-ACT also announced plans to pioneer a pupil-led mental health curriculum in all its schools. 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%. E-ACT's Board of Trustees announced Deputy CEO Jane Millward as David’s successor.
Aldborough E-ACT Free School , with effect from 1 June 2014. The school is now known as Aldborough Primary School.
Hartsbrook E-ACT Free School , with effect from 1 September 2014. The school was closed on 31 August 2014, and re-opened on 1 September 2014 as Brook House Primary School.
Sherwood E-ACT Academy . E-ACT was the sponsor until the end of March 2015. The school was then known as Sherwood Academy. The Redhill Academy Trust sponsored the school until Summer 2016, when the school site closed permanently.
The Purston E-ACT Academy , with effect from 1 September 2014. The school is now known as The Featherstone Academy.
Trent Valley Academy , with effect from 1 June 2014. The school is now known as The Gainsborough Academy.
Dartmouth Academy , with effect from 1 September 2014. Nick Hindmarsh, Principal has said that: "The name of the trust will change following a consultation exercise across the schools’ communities".
