GovernorHub Knowledge logo

Commissioning high-quality trusts: summary of guidance

Get to grips with the DfE’s guidance on commissioning high-quality trusts. Understand how the DfE measures the quality of trusts, and what it means for your trust.

Last reviewed on 1 April 2025
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 42805
Contents
  1. What is this guidance for?
  2. 5 descriptions to measure trust quality
  3. The DfE will use the descriptions to consider the best trust for each school
  4. Use the trust quality descriptions to guide your governance
  5. Your trust won't be judged against these descriptions

This article is based on the Department for Education's (DfE) guidance on commissioning high-quality trusts.

What is this guidance for?

This guidance explains how the DfE:

  • Judges the quality of academy trusts
  • Uses that information to decide which schools to recommend to which trusts

5 descriptions to measure trust quality

These ‘descriptions of trust quality’, or pillars, are broken into 3 groups, based on what they tell the DfE about what a trust can deliver.

Pillar 1: High-quality and inclusive educationThe core of what the DfE expects and the starting point for considering a trust’s effectiveness
Pillar 2: School improvementDemonstrates the capacity the trust has to offer

Pillar 3: Workforce
Pillar 4: Finance and operations
Pillar 5: Governance and leadership

Demonstrate the resilience and sustainability of the trust’s operating model

Read the descriptions of trust quality in more detail

They are set out in