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MAT Budgeting in 2025: What changes are coming and how to prepare?
Budgeting is no longer just a back-office task. For MATs, it’s becoming the backbone of strategic leadership. With pressures building across the board, many trusts are feeling the strain.
In this blog, we explore how the landscape is changing in 2025 and what MATs can do to stay one step ahead.
Change is coming. But what kind of change?
If you work in MAT finance, you already know that standing still is not an option. Between rising staff costs, mounting SEND pressures, and the disappearance of trust growth funding, budgeting is becoming more like a high-stakes juggling act than a back-office routine.
And the latest data confirms it: Nearly 60% of trusts are now operating in deficit, according to the Kreston UK Academies Benchmark Report 2025. That’s up from just 20% in 2020/21. The message from the Department for Education is also clear—expectations around strategic planning, financial accountability, and scalability are intensifying.
So, how ready is your MAT to weather the storm?
From balancing books to building futures
Today’s budgets aren’t just about surviving—they’re about steering. They must become strategic, live documents that help leadership make smart, informed decisions throughout the year.
Especially now that staff costs have ballooned to over 75% of income for many single-academy trusts. And with 31% of trusts now holding less than 5% in reserves, the financial margin for error has all but vanished.
In this climate, planning isn’t just useful. It’s mission-critical.
What is actually changing in 2025?
Here are the shifts MATs need to keep front of mind this year:
1. Rising costs and funding gaps
An overwhelming 81% of trusts cite teaching and support staff costs as a top concern. With government pay settlements outpacing funding uplifts, budgets are under increasing strain.
2. SEND provision pressures
SEND demand is rising sharply, but funding isn’t keeping pace. This is leaving many trusts unable to provide the essential support pupils need, while struggling to balance already overstretched budgets.
3. Reserve erosion and financial fragility
Trusts are dipping into reserves at record levels. Alarmingly, nearly a third now fall below the 5% threshold flagged by the ESFA as financially vulnerable.
4. Expansion slowdown
More than half of MATs say they’ll scale back expansion in 2024/25, partly due to the loss of the Trust Capacity Fund. Ambitious growth plans are hitting financial roadblocks.
5. Digital transformation or bust
Those still clinging to spreadsheets are now visibly lagging behind. The shift to cloud-based, integrated tools with real-time data is no longer optional—it’s essential.
The cost of not preparing
This is not only about avoiding shortfalls. It is about what your trust could be missing.
Without a strong planning process, it becomes harder to secure funding or present a compelling case for investment. Staffing becomes reactive. Opportunities for development slip by. Finance teams become overstretched. And stress builds across the organisation.
When your tools cannot keep up with your responsibilities, everyone feels the impact. From CFO to classroom.
What does a future-ready MAT budget look like?
It looks like clarity. Agility. And control.
- Centralised: All schools under one shared platform
- Integrated: Financial, staffing, and curriculum planning, all connected
- Dynamic: Scenario modelling that adapts with real-time data
- Strategic: Forward-looking, not just reactive
How Anago helps MATs plan for what is next
At Anago, we believe budgeting should be simple, effective, and measurable.
Our all-in-one cloud platform empowers MATs to plan, forecast, and adapt in a single space. With roots in Dutch education—where over 30% of MATs use our tools—we bring proven financial control, modelling power, and insight to the UK sector.
Whether you're planning your staffing strategy or exploring multi-year expansion, Anago gives you the data confidence and scenario flexibility to lead with clarity.
And while your reserves might be shrinking, your strategic capacity doesn’t have to.
What can you do now?
Start by reflecting on your current process. Can it manage the complexity of a growing trust? Does it give you the insights you need? Are you confident planning into next year, or even next term?
If not, this could be the right time for a change.
Anago is here to support that shift with tools that empower your finance team, not replace them.
Looking ahead
2025 isn’t about making your old processes work harder. It’s about creating new ones that work better.
The best MATs are already treating budgeting as a strategic priority. Not because they have to—but because they know it’s the smartest way to deliver better outcomes for pupils, staff, and the communities they serve.
With the right tools and mindset, your trust can do the same.
Let’s talk
Got questions? Want a demo? Curious how other MATs are adapting?
Get in touch with the Anago team today.
Let’s build a better budgeting future, together.
Curious what Anago can do for you?
Why MATs must move from reactive to proactive budgeting (before it’s too late)
For many MATs, budgeting still means reacting to problems as they arise. But with rising pressure and the 2030 deadline on the horizon, trusts need more than quick fixes. This blog explores why now is the time to shift from reactive to proactive planning—and how to make it happen.
MAT finance under pressure: how to navigate budget cuts without compromising education
In the face of rising costs and shrinking support, this blog explores how Multi-Academy Trusts can tackle 2025’s financial challenges without sacrificing quality or outcomes.
This way you are always prepared for changes in education financing
You've probably experienced it before: government regulations are changing again, and you have to move quickly to get your budget in order. Or you are faced with a new subsidy scheme and wonder how you can incorporate this into your financial planning without errors. The financial landscape in education can be quite challenging, with all the fluctuations in funding and changes in legislation and regulations.
But there's good news: you no longer have to wade through this alone. Current government data can help you maintain an overview, as long as you have access to the right tools and software that process this data for you in real time. How does that work and why is it so important? Let's delve into that in more detail.