Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests her Department has received from schools for sign-off of confidentiality clauses in staff settlement agreements in each of the last three financial years; and how many of those requests were approved.

The requirement for academy trusts to obtain prior approval from the department for confidentiality clauses associated with staff severance payments was introduced in October 2025 and is set out in paragraph 5.13 of the academy trust handbook, which is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-trust-handbook/academy-trust-handbook-2025-effective-from-1-september-2025.

The revision was made to reflect HM Treasury’s updated guidance on public sector exit payments, which states that Treasury approval is required if the payment is novel, contentious or repercussive. Settlement agreements that contain confidentiality clauses are included within this description. As this requirement was only introduced in October 2025, annual data is not currently available.

For local authority-maintained schools, the responsibility and oversight for such decisions will be managed locally.