81 per cent of Multi-Academy Trusts are now centralising most back office functions (Kreston UK Academies Benchmark Report, 2025).
But parent communication is still often left for individual schools to manage themselves.
Should communications be centralised too? Or is there more to gain from giving school autonomy over how they communicate with parents?
Is a MAT a coordinated organisation or a loosely connected set of schools, each doing their own thing?
When schools are left to independently run their own communications, the central Trust may lost oversight. How well is that school engaging parents? How satisfied do parents feel? These are questions that get lost in the shuffle of multiple channels for multiple schools.
But being able to oversee how satisfied parents are with communications is powerful: as the data has shown in previous blogs, turning parents into advocates is one of the most effective ways to increase enrolment for schools.
When communications are centralised, they can be standardised... and with that comes efficiency, with savings for both cost and time.
There are financial benefits to centralisation too. As the British Education Suppliers Association noted in its 2025 MAT Report, Trusts can achieve greater economies of scale by centralising core functions. With many schools using multiple channels to communicate, the cost of not centralising is one with a real price tag attached.
For Trusts with and without marketing teams, centralising communications brings a real opportunity: giving them the power to standardise Trust branding, ensure updates and news are shared at optimal times rather than waiting for schools to act, and overseeing how, when and where schools are communicating. With far more information at their fingertips, central Trust teams can manage how schools communicate with both prospective and current families.
While parent communications are often private, taking place through an app or via email, schools often also release public communications too, sharing information and updates through websites and social media. Centralisation gives MATs the ability to oversee these communications before they go out, ensuring that all school messaging reflects Trust values.
According to the British Educational Suppliers Association, schools in MATs say that centralisation can result in tension between schools wanting to preserve their autonomy and the benefits of standardisation.
Schools want communication with parents to reflect their own values and outlook. A MAT’s central team may be seen as too distant to understand what makes that school “tick”.
Schools may also find themselves encouraged — or obligated — to use communications channels that are not fit for purpose, as part of MAT standardisation. We recently spoke to a school in this position, who returned to ReachMoreParents after leaving during a Trust-wide shift to a large MIS system, which included basic communications functions.
“With the MIS system, communications became complicated - which increased our workload.”
MATs want central oversight and cost-saving standardisation. Schools want autonomy. Is it possible to have both?
Some Trusts have found a balance. As one Trust we spoke to recently told us, the sweet spot lies in tools which centralise visibility while still giving individual schools control over the content that gets shared, when it gets shared and who it gets shared with.
Ultimately, what MATs want and what schools want are not mutually exclusive.
MATs want standardisation and oversight: one central platform that allows them to see how each school is communicating with parents, how well that communication is performing and how engaged parents are.
Schools want independence and autonomy: control over what gets shared, without feeling micro-managed or stifled.
And families, whether they are still considering a school or have already enrolled their child, want high-quality, clear communications. With centralisation, MATs gain the ability to oversee and benchmark the quality of all outgoing communications to families — without taking away control from schools.
With a platform that allows both central MAT oversight and school autonomy, centralisation isn't just possible — it's powerful.
Even when communications are centralised, there still needs to be a strategy to make them work. Do your schools really have communication strategies or are they missing an opportunity? Read our blog to find out how to create a school communication strategy that engages parents and bolsters your reputation.