800 school leaders are earning £100,00-plus

Around 800 headteachers, deputies and assistant heads in state schools were earning upwards of £100,000 in 2012, according to data published by the Department for Education (DfE).

Of these, around 200 had pay packets worth more than £110,000, while 600 earned between £100,000 and £109,999.

It means that these school leaders are earning around double the average salary of a headteacher in any state school, which stood at £55,700 in 2012 compared to around £55,500 in 2011. In November 2011, around 700 state school leaders were earning more than £100,000.

The figures show that 400 secondary academy heads were earning in excess of £100,000, compared to 300 working in other state secondary schools.

The average salary for a secondary academy school leader is also higher at £61,900, compared to £60,900 for a head working in a local authority-run secondary school.

At the other end of the scale, there were 1,600 school leaders on salaries of less than £40,000.