In this episode I’m joined by Dr. Chris Whitmore, CEO at The Schools People and HR Director within the Schools Advisory Service Group, to talk about the legal side of MAT growth and rebrokering. We get into the practical do’s and don’ts of employment law when trusts expand, how to put the right legal foundations in place early and what can go wrong when a rebrokering process doesn’t quite go to plan.

▶️ This episode at a glance:

[1:44] – Chris shares the problem-solving framework he uses to understand what level a trust is really operating at

[5:40] – How to think about growth when it starts to feel stretching or misaligned

[7:40] – Setting risk boundaries during growth and knowing when missing information should trigger a pause

[11:16] – Putting systems in place to support due diligence and objective decision-making

[17:30] – Why culture belongs in due diligence and how qualitative insight strengthens the data

[22:40] – Making sense of liability, future risk and how to protect the organisation

[26:05] – Managing stakeholders, competing agendas and external pressure during growth

[33:00] – Using intelligence to surface future issues early and reduce risk over time

[35:42] – Key differences between schools joining from local authorities and those moving between MATs

[40:37] – Risks and miscommunications trusts often cannot control and the wider system impact

[42:22] – The one thing Chris says trusts should never do when it comes to growth and rebrokering

[44:10] – Audience Q&A from the original live webinar recording

📚 Related content:

The Schools People: HR Consultancy & GDPR Compliance: https://schooladvice.co.uk/the-schools-people

Contact Chris via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-chris-j-whitmore-ma-phd-keele-ilm-l7-mcct-f-afc-fiol-23a80834/

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This podcast is hosted by me, Laura Williams, and sponsored by the amazing team at Schools Advisory Service who are the UK’s largest provider of staff absence insurance and comprehensive whole school wellbeing services.

⭐️ Laura's website: https://www.ljbusinessofeducation.co.uk

⭐️ Schools Advisory Service website: https://schooladvice.co.uk/