Presently, academy trusts have freedom to depart from the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD), which applies to maintained schools in England. Whether this places academies in a better or worse position when it comes to exercising freedom in teachers’ pay and conditions depends on how they engage with the opportunities that could be on the horizon. The government, however, believes that creating a consistent pay and conditions package across all state-funded schools will promote partnership between schools. This appears to be a nod to academy trusts but it remains to be seen what these flexibilities will look like. While this has removed one potential issue for academy trusts that may have been forced to amend contracts, other concerns will remain.