School Business Leader Wellbeing Index 2025

School Business Leader Wellbeing Index

Education Mutual remains committed to deepening the understanding of the wellbeing needs of School Business Leaders (SBLs) across state and Trust primary, secondary and special schools in England and Wales.

We are pleased to present the updated findings of our 2025 edition of this annual research. In this report, we have also made comparisons to the 2024 data, where available, to provide a clearer picture of emerging trends and shifts within the education sector.

Throughout this ongoing research, we employ the generic term ‘SBLs’ to acknowledge the various job titles associated with individuals fulfilling senior management roles. The collective contributions of School Business Leaders, School Business Managers, Human Resources, and administrative staff are crucial in ensuring the efficient operation of state-funded primary, secondary, and special schools in England and Wales.

Our key 2025 findings include

64 _%

of School Business Leaders of said that an excessive workload affected their mental health and wellbeing

56 _%

of School Business Leaders stated that funding issues had a negative impact on their wellbeing

53 _%

of School Business Leaders mentioned that there is a lack of understanding from others about their role

47 _%

of School Business Leaders experienced a negative impact due to reoccurring problems with staffing

43 _%

of School Business Leaders acknowledged a negative impact due to working long, unpaid hours

Respondents by region:

Further findings:

of respondents
reported that they’re
impacted by a lack of
work-life balance

of respondents reported that they’re impacted by inequitable pay

of respondents reported that they’re impacted by government legislation/compliance

Secondary Maintained School

”The role is huge. I qualified as an accountant many years ago, but for this, I need to have in-depth knowledge of Health and Safety, GDPR, HR, Procurement, Site Management, Maintenance, Estates, IT as well as Finance. You have to be up to date with this knowledge all the time as the workload is huge”.