Verdict
Not at the moment of conversion. DfE’s governance guide says the existing terms and conditions of teachers and support staff transfer protected under the TUPE regulations, and that the pay and conditions document stays relevant to any teacher whose contract has not been renegotiated. A trust can set its own pay and conditions — but that power bites on new contracts and renegotiated ones, not automatically on yours the day the school converts.
What the source actually says
Both halves sit in the same short section. First the trust’s power:
“Trusts can set their own pay and conditions of service for teachers and support staff.”
Then the limit on it:
“Where a maintained school or sixth form college converts to an academy, the existing terms and conditions of service of teachers and support staff are protected under The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE).”
“The statutory guidance on school teachers pay and conditions or The National Joint Council for Staff in Sixth Form Colleges pay and conditions handbook will remain relevant to any teachers whose contract has not been renegotiated.”
— Academy trusts: governance guide, DfE, published 20 July 2026, section 7.18.2 “Pay and conditions of service” DfE
Note what this card does not claim. The protection itself comes from the TUPE regulations, which are not in this corpus — this card reports how DfE’s guidance states the position, and that guidance describes itself as non-statutory. It also says nothing about what may lawfully happen later: “renegotiated” is doing real work in that last sentence, and the guide does not set out when or how a renegotiation is proper. That is employment law, and this site does not give individual advice.
Your school may still require it
Your trust can offer, and can ask you to agree, a new contract on different terms, and can put every new appointment on its own pay framework from the start. What it cannot do is treat conversion itself as the moment your existing terms stop applying.
See also Does the pay and conditions document apply to me in an academy? and How many days a year can my school require me to be in?.