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The Tories have sneaked out a damning report revealing the boss of an Academy Schools chain praised by David Cameron had been paying himself a "second salary" while complaining he was underpaid.

A government report published on Thursday afternoon, just before the Easter Holiday, found "serious breaches" of financial rules by Birmingham's Perry Beeches Academies Trust.

Among the concerns in the report was the finding that the Trust had paid more some £1.3m to an outsourcing company - Nexus Schools - for "executive services".

These payments were then passed on to "Liam Nolan Ltd" - a company solely owned by the Trust's "superhead", Liam Nolan, who the report says was using it to pay himself a "second salary".

(Image: BPM)

The payments were not transparent, and there was no written contract with Nexus Schools.

David Cameron heaped praise on the trust, which runs five secondary schools in the area, saying its first school was "one of the most successful comprehensive schools ever in Britain."

The inquiry found that Mr Nolan was paying himself an extra £72,000 - on top of his £120,000 salary - while publicly complaining he deserved a pay rise.

In an interview with the Birmingham Mail in 2014, he said: "We are paid much less than other industry bosses."

He said while he had a “fantastic salary” it was not high given the context of the schools’ budget of £30 million.

(Image: Twitter / SkyNews)

The timing is embarrassing for Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, coming just days after the announcement that all schools will be forced to become Academies by 2022.

Mr Nolan already faced calls for his resignation after one of the schools operated by the trust was placed in special measures by Ofsted in June.

The damning inspection report heavily criticised the teaching at Perry Beeches III as "inadequate" and "dull".

He continued: “Compared to other industries whose bosses run similar budgets I would say the salary is low in comparison.”

According to the Birmingham Mail, Mr Nolan has now said he will take a £100,000 pay cut and step aside from his chief executive role at the trust.

The Education Funding Agency has written to Mark Ryan, chair of the Governing Body at Perry Beeches The Academy Trust, saying it must “prepare and implement an action plan” to improve the way it manages its finances.

Agency officials and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan will monitor the Trust’s progress - and if it fails to improve then it could be stripped of funding, the letter says.