What's the difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus?

Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment against five security controls. Cyber Essentials Plus tests the same controls with a hands-on technical audit by a licensed assessor. You must hold Cyber Essentials before doing Plus.

Do you do the work, or just assess us?

We do the work. Foresight runs the gap analysis, carries out hands-on remediation, prepares the evidence and liaises with the assessor, so you pass first time rather than paying to re-sit a failed audit.

How much does Cyber Essentials cost?

The IASME assessment fee is tiered by size from around £320 + VAT and includes £25,000 cyber liability insurance for eligible UK businesses. Cyber Essentials Plus is scoped to your estate, typically from around £1,380 + VAT.

Education · MATs

AI for Multi-Academy Trusts: where can multi-academy trusts use AI safely?

AI can save your team real hours — here’s where it genuinely helps multi-academy trusts, where to be careful, and how to use it safely.

Book an AI Readiness Audit Call 0161 738 1399

Why Foresight

Cyber Essentials Plus certified
Microsoft CSP & Copilot specialists
Greater Manchester, since 2006
Honest advice — not licence-selling

Quick answer

Multi-academy trusts can use AI to save time across central and school teams — trust-wide policies and reports, SBM and admin work, communications, and teacher planning support — while pupil, SEND and safeguarding data stays firmly out of scope. Rolling AI out consistently and safely across every school, aligned to DfE standards, is exactly where a trust benefits from doing it once, properly.

Where AI helps

Practical uses for multi-academy trusts

Area	Where AI fits
Central admin	Trust-wide policies and reports — Copilot
School business	SBM reports and policy updates — Copilot
Teaching	Planning and resources — Copilot Chat (free)
Pupil & safeguarding data	Out of scope — across every school

Doing it safely

Governance first

Pupil, SEND and safeguarding data across all schools must stay out of scope, and DfE digital standards apply trust-wide. Before rolling anything out, tidy permissions, put a simple AI usage policy in place, keep sensitive data out of public tools, and keep a human in the loop — all part of our AI Adoption service. See also AI for schools.

Free downloads

Start today with our templates

The same free, ready-to-use templates we use in our audits:

“Day in the Life” AI template

Find exactly where AI will save your team time.

Download →

AI Usage Policy template

A short, practical AI policy to keep your data safe.

Download →

FAQs

Common questions

Can multi-academy trusts use AI?

Yes — for trust-wide policies and reports, SBM and admin work, comms and teacher planning. Pupil and safeguarding data stays out of scope.

How should a MAT roll out AI across schools?

Do it once, properly — a consistent, safe rollout across every school, with tidy permissions, a clear policy and DfE-aligned governance. That’s what our AI Adoption service delivers.

Is Copilot safe across a whole trust?

It can be, once permissions are tidied school by school — Copilot only shows what a user can already access, so over-sharing must be fixed first.

Will AI replace staff in a trust?

No — it removes admin so central and school teams can focus on education and pupils.

Put AI to work — safely

Start with a fixed-fee AI Readiness Audit and get a clear, honest plan — and the licences you actually need.

See AI Adoption as a Service Call 0161 738 1399