Help with producing your three year budget?
One of our directors presented to the SRMA National Conference and the ISBL Fellows about budget assumptions. This presentation has now been recorded by GovNet and is available here:
https://vimeo.com/694894730?signup=true
We are at the SRM Summit on 15 June 2022
One of our directors will be involved in a presentation about School Resource Management Advisers working with Local Authorities at the SRM Summit in the QEII Hall in Westminster.
We look forward to seeing trusts and LAs there.
We will be demonstrating our MySchoolsFinance dashboard as part of our stand.
Need help submitting your BFR?
The Budget Forecast Return will go live from 21 June 2022 and closes on 26 July 2022.
This is one of only two opportunities the ESFA have to gather information about the financial health of your trust – the other is the Annual Financial Statements and associated Academy Accounts Return. It is, therefore, important that your return is accurate and shows an accurate picture of your trust.
TSO Education can help with the preparation of both your budget and the return.
Please get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss this further.
Timetabling
Are you worried that your timetable isn’t going to be ready on time? Is timetabling taking your leadership team’s eye off the ball? Would it be easier simply to outsource the timetable writing?
We can help at TSO Education Ltd. Leave your timetable to one of our team of skilled timetablers and focus instead on teaching, learning and supporting students.
Benchmarking Reports
The Academy Trust Handbook (ATH) encourages Boards to take an integrated approach to curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) so that they are confident about planning the best curriculum for their pupils and delivering the trust’s educational priorities with the funding they have available.
To help inform your 2022/23 budgets and key performance indicators to monitor, TSO Education Ltd can review the information available in the two main government benchmarking resource websites to prepare a benchmarking report for you.
Due Diligence Reporting
We can offer due diligence reports at a range of levels both for trusts who are expanding and for individual schools who are planning to join trusts. We contract with a wide range of associates and so can offer due diligence work in a wide range of areas. Please do get in touch.
Options Appraisal – What is our next step?
We have worked with a number of both single and multi-academy trusts to explore their options for growth, looking at specific opportunities in their locale and preparing discussion documents for Trust Board meetings. We would also be happy to support discussions at such meetings. If you would like to be involved please contact us.
Support with the Trust Capacity Fund?
Applications for the 2022-23 TCaF have opened and need to be submitted by 30 June 2022. We have experience with assisting trusts to successfully bid to the fund. If you are planning growth, or have had growth approved by the RSC, then we would be delighted to work with you on your bid. Please contact the lead director.
Finance update for School Business Leaders – 10 August 2020
Exam Fees Refunds
We haven’t currently been able to confirm this but it looks like schools may receive a refund in the terms of a ‘credit note’ from Exam Boards for this year’s fees. Clearly exam boards have already paid for papers, senior examiners, administration and so on and so cannot return the full amount, but Pearson appears to have contacted Heads of Centre offering a partial refund as a credit against future year’s exams.
COVID Catch Up Premium
The DfE have published more information about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium. There will be £80 per pupil from reception to year 11 allocated to support schools to catch up pupils following the issues caused by the pandemic. Special schools, APs and hospital schools will receive £240 per pupil.
A good starting point for assessing how to spend this additional funding is the Covid-19 support guide for schools published by the Education Endowment Foundation.
The accountability process is in two parts: initially the plans need to be scrutinised by trustees and governors but. When Ofsted resume routine inspections from January 2021 the use of the premium will inform their judgements about the positive impact of the curriculum.
National Tutoring Programme
One of the ways that you could use the COVID Catch Up Premium is accessing the National Tutoring Programme. The launch of the National Tutoring Programme is being supported by through this website.
There are two programmes running as part of this initiative: funding for in-school Academic Mentors in disadvantaged areas supported by Teach First; and tutoring support provided to schools by tuition partner organisations.
Funding for Post-16 Catch Up
The DfE have also announced funding for tuition for post-16 students who have not achieved a grade 4 in one of either GCSE English or GCSE Maths. Schools and colleges will receive £150 per student who has failed to achieve a grade 4 in either English or Maths, but have clarified that it can be used to support them in other subjects, not just achieving English and Maths.
SRMA support for schools, academies and trust
In ESFA Chief Executive’s letter to Accounting Officers she highlights the ‘COVID-19 recovery offer … using our cohort of SRMAs to support schools and trusts with financial or resourcing challenges. These optional ‘resilience visits’ can be adapted to your needs but, for example, could include budget advice or support to put in place plans to mitigate the impact of lost income during lockdown. Our intention is that these, likely mainly virtual, visits will provide practical help and will not place unnecessary burdens on schools or trusts. The SRMA will produce a short report which will be shared with you (and which, as with routine SRMA reports, will remain confidential between you and the department), but with no requirement for you to take follow up action. Initial feedback suggests that these have been well received, with the CEO of St. Ives Infants School saying the visit: “saved us weeks of research. The impact of personalised support was that we can apply the suggestions with real purpose and be proactive…the SRMA was a real critical friend with a huge amount of knowledge”.’
You can discuss a possible SRMA visit with TSO Education or contact the ESFA directly.
Additional Capital Funding
The ESFA have published the additional Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) projects that will now be funded as part of their £560 million post-COVID additional funding.
Procurement for schools during the COVID-19 outbreak
The ESFA have published some useful guidance for those responsible for procurement in schools, including one-to-one video calls with Crown Commercial Services to assist with finding good value in the supply market.
Internal Audit
For those of you who haven’t yet addressed the requirement to separate your providers for external and internal audit TSO Education still have capacity to provide internal audit services in the 2020-21 year. Our service is both bespoke to the organisation and competitively priced and will be provided by auditors who are members of the Institute of Internal Auditors. If you are interested please contact us for a quotation.
Internal Scrutiny by Professionals
You may be aware that the ESFA has reviewed the latest ethical standards published by the Financial Reporting Council that states that there should be separation between those providing external audit and internal scrutiny. This is now a requirement of the Academies Financial Handbook.
At TSO Education we offer internal audit services designed specifically for the academies’ sector and undertaken by skilled auditors with experience of working in academies, members of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.
All internal scrutiny services include the production of the annual report for trustees, but we offer individually tailored packages to suit your needs up to designing the internal audit schedule with you, reporting to your audit committee; always ensuring a coherent link with the risks to your academy trust.
Please get in touch to discuss your bespoke requirements.
