A Timely Reminder for Budget Reviews

You have successfully completed the first few weeks of the new academic year, congratulations! Time to grab a snack and a mug of something warm and have a look at where your current budget forecast is, with advice from Clare Skinner

For maintained schools, you are nearly halfway into your financial year so this would seem a really sensible thing to do! For those academies out there, you may be asking why I would check that budget now when it is really only a month old?!

Here’s the thing, a lot can happen over that stealthy month of August and particularly so in a year where we have a new government in place. So, whether you are one or six months into your budget, take the time to review it now. You will thank me for this!

First Things First

First all, where are you with updating budgets in line with the teacher’s pay award announcement and the new Core Schools Budget Grant (CSBG) that will fund it? Refresh your working budget with those numbers and advise your head and governors/trustees as soon as you can so that they have an up-to-date knowledge of the school’s position.

The STPCD has been published, so check through it ready for governors/trustees to approve it and understand when it will be applied and back dated, that way you can update your cashflow position as well. The CSBG is also designed to cover the support staff pay award so update your calculations on what this will amount to as information is released. With these areas accounting for most of your expenditure, you need to ensure that any initial assumptions are updated in line with finalised agreements.

Over or Under?

Next to consider will be your estate; what works got done over the summer that went over or under budget? What compliance checks were completed that have identified the need for further works to be completed? Adjustments to the budget in terms of actual costs can be applied and then a priority list with relevant costs can be developed so that strategic estates decisions can be made in terms of addressing vital, important and nice to do pieces of work.

As an academy, you will need to be preparing your Condition Improvement Fund bids so, what could the contribution to the project be now, does it need to change, or have you got more evidence to develop a stronger bid due to evidence gathered over the summer or a change to your budget position in light of the CSBG (fingers crossed it’s a positive change!)?

Then look at what new things have cropped up from the updated version of Keeping Children Safe in Education and may need to be factored into the updated budget. What new teaching and learning or behaviour management research has come out over the summer months and is there anything that has fallen off the radar or out of trend and just isn’t needed anymore? Having conversations with SLT at this point is really key so that you can understand whether priorities have changed over the summer break and you can advise on how to address the changing needs of the school.

Wish Lists

Finally, it is time to look at your wish list or “lovely things” list as I call it. You know, those pieces of equipment, requests for room decoration, investment in resources or people that you have had to turn down in the past as they just haven’t been affordable at the time. I keep those all in a folder and refer to it on a regular basis to see what I can do to chip away at it and to make myself and those around me feel lovely!

I fully appreciate that some of my wonderful SBP colleagues will not be in a position to get to the estate review, let alone anything that is vaguely lovely. School finances remain in a fragile state and, whilst recent government announcements feel on the positive side, there is still a lot of work to be done until we can truly attack and resolve all the spending decisions that we face.

This review of budgets will not be a pleasant experience for a lot of us, but it is still important. Even if the news is not good, use the refreshed information to feel empowered and put yourself in a position to give strong, evidence-based knowledge to your head and governors/trustees so that efficient decision making can take place for maximum impact on your operation.

Whatever your position, don’t be an island, this is not just your budget; it belongs to everyone that is a stakeholder in your setting so make sure that they are all knowledgeable whatever their role in delivering best value in your school.