Managing budgets is a cornerstone task of any SBL’s job role but the task can often seem overwhelming. Rebecca Cunliffe, school business manager at Lomeshaye Junior School, shares insights into getting to grips with budget planning
As school business leaders, we need to hold a lot of information to be able to make effective decisions and recommendations to our head teachers, principals, CEOs etc. None more important than planning for the school budget.
We must review and plan for the year ahead and this requires gathering information, reviewing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and analysing spending from the previous year.
How do you do this effectively? What support do you have to ensure accurate financial information? No matter what the structure is in your educational setting, if you lead the finance team or manage the day to day budget, here are some of the processes to consider when planning or supporting the planning of the school budget.
Review the previous year
This includes any use of reserves and why this has been necessary. Also, look at areas that are underspending as they can be as critical to planning as overspending and benchmarking.
Are staff pay grades and pay progression plans are correct? Double check that the working hours and working weeks are correct. Check that their pension status is accurate e.g. have they opted out and have you checked to ensure that their contributions aren’t being included? Know your staffing structure and keep up to date with changes in working days/hours, maternity claims, sickness absence claims and plan for the next academic year staffing structure, including pay progression.
Get help: School workforce planning – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Challenge the staffing structure
Where you know there are SEND pupils or a high percentage of pupil premium pupils, is there a level of support to meet those needs? Are the teachers receiving TLRs still working on additional targets? As the person with the helicopter view, school business leaders should be questioning if the structure makes sense as challenge can bring cost savings.
Service Level Agreements
Make sure you have a list of review dates, termination dates (don’t get caught out and be charged for extensions unnecessarily) and any known price increases. Speak to staff and make sure that any packages included in the budget are still being used, still meet the needs of the pupils and provide value for money. Set alerts well before renewal dates so you can prevent any auto renewals of contracts without an evaluation. Always get quotes for like for like services from other companies, use your networks to find out who other School Business Leaders would recommend.
This includes the National Funding Formula changes (2024/2025 update on allocating split sites funding), FSM funding updates, Minimum Pupil Funding (MPF) allocations, High Needs Block Funding, and LA budget assumptions including staff pay awards and inflation estimates.
Prepare a budget plan including of all of the above details
Speak to all budget leaders (if you have them), ensure they have reviewed their spending from the previous year and planned their budget for the next year to meet the needs of the pupils and to support the school improvement plan. Finally, sit down with your line manager, run through the plan and make any final adjustments in preparation for your budget approval meeting with your LGB or Board.
I hope these tools and questions help you get the process going. It is time consuming and there’s lots to be getting on with but you know and I know you got this!
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