School Support Finance - Budget Advice and Planning
Sound financial planning, linked to the School’s Improvement Plan, is essential in
all schools. We offer services to ensure that schools are able to plan properly and
that Governing Bodies receive appropriate financial information and reports.
Staff within School Support Finance oversee school budgets for the Local
Authority (LA) and are therefore well placed to provide advice and support to
Headteachers and Governing Bodies. Our single point of contact provides in-depth
knowledge of school finance systems, individual school budgets and an
understanding of the problems faced by schools.
The services available to schools are:
Option 1 - Budget Planning & Monitoring Spreadsheet Package
This option is aimed at larger schools which may require, for example, differing
staffing scenarios to project, and are likely to have an administrative officer/bursar
with the hours necessary to operate the software to its full potential.
The package provides schools with a three year budget model; with expenditure
and income forecasts to facilitate the requirements of forward planning.
Schools will receive:





Budget monitoring and budget projection software. This will be released when
the Annex 1 has been received, verified and recorded on the spreadsheet;
Updates of the budget monitoring spreadsheet downloaded to your “secure
site” on a regular basis;
A monitoring page for 2011-12 offering schools the opportunity to add notes
and comments against the figures;
A summary page indicating termly staffing levels and the balances in Devolved
Formula Capital for LA and controlled schools;
A user guide on how to get the best out of your spreadsheet;
Option 2 - School Governor Reporting Package (Nursery, Primary and
Special Schools ONLY)
This option is available to all Nursery, Primary and Special Schools purchasing
DCC payroll and operating the DSAS finance system and may be suitable for
smaller schools with a proportionately lower number of administrative hours.
This package provides schools with three termly reports regarding the school’s
financial position. School Support Finance will work with the Headteacher to agree
the report, which will contain annotation to support any assumptions that have
been made, and will include estimates of the current and following year end
budget position. The timing of the report will be agreed at the start of each term
and will require a fortnight's notice to change the agreed date.
Schools will continue to receive their Governor Report electronically via Email as a
PDF file.
1
In addition, purchasing Options 1 and 2 will entitle schools to receive:






Full telephone support on routine matters relating to school finance;
Free termly finance newsletter “Financial Monitoring Matters”;
Free attendance at the biannual school administrative officer/bursar meetings;
Free School Premises Lettings Calculator on 'Excel' software;
Free yearly electronic updates of the Administrative Guide to School Finance;
The option to purchase discounted meetings if necessary.
Option 3 - Budget Meetings Only
As in 2010-11 we are offering analysis style budget meetings only. These
meetings examine the current, and future financial year, considering the
implications of varying balances, of changing pupil number trends, and costing of
various staffing models etc. It is anticipated that the meetings will last for up to 2
hours. A full report will follow within 5 working days of the meeting.
In addition this package will entitle schools to receive:




Basic telephone support on routine matters relating to school finance. Any
further support will be charged at our hourly rate;
Free termly finance newsletter “Financial Monitoring Matters”;
Free yearly electronic updates of the Administrative Guide to School Finance;
and
Free attendance at the biannual school administrative officer/bursar meetings.
Option 4 - Schools Administrative Package
This is aimed at schools which do not wish to enter into one of the three options
above. This package will entitle schools to the following:



Attendance at the biannual school admin/bursars meetings;
Yearly electronic updates of the Administrative Guide to School Finance; and
Termly finance newsletter “Financial Monitoring Matters”.
Option 5 - Staffing Calculator ONLY
In addition to option 3 or 4, schools may opt to purchase the staffing calculator
either to complement the above services or as a stand alone product:
Please note: Only options 1 and 2 include the full telephone support of
School Support Finance. If you do not enter into one of these packages, any
request for financial advice or work to be carried out on your behalf will be
charged at an hourly rate of £90.
2
Training Programme
A termly training programme, posted on DNfL has been devised for schools staff
development on the following, which will be individually priced:






Introduction to Finance for Newly Appointed and Acting Headteachers;
General Finance for School Governors;
Focus on Finance for Headteachers and School Finance Officers;
General Finance for School Administrative Staff;
Budget Monitoring including extended use of the Monitoring Spreadsheet;
Lettings
Operating Standards
Our telephone helpline aims to answer queries from schools within 1 working day.
It will be open between 9.00am and 5.00pm. We will deal with written requests for
advice within 5 working days, except where they are complex. In these cases we
will provide an acknowledgement within 5 working days and will agree with you a
timescale for a response.
Quality Assurance
We aim to keep our service standards high by internal monitoring of the service
and through regular and routine surveys of users.
If our service is not up to the quality you expect we want to hear from you. Please
let the member of staff you are dealing with know you are dissatisfied so we can
sort the problem out straight away. If you are still not satisfied, please contact the
Assistant Head of Finance – Schools Services in the first instance. In the unlikely
event that the issue is not dealt with to your satisfaction, you should talk to the
Head of Service - Finance. If your complaint is still not resolved the Assistant
Director - Resources will be responsible for remedying the complaint.
Contact Points
If you have any queries about the service, contact Andy Walker, Head of School
Support Finance on 01629 532914.
Charges
Option
1
Primary/Nursery/Special £610
Secondary
£735
Option
2
£610
N/A
Option
3
£330
£330
Option
4
£100
£100
Option
5
£240
£240
Hourly
rate
£90
£90
Schools choosing Option 1 or Option 2 can purchase budget meetings at a
discounted rate of £270.
Any Traded Services charges relating to School Support Finance will be debited
against general ledger code 313200.
3