the educator mag May 24 (1) - Flipbook - Page 40
Eight ways to set an effective school budget
As the deadline for school budget
submissions looms large, not-for-profit HFL
Education (formerly Herts for Learning) is
sharing its top tips on how school and
academy leaders can create an effective
budget that will help – not hinder – the
delivery of a great education for every child
while keeping finances out of the red.
1. Don’t just use last year’s budget
Writing budgets gets more challenging
every year - gone are the days of replicating
last year’s budget lines and simply
adjusting them for inflation! Taking that approach now is a sure-fire way to make more
work for yourself in the long run.
Take the time to analyse the outcomes from
the year-end accounts of the previous year
– what did you overspend on, what wasn’t
worth the investment, where could you
make efficiencies? This will help you create
a budget for the future which is going to
work harder for your school.
2. Doublecheck your pupil numbers
The number of students on roll is an
important factor in the National Funding
Formula and for planning provision, so
it’s a key piece of information for realistic
budget setting. To make sure your student
number predictions are as accurate as they
can be, check your figures against your local
authority’s place planning data to see what
numbers they are predicting for your area.
3. Align with your School Improvement
Plan/School Development Plan
Your budget should reflect your
school’s strategic plans for growth and
development, and the resources you are
going to need to get you there.
For example, if your objective for the next
academic year is to improve reading outcomes for pupils, ensure you have budgeted for the additional books and teaching
resources you’ll need to make that happen.
4. Review your staffing levels
Staffing should account for between 75%
and 80% of your total revenue income. If
your costs exceed this, you might need to
consider how to
structure both
classrooms and
the backoffice to
optimise
outcomes and
impact. Start by
looking at how
many teaching
staff you need
to deliver the
curriculum and
then allocate
classroom
support hours
against a strategy designed to ensure the
highest quality learning outcomes for every
pupil. Budget deficits are like a rising tide,
so it’s key to your financial sustainability
that you take early action if you have too
many teaching and/or support staff in
your structure. Don’t delay and utilise any
resignations as an opportunity to rethink
structure and staff deployment.
5. Fully cost your SEND provision
SEND is one area where it is very easy for
schools to go overbudget so provisionally
mapping your SEND support is a useful
tool to ensure you set an accurate budget.
Review how much it is costing to provide
SEND support for pupils vs the additional
funding you receive and ensure these two
amounts are in balance. Don’t forget to
include the £6,000 notional SEND budget
per pupil. If you are struggling to make the
numbers align, consider how you could
deliver support in a different way and in line
with the funding received – for example,
moving from 1-2-1 support for children
with SEND to a team teaching approach for
a group of students.
6. Pupil premium numbers
A large percentage of your Pupil Premium
expenditure will invariably be sat within
your staffing expenditure already. Ensure
that you have calculated your Pupil
Premium staffing costs before adding
additional non-staffing expenditure, such as
subscriptions, therapies, trips and activities
etc, so that you are clear on the resource
envelope available to you.
7. Check your work
If you want to check that your budget is
on the money, so to speak, the Integrated
Curriculum Financial Planning (ICFP) tools
on the Department for Education website
are really helpful. You can check where your
proposed budgets sit in comparison to
national thresholds, and it has a calculator
to help you work out the teaching resources
needed to run the classes in your school.
8. Be prepared to make difficult decisions
If you can’t make the figures fit in your
budget, you will have to make some tough
choices about your expenditure - and
sooner rather than later. The longer the
books don’t quite balance, the larger the
deficit position the school will find itself in.
This will have a cumulative impact on
education outcomes, staff morale, your
mental health and much more. We always
suggest school leaders open a dialogue
with staff and be honest with them about
any financial challenges the school is facing.
Jackie Keegan, Resource Advisor at HFL
Education who wrote the top tips for
effective budgets, has been supporting
schools with their finances for over 20 years.
Jackie said:
“Schools are under a tremendous amount of
pressure to deliver high educational outcomes
with budgets that are decreasing in real
terms. The latest figures suggest around 9%
of schools are now in deficit and we know
from the schools we work with that can be a
difficult spot to climb out of. So while setting
budgets is difficult and it can involve making
unpopular decisions or saying no to things
you really want for your students and staff,
it’s necessary to be prudent and to explore all
your financial options to ensure your school
remains sustainable for years to come.”
HFL Education’s team of trusted advisors
offers a wealth of training and support for
schools and academies, from budgeting,
financial planning and recovery advice to
compliance and internal audits. 100% of the
team’s financial professionals and business
managers were previously employed within
the senior leadership team of a school or
trust before joining HFL Education, so they
provide considered advice and tools which
focus on educational outcomes as well as
financial ones.
Need help with your budget? You can
find more information about the HFL
Education’s Financial Services offer on
the website – www.hfleducation.org
