It may seem a while off, but if you want to meet the deadline for submitting your School Financial Value Standard (SFVS), it is time to start preparing.
The deadline for submission may vary depending on your local authority, please check the date they expect to receive your completed form.
Financial benchmarking can be a valuable process as it enables comparisons of income and expenditure with other schools and academies. With this comparison you will then be able to consider how your resources can be used more efficiently and identify areas of improvement that may be required.
Last year the ESFA released the School Resource Management Self Assessment Tool (SRMSAT). This year it is compulsory for all academies and MATs to complete and submit this form by 15 March 2021.
The DfE have announced a new pot of funding available for schools and academies to order laptops and tablets for children who can’t attend school due to COVID-19 restrictions. Read our blog to find out what your school is entitled to and how to place an order.
The bidding window for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) usually opens around October half term and closes just before Christmas. However waiting until the bidding window opens can make it much more difficult to organise and plan your project, if you start now, you will have plenty of time to write a successful bid and submit it on time.
If you work in a standalone academy, free school or small multi-academy trust, with the support of our partners you can start the process now. We can assist in preparing a bid that could result in significant benefits for your school.
It can often be a difficult process to receive funding for various departments in your school, academy, or MAT however there are a couple of non DFE grants currently available as a top up to your standard funding streams.
If you’re looking for additional funding to support your school and enhance the learning experience for your pupils, this post can point you in the right direction to achieve this.
As a PS Financials (PSF) accredited support and training partner we understand how complex the software can be for users. Some processes can be time consuming and at times cumbersome, leaving you wondering is there a simpler way of doing this?
Schools and academies over the last decade have faced significant financial pressures, further exacerbated due to the current COVID-19 global pandemic. However, central government are reacting to these current pressures and have announced additions to school funding for the academic year 2021/22 alongside the increase in per pupil funding previously announced. These changes in funding aim to increase the opportunities for pupils across the UK and intend to return education back to normal.
It can often be frustrating when attempting to navigate the varying funding sources available for projects you wish to undertake within your schools and colleges. If you are a special school or a college, you can now apply for a grant through the Wolfson Foundation’s Funding for Special Schools and Colleges grants programme.
Your accounting software is one of the most important tools in your arsenal when it comes to making key strategic and operational decisions. It not only performs the function of paying suppliers and raising sales invoices, it also acts as your primary system for monitoring all income/expenditure and when utilised to its full potential ensures compliance with statutory reporting as well as being the key control over your financial assets. Having the right system in place and ensuring it is maintained regularly will pay dividends, both in terms of efficient use of available resources as well as offering peace of mind that the financial information being presented to stakeholders is accurate.
With the ever-growing requirements of financial reporting in education, it is crucial that your accounting software not only offers a wide range of reports, but that the reports are up to date and reflect a true and fair position.
Effective internal controls are also essential to enable different levels of access to support the segregation of duties. It is key that the right parts of the system are only available to the right people.
