Neil Townsend - Financial Management in Schools (1MB)Powerpoint

Financial Management in Schools Neil Townsend NCSL

Purpose of this Session To introduce the tools and support being offered through the Financial Management in Schools project (FMiS) and the DfES Standard and Toolkit To seek your input on what further Financial Management training or support would be helpful

The FMiS Project
Workshops
Consultancy & Helpdesk
Online help
The DfES standard and toolkit
Benchmarking (using CFR)
What’s planned
Input from you
Today

FMiS programme – One of measures announced in statement on October 29 th
help schools improve their Financial Management
Programme comprises:
strategic financial planning workshops
consultancy
helpdesk
website
Programme put together by a partnership of organisations – DfES, NCSL, KPMG, SHA, NAHT, NAGM, NGC, Confed
The package will give priority to those schools in the LEAs who will be receiving the Transitional Grant
The project team working closely with LEAs - workshop and follow on support complements what LEAs already offering to schools
Financial Management in Schools (FMiS)

FMiS - Workshops 1 Host 1 Educationalist 1 KPMG 1 Admin
40 delegates per workshop
2 delegates per school (Head plus 1)
1 day
Initial allocation of 50 workshops between mid January and end of March
Schools only pay cover and travel expenses
LEA Finance Officer participation
1000 schools - 2000 delegates

Purpose and objectives for Strategic Financial Planning Workshop To help schools with effective strategic financial planning Purpose
To develop understanding of the parameters underpinning the current school funding framework
To offer a process for strategic financial planning
To highlight the link between financial management and longer term school improvement strategies
To consider some tools, checklists and ideas that can be used to examine both income and expenditure, with a view to optimising the use of all available resources
To identify sources of support available to schools to assist with effective strategic financial planning
To help each school get started and identify next steps towards an appropriate plan of action
Objectives

FMiS Consultancy & Helpdesk
Face to face consultancy
Undertaken by education/finance experts from KPMG
For those schools in most need of help
LEAs will decide which schools these are and how to use the consulting resources
To take place up to two weeks after workshops
KPMG will liaise directly with LEAs and work closely with them
Helpdesk
Email facility with agreed response times
Supported by expert practitioner bought in by NCSL
Access to experts from a variety of sources
[email_address]

Online delivery — home page http://www.ncsl.org.uk/fmis

DfES FM Standard & Toolkit
Due to be launched in March
New guidance documents have been available in draft form for consultation on VfM and NCSL web sites
For all secondary and some primary schools to achieve
Scoring system to assess quality of Financial Management in schools
(Home/Benchmarking/Financial Management in Schools) Will be on Teachernet when launched http://www. dfes . gov . uk / valueformoney

DfES Standard
A standard for financial management in schools to provide schools with a clear and consistent target
A self-evaluation tool for schools to identify their own current strengths and weaknesses
An external evaluation tool for those schools that wish to seek an external and independent opinion on whether they met the standard or not

DfES Quality Standard Sections
Leadership and Governance - clear leadership and effective governance
People - to have financially competent staff properly supported and directed
Policy and a Strategy - how to deploy resources to ensure school objectives are met and activities are affordable
Partnerships and Resources – uses resources efficiently and effectively and seeks to access new resources
Processes - plans are delivered, waste is minimised and fraud is made unlikely through the operation of sound planning, monitoring, control and reporting

DfES Toolkit
Guides schools through the process to achieve the standard
A guide to the existing documents and resources on good financial management practice
Additional good practice guides where gaps exist
Links to training and web applications to help reach the standard and better manage finances and resources

Why benchmark?
Benchmarking expenditure helps schools to:
focus on planning and managing their budgets
identify areas for improvement
set targets for improvement
achieve best value – quality vs. cost
improve the effectiveness of spending in order to improve performance
deliver educational services to a defined standard
learn from other schools.
Benchmarking finances can lock the school into a cycle of continuous improvement by developing a culture where it is easier to question the norm and to make changes.

Data that could be benchmarked
Average cost per teacher
Pupil teacher ratio
Contact ratio (secondary)
Average class size (primary)
Average class sizes for Key stage 3,4 and 5 and then broken down by year (secondary)
Total staff costs as % of costs and broken down further into teaching, learning support, admin, premises and management staff
Current spend per pupil
External contract costs as % of expenditure

http://www. teachernet . gov . uk /management/tools/ schoolfinance /

Zooming in … Income per pupil Expenditure on teachers per pupil Premises costs as % of total expenditure Expenditure on education support staff per pupil

What’s next?
DfES Standard & Toolkit available by end of March
E-learning for workshop online by end of March
Embed FMiS into business as usual training programmes through the NCSL
NPQH, HIP
Looking at FMiS beyond March
Extending workshops to more schools across all LEAs?
Extending one-to-one support to more schools?
Continue support for online community?
Workshops for LEA staff?

Your input
What else do you think could be done to improve Financial Management and planning?
How to ensure the School Improvement Plan and the Financial Plan are aligned?
How to encourage Strategic Financial Planning rather than budgeting?
How could we help/support Governors better?
What else should we be doing?
Training?
Coaching?
Tools?

Neil Townsend - Financial Management in Schools (1MB)Powerpoint

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Neil Townsend - Financial Management in Schools (1MB)Powerpoint Presentation Transcript