What You Need to know about driving your budget from the school development plan Presented by Neil Charlton-Jones

Workshop Objective “To introduce the concept of driving your budget from the school development plan and to discuss practical ways on how this can be applied in your school”

Workshop Topics Why Plan Strategically 6 steps to strategic planning Pitfalls to strategic planning Outcomes of strategic planning Questions and answers

Background Uncertainty in the future funding available National formula MFG funding level/Calculation Delays in funding information Changes to grants Academy conversion Not all bad news….

What does planning strategically mean? Strategic planning is an organisation’s process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its resource and people. Can it be done in times of uncertainty?

Strategic Plan Templar Introduction Mission Statement and School Aims Financial Projections-Base Plan Assumptions within the Financial Projections Sensitivity Analysis-”What if Scenarios” Monitoring & Evaluation Conclusions and Summary

What data is required to create a strategic plan

Priority – Attach priority order to objectives. Actioned By? – Name or title of staff member who is responsible for delivering this element of the action plan Monitoring Responsibility – Name or title of staff member who is responsible for monitoring. Evaluating Responsibility - Individual or group responsible for measuring impact (value for money?). Priority – Attach priority order to objectives. Timescales - Identifies when the activity will take place. Section - The main areas of the School Development Plan (Action points) Costings - The resources requirement is identified by term. Objective / Department - Key objectives or department title CFR / Cost Centre / Ledger Code / Income Source - Resources can be allocated to Ledger Code and Cost Centre. Activities – Brief description of each activity. Links with ECM Agenda – ECM outcomes can be tagged to each activity. Effect on Teaching and Learning – Statement of the impact on teaching and learning as a result of this specific activity. Percentage Complete – Enables the progress to be monitored. Success Criteria - This gives a SMART statement in order to measure the success of each activity.

Greater Collaboration School Improvement Partners LA Finance Teams School Leadership Teams School Business Managers

Building the remainder of the Financial Projections Budget Allocations (LA/Other) Support Staff Costs Other Staff Costs Other Grant Funding Occupancy Costs Capital Income Curriculum Costs Teaching Staff Costs SLA Costs Capital Costs

Ensuring Best Value Cost Do goods meet the objectives (fit for purpose) Quality Warranties Service & back up Sustainability Speed of delivery Local Provider Reliability Support the Environment?

Money Saving Staffing accounts for approx 78% of spend Schools spend £9.2bn on other areas including energy, catering and back office. The benefits of effective procurement practices include: Financial savings that can then be re-invested in your priorities for driving up standards Ensuring that the goods or services purchased are fit for purpose Ensuring suppliers deliver (and continue to deliver) as agreed Ensuring legal and financial obligations are complied with.

Key areas identified for potential savings Energy Administrative Supplies Cleaning and Caretaking Telephone and Broadband Exam Fees Shared services Photocopiers DfE Schools Procurement Resource 2012: Buying for your school

The benchmarking website is a useful tool for schools to check their expenditure level against peers and to challenge their planning assumptions. It can be accessed at https://www.education.gov.uk/sfb/login.aspx

Making Finances Fit - Strategy Identify School Development/Improvement Plan Resource Requirements Examine all other costs, do they represent ‘best value’? Is your starting point reliable? Ensure that your planned expenditure matches your projected income?

Option appraisal (opportunity costs, cost/benefit analysis) Re-examine priorities; what are the short, medium and longer term implications? Start at the end and work backwards; what are the options? downscale, defer, abolish Option appraisal (opportunity costs, cost/benefit analysis)

Key Benefits in Strategic Planning Strategic decision making is closely linked to the budget cycle ensuring that financial decisions have the greatest impact on educational outcomes. Raises staff awareness and widens responsibility and ownership of the school budget & improvement planning The budget is subject to consistent and regular monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. Ensures that success or failure of investment is clearly identified. Ensures that key variables are identified as part of the planning process

Top 8 Mistakes in Strategic Planning Data Poor (and Time Rich) Over Programmed Failure to Engage Weak Link to the Financial Plan Fear of Prioritising Inadequate Use of Scenarios Poor Implementation Impatience

Summary Always start annual budgeting from development plan agreed priorities; Zero base v incrementalism; examine existing spending patterns; Plan for problems now; think two or three years ahead; Scenario Planning for different outcomes share budgeting with key people in your team

And finally...... If you’re not sure where you’re going you’ll probably end up somewhere else.

Thank You Thank you – any questions? Contact neil@hcsseducation.co.uk