3-5 Year Budget Plans Donna Munday – Schools Finance Manager Tel /

Agenda for today Principles of Budget Setting A Good School Development Plan The Budget Plan Zero based or Cost Plus Assumptions Areas to consider Budget Plan Revisited ! Pivot Tables…..a step further

Golden Rule #1 A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it. William Feather William Feather

Principles of Budget Setting Accountability Sufficient funds to meet Plans Clarity around plans clear links to School Development Plans

What will a good School Development Plan look like ? It will be a high level strategic document covering all the school’s activities over a period of 3/5 years First year very detailed, overview of years 2 and 3 high level of years 4 and 5 Rolling programme (maintenance / IT) All activities will be fully costed There will be clear links to the annual budget and the forward financial plan Asset Management Plan (if a large school)

The Budget Plan Plan stating how school plans to spend it’s budget from 1 st April – 31 st March – spans 2 academic years What is your budget provision – can also include planned income Strategic plans to include –3-5 year plan Estimate of budget allocation –Pupil numbers (census dates) Estimate of spend –Class structure –Staff costs –Local and National priorities –Has Best value been considered in setting the Budget?

Zero based or Cost Plus Zero Based Start from scratch Build up costs based on an actual plan Provision led “blank canvas allows for blue sky thinking” Approved by bean- counters Cost Plus Start from a historic point Danger is budgets are always incremental Tempting to think what are we doing extra rather than how can we do things differently Only when it doesn’t balance do you look to make savings Risk of repeat mistakes

Assumptions Not expected to be correct! It is a snapshot in time Write down your assumptions and show your workings. Budgets can should be revisited and reviewed

Areas to consider Demographics Economic environment Pupil numbers Funding Reforms Staff costs Staff structures Running costs

Staffing Over 81% of Budget goes on Staffing –A school’s biggest resource –Important to get it right –Remodeling of the school workforce –Incremental drift –On-costs ( National Insurance and Superannuation) Teaching approx 25% Support staff up to 24% - difficult to estimate –Termly contracts Summer – up to 5 months Autumn – 4 months Spring- 3 months

The 3 Es Value for Money Economy –minimising the cost of resources used –having regard to the appropriate quality Efficiency –The relationship between output in terms of goods, services or other results, and the resources used to produce them Effectiveness –The extent to which objectives have been achieved and the relationship between the intended and actual outcomes of an activity

The Four Cs - building on the 3 Es Challenge –Questioning service delivery and asking if it is appropriate to be purchasing the service or undertaking the work Compare –Comparing one school’s way of obtaining a service including costs, with those of a similar schools. Consult –Consulting stakeholders to ensure that the service provided is relevant to their needs Compete –Testing the market place (internal and external) to secure the best possible service at the best possible price

Budget Plan Revisited! New Plan consists of four pages :- 1.The Sign Off Sheet (Header) 2.Summary 3.Detail 4.Forecast

Pivot tables Allow for manipulation / analysis. The pivot table has 4 main components, – Page field – allows you to refine your selection – Row field – report by a category in rows – Column field – report by a category in a column – Data field – what data you are looking to summarise by a value, doesn’t need to be monetary, can be a count of cost centres, average cost centre by budget manager etc. Being multi dimensional allows for a variety of scenarios to be captured and reported Or a variety of scenarios to be produced to determine “What if’s”

Words to the Wise