18 | SURVIVING THE RECESSION | SPECIAL REPORT


W: www.ie-today.co.uk


in incentive payments. Initially, the school is buying the woodchip needed to fire the boilers but has extensive woodlands on site and plan to use this to source their own woodchip, ultimately becoming self-sufficient. The estate has installed several other sustainable technology systems including solar thermal, solar PV, ground source heat and air source heat. The processing of school fees


can be costly and labour-intensive. Cambridgeshire’s approximately 950-pupil Kimbolton School’s solution has been to select WCBS’s PASS finance package, a fully integrated system designed specifically for the independent schools sector incorporating payroll, administration, academic and HR operations. “We needed a system that meant


we didn’t have to enter and update information across multiple systems, would always be up-to-date and could support many features and tasks unique to our sector,” says bursar Stephen Oliver. The package has transformed billing


at Kimbolton. “Using PASS we are able to handle 820 direct debit bills. It takes just five minutes to process the BACS file and it is straightforward to create a single bill with all disbursements included. For example, if we need to add the cost of books or a school trip to a whole class, we can simply use fee codes and apply to multiple records in seconds.” Credit control and data accuracy have


been tightened. “With the built-in debtors report, it is easy to see which invoices need to be chased. With our previous system, because it wasn’t joined up, there was more margin for error if communication between the school office and the bursary did not take place. For example, a bill might be sent to an old address.” The overall result has been major


financial and time reductions. “With the ability to email rather than post bills we save between £5,000- £8,000 per year in postage, paper and administration costs. Within four hours of bills being created they are with parents. Previously this has taken three staff three days to do.” When it comes to paying fees to their


child’s school, parents are increasingly choosing Premium Credit’s school fees plan (SFP.) Operational for 18 years and registered in nearly 20 percent of UK independent schools, it allows parents to pay fees monthly by direct debit, as opposed to a single upfront charge, and has numerous benefits for parents and schools. Among other advantages, parents can


providing us with financial certainty.” Parents, schools and software and


credit companies are combining to ensure the most important parties – the children – remain in receipt of an independent education. Occasionally, however, even these


Kimbolton School


“PARENTS, SCHOOLS AND SOFTWARE AND CREDIT COMPANIES ARE COMBINING TO ENSURE THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTIES – THE CHILDREN – REMAIN IN RECEIPT OF AN INDEPENDENT EDUCATION”


spread the cost of large termly payments and enjoy the flexibility of adding in extras such as meals and music lessons to give one single consistent monthly payment. There is no need to deal with their child’s school’s bursar, bringing privacy and discretion, and the facility can even move with their child if they change to a new school, provided it is registered with SFP. What’s more, SFP can complement other funding sources such as partial payments from grandparents. Benefits for schools include a reduction in administration (it is paperless), freeing up resources for more important maters and a widening of access to education, which can help maintain or even increase pupil numbers. Parents expect such a service and SFP gives a school a competitive edge. Highclare School’s finance manager Neil Hitchman says: “The school’s cash flow has been improved as we receive payments straight into our bank account on agreed payment dates,


Contacts


✥ Independent Schools Council W: www.isc.co.uk ✥ Steve Robinson, Grant Thornton T: 01908 359682 E: steve.robinson@uk.gt.com ✥ King’s School Canterbury T: 01227 595544 E: m.taylor@kings-bursary.co.uk ✥ Oakham School E: Bursar Mrs Annika Hedrich-Wiggans ahw@oakham.rutland.sch.uk W: www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk ✥ Highfield and Brookham Prep and Pre-


Prep School, Liphook, Hampshire W: www.highfieldschool.org.uk ✥ WCBS W: www.wcbs.co.uk ✥ Premium Credit W: www.sfpschoolfees.co.uk ✥ Nigel Morrison, Grant Thornton T: 0117 305 7811 E: nigel.morrison@uk.gt.com


Thanks to the Independent Schools Bursars’ Association for their assistance with this article W: www.theisba.org.uk


efforts fail, as Grant Thornton advisory partner Nigel Morrison explains. “There are probably less than 10 private schools ending up in insolvency proceedings annually, but there are probably as many again avoiding insolvency by entering into an urgent merger or takeover. Schools becoming insolvent usually have less than 200 pupils and tend to have seen steadily declining pupil numbers in the last three or four years. Other difficulties come via geographical remoteness or historical reliance on good numbers of MOD-funded pupils where regional MOD bases have been scaled back.” Bad management, rather than bank


managers, lies behind many failures. “Whilst bank debt and gearing is obviously a key factor, it is not often the key reason why a school fails,” says Morrison. “Banks lending in this sector are usually covered by security on the freehold premises (which often have substantial alternative use value) and they are, naturally, cautious about atracting adverse publicity if they are seen to be the cause of the failure. “It is probably fair to say in failure


cases there is usually a lack of robust management at trustee level and often there has been a delay to recognise the seriousness of the situation and respond quickly enough. I am often called in just towards the end of the summer term when they realise they cannot pay the salaries over the summer holiday. That should rarely come as a surprise but it often seems to.” iE


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