FEATURE FOCUS: FINANCE
How to get the most out of educational budgets
guidance in areas such as ensuring that their Management Accounts incorporate robust forecasting and modelling, revisiting their reserves policy regularly and mitigating against the potential impact of fluctuating energy costs.
Unfortunately, there’s little denying we’re in turbulent times; a quick glance through the doom and gloom of the headlines and it’s clear to see. Businesses across a wide variety of sectors are struggling to make ends meet and our education system is facing financial strain in a difficult economy.
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n our first look this month at school finance we are delighted to hear from James Gare, Partner at Monahans, the south west’s leading accountancy and business advisory firm.
James has over twenty years’ experience in supporting organisations in the UK public sector, helping them to navigate through uncertain times, understand their financial standing, and manage cashflow effectively. He provides
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools, academies, colleges and universities could fill a diatribe longer than War and Peace, and more recent pressures from a macro- economic perspective have added to the disruption. Unfortunately, the Chancellor’s £2.3 billion cash injection announced in last year’s Autumn Statement has barely touched the sides when it comes to solving problems in the sector. Many establishments are digging into their reserves to cover general costs and reports have shown most schools are concerned about financial stability. One recent report in particular, stated that just 2% of academies would break even this year, and this clearly isn’t a sustainable position.
The resulting challenges faced by schools are significant, with increasing pressures on budgets and little sign of things abating. That’s without
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www.education-today.co.uk November 2023
the Labour party’s suggestion last month that, if elected, it’d add VAT to private school fees, which would see many parents unable to afford the costs of private education and put more strain on both the private and state systems. Some schools have seen energy costs rises of 400%, so it’s inevitable that this will have an impact on the outgoings of these businesses and how they are run. Many Trusts are being forced to consider ways to cut both resources and staff to reduce their expenditure, but that doesn’t bode well for the quality of education that our younger generations can expect to receive. Add to this the announcement of pay rises for teachers over the summer and you can see why many schools had to go back through the budgets they had previously set to accommodate the changes.
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