The DfE have just released the 2022/23 benchmarking data for academies. We have refreshed our template Benchmarking Report, which provides a framework for reporting the key findings to trustees. This can be found within the Financial Management for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have also taken this opportunity to refresh our maintained school version of the same template which can be found within the Financial Management for Maintained Schools section of the toolkit.
Posted 12 May 2024
The instructions for the IT Work Management Tool have been updated to provide clear guidance on how each feature functions, including access passwords for different levels. You can find this template in the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
The IT Work Management tool offers an efficient system for staff to log work requests for the IT team and track their progress. This tool also supports IT staff in managing incoming requests and provides valuable monitoring statistics to identify trends, such as the most frequently reported issues, monthly request volumes and more. Find this resource in the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
We’ve updated the academy staff salary cost calculators (for both teaching and support staff) to reflect changes to employer National Insurance contributions effective from April 2025. These updated tools are available in the Useful Financial Management Tools for Academies section of the toolkit.
If you're already using the 2024-25 staff salary cost calculators, you don’t need to switch to a new version. Instead, you can simply update the April 2025 National Insurance table on the 'Salary Information' worksheet in your current version. The updated figures for the April 2025 table are displayed in the accompanying illustration.
If you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
The instructions for the Facilities Work Management Tool have been updated to provide clear guidance on how each feature functions, including access passwords for different levels. You can find this template in the Facilities Management section of the toolkit.
The Facilities Work Management Tool offers an efficient system for staff to log work requests for the facilities team and track their progress. This tool also supports facilities staff in managing incoming requests and provides valuable monitoring statistics to identify trends, such as the most frequently reported issues, monthly request volumes, and more. Find this resource in the Facilities Management section of the toolkit.
We have introduced a new resource which summarises all of the Academy Trust Handbooks 'Schedule of Musts' into a checklist, with links to resources within the SBM Toolkit that support compliance with these 'musts'. This can be found within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
The template Brand Guidelines resource has been reviewed, with minor formatting amendments made. These brand guidelines can be used to help staff understand the brand of the trust/school and to ensure they are using the trust/school logo and colours in a consistent way in order to help build a strong and instantly recognisable identity. The template can be found within the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
This resource has also been reviewed to ensure it aligns with the latest GEMS guidance. Minor formatting updates have been made. Trusts and schools should have an estate strategy in place that sets out the picture of what the estate might look like in the future (the next 3-5 years). This can be found within the Facilities Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated our Estate Vision resource to ensure it aligns with the latest GEMS guidance. Minor updates have been made in this version. Trusts and schools should have an estate vision in place that helps to provide a clear direction for managing the estate, helping to inform strategic planning in this area to ensure that decisions are not made in isolation, that the school/trust’s educational vision is being supported and to ensure that resources are not wasted. This can be found within the Facilities Management section of the toolkit.
The template Scheme of Delegation for the support services function of a school/trust has been reviewed, with minor formatting amendments made. The template can be found within the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
The academy and maintained school Website Compliance Checklists have been updated based upon the DfE update to the "What academies/maintained schools must and should publish online' guidance. This can be found within the General Business Management Resources section of the toolkit.
We have updated our model Finance, Audit & Risk Committee Terms of Reference to reflect the latest Academy Trust Handbook. This can be found within the Financial Management for Academies section of the toolkit.
Our Remote Working policy has been reviewed, with minor formatting changes applied. This provides a framework for managing remote working within a school/trust. The policy can be found within the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
Following on from our MAT Scheme of Delegation, we have now introduced a Single Academy Trust Scheme of Delegation. This can be found within the Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated our template Records Management policy in accordance with the latest advice from the ICO. The refreshed policy has additional sections including roles and responsibilities, the storage of emails and monitoring compliance. The retention schedule that was previously part of the Records Management policy has been extracted and now sits as a standalone resource. This can be found within the Data Protection section of the toolkit.
The Staff Training and Development Request and Evaluation Forms have both been reviewed. These forms provide a means for staff to request CPD and demonstrate the proposed impact this will have on them as an individual but also the school/trust, and then evaluate after the event whether the proposed impact was achieved. These resources can be found within the Personnel Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated the template that trusts can use to report to members on the performance of the current external auditors. The updates reflect the latest guidance in the Academy Trust Handbook. This can be found within the Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated our template Retention Schedule based on the latest guidance from the IRMS and separated it out from the Records Management policy. This can be found within the Data Protection section of the toolkit. COMING SOON! Updated Records Management policy.
We have updated our template Financial Regulations for MATs, SATs and External Bank Schools. These are all available within the Financial Management Section of the toolkit.
We have made an adjustment to one of the formulas within the prepayments workbook. This is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated our MAT Scheme of Delegation resource. This is available within the Financial Management for Academies section of the toolkit. COMING SOON...SAT Scheme of Delegation!
This resource is based on the ESFA related party checklist to help trusts consider if transactions with a related party are justifiable, conducted fairly & transparently and can withstand scrutiny and is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
The ESFA has published the 2024-25 Academies Planning Calendar, detailing key actions, document releases, and payment dates for trusts. We have updated our planning calendar based on this, providing a practical resource for trusts to use to plan ahead for their statutory return submissions. This is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated our internal scrutiny related resources to support with your planning and reporting for this financial year. The 3 year planning template, follow up action plan and termly report to trustees have all been reviewed and our available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated the template 2023-24 Trustee Report and Governance Statement to reflect the changes within the ESFA template for the 2023-24 year of account. The ESFA template is available as a PDF version - we have converted this to a Word file so that it is easier for trusts to edit. This can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated our personnel file checklist in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024. This can be found within the Personnel Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated the template Exit Questionnaire that can be used for gaining feedback when a member of staff leaves your employment,, with some refreshed questions added in. This can be found within the Personnel Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated our new starter checklists in line with the latest guidance. There is a version available for support staff and teaching staff. These resources can be found within the Personnel Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated the single central record template in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024. This can be found within the Personnel Management section of the toolkit.
We have updated the staff, pupil and trustee/governor privacy notices in line with the DfE model privacy notices. These resources can be found within the Data Protection section of the toolkit.
We have created this new resource to support schools and trusts in deciding if it is necessary to complete a full Data Protection Impact Assessment prior to introducing a new data handling process. This checklist will provide evidence of the decision making process that has been undertaken and has been based on ICO guidance. This resource can be found within the Data Protection section of the toolkit.
We have updated the month end accounting workbook for the new financial year. This can be found within the Useful Financial Management Tools section of the toolkit
We have made a small adjustment to the funding tab to correct the dates showing in the header of the table. This resource can be found within the Useful Financial Management Tools section of the toolkit.
We have created this new resource to support schools and trusts with planning for the year ahead, outlining matters of governance that need to be considered throughout the year and suggestions for when these could be reviewed. This can help to inform setting trustee and governor agendas to ensure that matters of compliance are considered in a timely manner. This resource can be found within the General Governance folder of the toolkit.
The staff Single Central Record template has been reviewed and updated against the 2024 Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance. No changes have been made to the data being recorded, but the introductory note has been updated. This resource can be found within the Personnel Administration Resources folder of the toolkit.
The Personnel File Checklist has been updated to reflect the correct links to the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 guidance. This resource can be found within the Personnel Administration Resources folder of the toolkit.
The Academy Year End Workbook 23/24 has had a minor amendment made to it. The funding reconciliation tab (tab 11) was showing the incorrect dates along the top of the table, which has now been rectified.
We have added in an additional tab to the year end workbook, providing space for the final trial balance that has been shared with auditors to be included, ensuring there is a record of what has been sent and to back up all the other reconciliation numbers within the workbook. This resource can be found within the Useful Financial Management Tools section of the toolkit.
A template governor/trustee monitoring plan has been added to the toolkit. This resource provides governors/trustees with a framework for their monitoring activities throughout the year. Linking in to the school/trust development plan, it supports governors/trustees with identifying and recording what they will be monitoring during the year, the type of monitoring activities that could be completed, questions they could ask and deadlines that they will work towards. This resource can be found within the General Governance folder of the toolkit.
Our staff declaration resource has been updated in readiness for the start of the new academic year, providing a way of evidencing that staff have read and understood key policies/processes. This was previously a trust specific resource, but we have taken the opportunity to extend the audience to maintained schools too. This can be found within the Useful Financial Management Resources section of the toolkit.
The DfE have added to the 'governance information' section of their guidance 'What academies must publish online' information on what FE colleges should publish online - the website compliance self-assessment tool has been updated to reflect these changes. The updated checklist can be found within the General School Business Management Resources folder of the SBM Toolkit.
Our business continuity planning checklist provides a framework for assessing whether the business continuity planning systems that you have in place are robust and meet good practice standards. This can be found within the General School Business Management Resources folder of the SBM Toolkit.
The 3 business continuity plan templates have been reviewed and minor amendments made. These can be found within the General School Business Management Resources folder of the SBM Toolkit. We've provided 3 different templates, to allow schools/academies to be able to select what format will be most appropriate for their use.
We have updated our personnel file checklist in line with current guidance. A new column has been added in to provide additional information related to some of the pre-employment checks explaining where further information is available or signposting to information on why the check is required. This resource can be found within the Personnel Administration folder.
Following on from recent updates to our year-end resources, we have also reviewed our action plan resource, designed to address any points that might get raised within your year-end audit management letter. The action plan can be found in the Financial Management Resources for Academies folder within the toolkit.
The following personnel administration resources have been reviewed - some minor changes have been made to the formatting of these documents:
This resource has been reviewed and updated in readiness for the new academic year and can be found in the Business Management Resources section of the toolkit.
This resource has been updated, providing an example Impact Statement which could be used by trusts to provide an overview of the contributions they have collected from their member academies to fund central services, and the impact these services have had. This resource is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
The following personnel administration resources have been reviewed - some minor changes have been made to the formatting of these documents:
We have updated this checklist in readiness for trusts completing the 2024/24 Budget Forecast Return. This can be found in the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
We have updated the 'Common government funding streams for academies' document to reflect current funding levels for academies.
Following on from a customer request, we have created a tool for academies to use to estimate the funding levels that they can expect for pupil premium, Universal Infant Free School Meals, Primary PE & Sports Grant, Teachers' Pension Employer Contribution Grant and Teachers' Pay Additional Grant funding streams. This tool is available within the Financial Management tools for academies section of the toolkit.
The suggested wording for academies to use on their websites to explain what governance information members of the public are entitled to request access to has been updated (specific dates have been removed). We have taken this opportunity to create a maintained school version of this statement for use on websites. These can both be found within the Governance section of the toolkit.
Following on from our website compliance checklist, we have detailed the governor arrangements that must be published online by schools and academies in the form of a checklist, plus have provided templates that could be used to present this information online. These resources can be found within the Governance section of the toolkit (there is a separate maintained school and academy version).
We have made an update to our maintained teaching staff salary cost calculator to correct a mapping issue with the pension contribution rates (v24.2). The calculator can be found within the Financial Management Tools for Maintained Schools section of the toolkit.
We have updated our website compliance self-assessments (for academies and maintained schools) based on the updated DfE guidance. The self-assessment highlights whether this is something that 'must' or 'should' be published, in line with the DfE's reformatted guidance. These self-assessment resources can be found within the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
The Bring Your Own Device policy has been updated to include reference to the DfE guidance surrounding the use of mobile telephones in schools for personal use. This can be found in the Data Protection section of the toolkit.
The DfE need information on the people serving in governance roles in your school/academy to be published on GIAS. We have created a resource which summarises the DfE requirements on the data that needs to be submitted and forms that can be used to request this data from trustees/governors. This resource can be found within the Governance Section of the toolkit.
The checklist for external parties delivering clubs and activities has been reviewed and updated. The reference to the employment status indicator (ESI) check has been amended to the check employment status for tax (CEST) check, the requirement to evidence a providers employers liability has been removed as this is not a responsibility for the school and an authorisation box has been added in. This resource can be found within the General Business Management Resources section of the toolkit.
Following release of the DfE Academy Trust Governance Guide, the trustee declaration form has been updated to include reference to the duties that trustees must comply with under charity law (section 4.4.4 of the guidance). This resource can be fund within the Governance section of the toolkit.
We have updated the template Lettings policy, and separated it into an academy and maintained school version. These can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
We have added in a new section to the New Supplier Details form, to record the checks that are undertaken on the new supplier. This can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit (both for maintained schools and academies).
We have created a set of example interview questions that could be used for Finance Manager recruitment. The questions are split into skills/experience, technical and general categories. This can be found within the Personnel Administration section of the toolkit.
The template Expenses policy (for academies and maintained schools) have been reviewed, with minor amendments made. The template policies can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
The template Gifts & Hospitality policies (for academies and maintained schools) have been reviewed, with minor amendments made. The template policies can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
The DfE have just released the 2022/23 benchmarking data for academies. We have refreshed our template Benchmarking Report, which provides a framework for reporting the key findings to trustees. This can be found within the Financial Management for Academies section of the toolkit.
The template internal hospitality policy has been reviewed, with minor amendments made. The template policies can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
The template purchase card policies (for academies and maintained schools) have been reviewed, with minor amendments made. The template policies can be found within the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
The DfE have updated the list of statutory policies for trusts/schools to have in place, and moved this into the recently released Governance Guides. The policy tracker has been updated to reflect the latest requirements and is available within the General Business Management section of the SBM Toolkit.
We have now created two separate allowances policies - one for governors within maintained settings, and another for trustees and local governors within academy trust settings. This was based on an existing policy, and we have only applied minor updates to the original template including updating the date of the relevant legislation.
An amendment has been made to the Bank Reconciliation Form template to correct a formula linked to pulling through the income and expenditure totals from the unreconciled transactions tab.
In response to a client’s request, we have developed a Risk Assessment Tracking tool, which has been added to the General Business Management section of the toolkit. This tool is designed as a way of recording all of the risk assessments that you have in place at your setting and when they were last reviewed. The tool then provides an overview of the risk assessments which are due to be reviewed, and any that have fallen overdue. It allows you to record the mandatory and school specific risk assessment. For desktop Outlook users, it even generates calendar reminders for upcoming reviews.
We have added in two new columns to the Supplier Contract Management Tool. There's a new column for MATs to record whether a contract is trust wide or school specific. There is also a new column to indicate the support function the contract links to (e.g. admin, curriculum, facilities). This tool can be found within the General School Business Management section of the toolkit.
We have refreshed the Financial Management Skills Self-Evaluation for Trustees, moving it to an Excel format and refreshing the questions asked. This can be found within both the Financial Management and Governance sections of the Toolkit. Coming soon...a financial management skills self-evaluation for Governors.
Following a client request, the Policy Tracker tool has been updated to include some additional functionality. A new column has been created to record if the policy has been uploaded to the website and another column has been created which allows MATs or federations to record if it is a trust wide or school specific policy. This can be found within the General School Business Management section of the toolkit.
This resource has been reviewed and minor amendments made to some of the terminology. The template describes a process that can be used for when a department / service area budget is fully spent but the budget holder believes there is a requirement for additional funds, suggesting a fair and consistent approach to managing these overspent budgets. It can be found within the Financial Management Tools section of the toolkit in both the academy and maintained schools folder.
We have updated the prepayments schedule within the Month End Accounting Workbook so that the tool will automatically calculate the value of a prepayment based on the contract dates. This can be found within the Financial Management Tools section of the SBM Toolkit.
We've added in a Virement Approval Form to the Virement Report based on a request from one of our subscribers. This can be found within the Financial Management Useful Resources section of the toolkit.
We've updated the date ranges within the Absence Management Tool. This can be found within the Personnel Administration section of the toolkit.
In readiness for the deadline approaching to publish your gender pay gap data (for organisations with 250 or more employees) we have refreshed our template Gender Pay Gap Report template. This can be found in the Personnel Administration section of the toolkit.
As part of your annual data protection training, you may wish to consider asking staff and trustees/governors to complete a test of understanding to ensure they have understood the training and what is expected of them. We've prepared some suggestions of questions that could be asked after this training has been delivered. Don't forget, there are staff and governor training presentation templates also available within the SBM Toolkit.
This resource has been updated to reflect the revised thresholds that came into effect on 1st January 2024.
The budget planning tools for maintained schools have been updated for the 2024/25 year of account. This includes the budget planning tool, forward financial forecasting tool (and combined budget planner and forecasting tool) and staff salary cost calculators.
We've reviewed the Virement Report - there are no changes to note in this version. This resource has been designed to report on the virements that have taken place.
We've reviewed the Letter to Suppliers Requesting Bank Details for BACs - there are no changes to note in this version. This resource has been designed to request suppliers provide their payment information to set up electronic payments to them.
We've reviewed the Supplier Details form - there are no changes to note in this version. This resource has been designed to capture the details of new suppliers and their payment information.
We have updated the template management accounts commentary for academies and maintained schools to introduce an additional KPI linked to reserves.
The DfE recently updated their guidance on managing reserves within academy trusts. In light of this, we’ve updated our Reserves policy to ensure it reflects their approach and contains all the elements they suggest should be within your policy. There is a MAT and SAT version available now within the Financial Management for Academies section of the toolkit.
Our template Financial Regulations have all been updated to reflect the latest DfE procurement guidance and the 5 Routes to Buy advice. These can be found in the Financial Management Policy Templates section of the toolkit.
This resource has been developed based on the DfE Schools Financial Value Standard return for 23/24. We've provided some example answers to support schools with completing this return. These are provided as an example only and schools should ensure that they provide answers that are based on their own evidence.
A correction to this tool has been made to ensure that if a member of staff is not part of the pension scheme, that no pension contributions are calculated. V23.2 contained an error whereby pension contributions were calculating April to August in Year 1 when an employee was not part of the pension scheme.
The Anti Fraud and Corruption policy has been reviewed and updated in line with the Academy Trust Handbook and the ESFA guide to reducing fraud. This is available within the Financial Management for Academies section.
To reflect the DfE guidance, we have added in new columns to the Supplier Contract Management tool to record information on early termination and a free text column for recording any additional information (e.g. potential to extend contract, exit strategy and re-procurement plans).
We have also updated the procurement regulation options in the Supporting Information worksheet to reflect DfE 5 Routes to Buy.
We've created a new resource which can be used for planning out your staff wellbeing activities across the year, linking in to the NHS five pillars of wellbeing model. This resource can be found within the General Business Management folder of the toolkit.
We have reviewed this template business case and updated some of the example wording provided. This resource can be found within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies folder in the toolkit.
Following a request from one of our toolkit customers, we have developed this resource to support schools and academies with their procurement processes.
The first part of the resource provides a self-assessment checklist to assess whether the appropriate procurement systems and documents which underpin robust procurement practices are in place at your organisation.
The second part of the resource is based on DfE guidance and outlines the 5 routes to buy open to schools and academies and when it might be appropriate to use each route.
This is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for both maintained schools and academies.
This resource has been reviewed and minor amendments made to allow the dates to be personalised. The resource provides a framework for summarising the procurement activities that have taken place and the plan for upcoming procurement activities which could be shared with senior leaders and trustees/governors. This is available within the Useful Financial Management Resources for both maintained schools and academies.
The Pupil Privacy Notice has been updated in line with the DfE model privacy notice. This is a minor amendment which has updated the link to the National Pupil Database (NPD) privacy notice. This resource can be found within the Data Protection Compliance Resources folder of the toolkit.
For this year, we have updated the academy teaching staff salary cost calculator to allow you to inflate the pension contribution rates from 1st April 2024 to reflect the increase in employer contribution rates that will be applied nationally. This is in addition to the normal points annually in September. The Government has committed to funding the rise for state schools and colleges for one year, with any further commitments to be decided at future spending reviews. This can be found in the Financial Management Tools for Academies folder within the toolkit.
We have reviewed this overview of leases to ensure it reflects the latest DfE guidance. This can be found within the Useful Financial Management Resources folder for both maintained schools and academies.
We have uploaded some example School Business Manager interview questions into the Recruitment Resources folder within the Personnel section of the toolkit.
We have updated the Charge Card Reconciliation Form so that multiple cardholder statements can be reconciled feeding into a consolidated charge card summary. This can be found in the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies and Maintained Schools.
We have updated the bank reconciliation form, including adding in a new page for unreconciled transactions which links to the main reconciliation. This is available within both the Maintained Schools and Academies Useful Financial Management Resources folder.
The ESFA have released the model accounts for 2022/23. Based on this, we have extracted the Trustees Report and Governance Statement and transferred these to a Word document to support with preparing these for your own setting. They are available in the Financial Management Resources for Academies folder.
The Financial Regulation templates have all been updated in line with current requirements and are available in the relevant Useful Financial Management Resources folder.
The academy year end resources have all been updated for the 2022/23 year of account. The year end workbook, checklist and file contents have all been updated and can be found within the financial management tools for academies folder.
There is a new report template available within the Financial Management Resources folder of the toolkit, which provides a framework for sharing progress that has been made with the internal audit plan of works with governors. There is also a version of this available for academies, within the Financial Management Resources folder.
A template action plan for tracking progress following an internal audit is available within the Financial Management Resources folder of the toolkit. There is a version for both academies and maintained schools.
The version of the Procurement Policy for maintained schools has been updated to reflect current procurement legislation. This can be found in the Financial Management for maintained schools, Policy Templates folder of the toolkit.
The Procurement policy has been updated in line with current procurement legislation. This can be found in the Academies Financial Management Policy Templates folder.
The SCR template has been refreshed and is available within the Personnel Administration Resources folder of the toolkit.
The medium term financial assessment worksheet has had a formatting update linked to question 1e.
The maintained school Financial Regulations have been reviewed and updated and can be found in the Financial Management Resources for Local Authority Schools.
We have prepared an Inventory Register template based on the suggestions within our Financial Regulations. This resource can be found within the Financial Management Resources folder of the toolkit.
We've updated the Benchmarking Report template, which can be found in the Financial Management Resources folder of the toolkit. The report has been given a complete refresh.
We have reviewed the Competitive Quotation Summary template and made some minor changes to the wording. This resource can be found within the Financial Management Resources folder and is applicable to both maintained schools and academies. The resource is designed to be used to help evidence the process that has been followed when seeking 3 quotations from suppliers.
The maintained school website compliance checklist has been updated in line with the DfE clarification on what maintained schools should publish on governing board diversity data (that information should be widely accessible to members of the school community and the public).
This new checklist can be used by trusts who need to approach the ESFA for financial support to evidence the steps that have already been undertaken and/or are in place witihn their setting. The checklist can be found within the Financial Management for Academies folder of the toolkit.
The website compliance checklists for both maintained schools and academies have been updated to reflect the latest DfE guidance, which now includes a recommendation that governor/trustee diversity data should be published on the website.
A team charter is a way of formalising your team’s vision and values and the roles, responsibilities and expectations of the team members. This resource provides an overview of what a team charter could include and can be found within the general school business management folder of the toolkit.
The Internal Scrutiny Update Report for Trustees has had a minor administrative update applied, with specific dates having been removed. This resource can be found within the Financial Management Resources for Academies folder.
The Academy Trust Handbook specifies that all academy trusts must have a programme of internal scrutiny to provide independent assurance to the board that its financial and non-financial controls and risk management procedures are operating effectively. Trusts must identify on a risk-basis, with reference to its risk register, the areas it will review each year, modifying its checks accordingly. The handbook directs trusts to agree a programme of work annually to deliver internal scrutiny that provides coverage across the year.
A new template has been added to the Financial Management Resources for Academies folder that provides a format that trusts could use to plan their internal scrutiny work across a 3 year period.
The consolidated trustee skills analysis has been updated to remove the expiry date coding. There have been no changes to the content of the resource, but this update will ensure that the tool does not lock up at the end of your current contract period.
The template report for members on the performance of the external auditors has had minor amendments made to it's format. The content of the report itself has not been changed.
We have updated the 'Academy Common Government Funding Streams' document, to ensure it reflects the latest information and to support with budget preparation. This can be found within the Financial Management Resources for Academies folder.
We have updated our Risk Management policy to ensure it reflects the latest DfE guidance and to provide a suggested risk management process to follow. This can be found within the Financial Management Policies for Academies folder.
The MAT Impact Statement can be used by those trusts that top-slice their member school budgets, to explain how the funds have been used across the financial year. This resource can be found within the Financial Management Resources for Academies section of the toolkit.
The MAT Service Level Agreement has been reviewed. No significant changes have been made. This resource is designed to be used for those trusts that top-slice their member school budgets, and sets out the framework for managing this process.
Based on the DfE Good Estate Management for Schools guidance, we have produced an Estate Vision and Estate Strategy guidance note and template to use. This is available within the Facilities Management section of the toolkit. Further resources based on the GEMS resources will be coming soon.
The 3 example Business Continuity Plans have been reviewed and minor amendments made to them. These are available within the General Business Management folder.
The Probationary Period template policy has been reviewed and some minor amendments made. This is available within the Personnel Administration folder.
We have created a form that staff can use to request a training or development activity, and another form that can be used for evaluating the impact of that activity after it has taken place. Both resources can be found within the Personnel section of the toolkit.
The catering and general trading accounts have been updated to include a column to record your budgeted information, to allow for a variance analysis between your budgeted and actual position.
The Conflict of Interest policy has been updated to reflect it can apply to a wider range of roles.
We have prepared a Remote Working policy which provides a template for managing remote working consistently and securely. This can be found within the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
We have added an annual leave request form to the toolkit, for support staff on a 52 weeks per year contract to request annual leave. We have also uploaded an Annual Leave Record which can be used to record the annual leave that an individual has taken within the holiday period. Both resources can be found within the Personnel section of the toolkit.
The Data Protection policy has been updated with some minor amendments made.
The Special Payments policy has been updated to reflect the Academy Trust Handbook 2022.
The Accounting Officer Skills Analysis has been updated, with 3 new questions built into the analysis. The new questions relate to linking financial planning with strategic objectives, related party transactions and understanding the role of the CFO.
The Trustee Declaration Form has been updated. This is a minor change to reflect that trustees are agreeing to adhere to the Academy Trust Handbook 2022, rather than the 2021 edition.
This checklist is based on the DfE publication 'Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges' which sets 12 standards that schools should be meeting with regards cyber security. We have taken each of these standards and the technical requirements that the DfE have said would lead to compliance within these areas and produced a self assessment checklist for schools/academies to use. This can be found within the Data Protection folder of the toolkit.
The budget planning tools for both maintained schools and academies have been updated for the 2023/24 year of account. This includes the budget planner, forward financial forecasting tool, combined budget planner and forecasting tool and the support and teaching staff salary cost calculator tools.
The Freedom of Information Act template Publication Scheme has been updated in line with the latest guidance from the ICO.
The website checklists have been updated to reflect an amendment the DfE made related to suggested wording schools can use to show that the most recent key stage 2 performance measures are for the 2018 to 2019 academic year.
A fixed asset register template has been added to the SBM Toolkit. This is available within the Financial Management Useful Resources folder.
Branding is not just an organisations name and logo or how something looks, it is also what makes it unique and distinctive. The trust/school brand is visible in all communications that leave your setting and everything you do and so it's important that staff understand what this means in practice and how they should be representing the trust/school brand. These template Brand Guidelines provide some suggestions of what could be shared with staff.
Annually, the Accounting Officer is required to sign a formal statement that they have met their personal responsibilities to Parliament for the resources under their control during the year. This checklist can be used to confirm the work that has been undertaken in the financial year to ensure that resources under the Accounting Officer’s control are within the boundaries of regularity. This new resource can be found within the Useful Financial Management Resources for Academies folder.
We have updated the Supplier Contract Management tool so that the contract will automatically show as 'Complete' or 'Overdue' depending on the status of the contract review. This updated tool can be found in the General School Business Management section of the toolkit.
The academy Management Accounts template for MATs has been updated (v22.2). This update corrects an issue that occurred within v22.1 where the 'Produce Reports' button was not working.
An additional question has been added to the Going Concern Assessment checking whether trustees are confident that the balance sheet is an accurate reflection of the current assets and liabilities. This can be found within the School Resource Self Assessment folder within Financial Management Tools for Academies.
A recent software update to Microsoft means that some files containing macros (a form of coding) are being identified as a potential security risk which means that the file is prevented from opening up as normal. This has meant that recently, for some toolkit users, when they try to open up some tools within Microsoft Excel their system is not permitting them to open. This is not because there is a problem with any of our files as we’ve always had macros built into them, it’s just that Excel is now treating these slightly differently and more cautiously. Please read the full article for advice on how to manage this.
The template privacy notices have been updated in line with the DfE model privacy notices.
The template Financial Regulations for Multi Academy Trusts and Single Academy Trusts have been updated in line with the Academy Trust Handbook 2022. They are available within the Policy Templates folder within the Academies Financial Management section of the toolkit.
The Supplier Contract Management Tool has been updated to v22.2 and now includes a section for recording contract indemnities. The tool is available within the General School Business Management Tools section of the toolkit.
V22.2 of the academy Support Staff Salary Cost Calculator tool has been released. This rectifies an issue which meant that for some members of staff the NI calculation was not pulling through correctly into the reports.
The Policy Tracker has been updated to reflect that the list of statutory policies from the DfE has been updated and it is no longer a requirement to have a 'Designated teacher for looked after and previously looked after children' policy.
A new resource has been added to the Financial Management section of the toolkit - a policy outlining the framework for accepting donations and fundraising support.
An example set of completed management accounts for a Multi Academy Trust have been added to the toolkit.
The 2022/23 academy staff salary cost calculators are now available to download from the Financial Management section of the toolkit.
Both the support and teaching staff salary cost calculators have been updated to include the 2022/23 national insurance contribution rates. If you have already started to use the 2022/23 salary calculators, the national insurance figures can be overtyped as follows:
April 2022
Part 1 of the table
Part 2 of the table
April 2023 is as above.
The maintained teaching staff salary cost calculator has been updated to ensure that when mid point contract changes occur, that these are reflected within the variance analysis. It also ensures that the summary table totals update to reflect the mid year contract change(s).
The template form that can be used when a 3rd party requests personal data is shared with them has been reviewed. A minor amendment made related to not including contact details within the process description.
A new resource has been added to the Governance folder, which provides a template to officially maintain records for Persons of Significant Control. This can be found in the General Business Management section of the toolkit.
A new resource has been added to the SBM Toolkit which can be used when approaching local businesses to see if they have individuals witin their organisation who would like to become a governor. This letter template contains suggested wording explaining what you are looking for and the benefits for them in becoming a governor.
This resource is available within the governance folder of the toolkit which is within the 'General School Business Management' area.
The Academy Trust Handbook 2021 (paragraph 2.51) specifies that there is certain governance documentation that the public are permitted access to. We have prepared some suggested wording that could be added to the trust/school website to show what documentation the public is permitted access to, what redactions might be applied to the documentation and what the process is for requesting access.
This resource is available within the governance folder of the toolkit which is within the 'General School Business Management' area.
The risk register has been reviewed and updated in light of the DfE's best practice recommendations. The updated risk register can be found in the Financial Management Tools folder of the toolkit.
A new resource has been added to the data protection section of the toolkit. The Police Request to Disclose Third Party Personal Data template form provides a template that could be provided when such requests are made, if the police force do not have their own form.
The Local Authority Maintained School teaching staff calculator has been updated for the 2022/23 year of account.
The budget planner, financial forecast and combined budget planner & financial forecast tool have been updated for the 2022/23 year of account. The teaching staff and support staff salary cost calculators will be uploaded shortly.
The staff privacy notice template has been updated to reflect the current DfE model privacy notice.
The management accounts commentary templates have been amended to ensure that all charts can be edited. We identified that in the previous versions, the cashflow forecast chart was not allowing users to edit the data.
A model skills audit that governors could be asked to complete on an annual basis, along with a tool to help consolidate and analyse the responses are now available on the toolkit. Visit the Governance folder within the General School Business Management Resources area.
This policy has been amended to reference the Academies Trust Handbook 2021. It can be found within the academies financial management section of the toolkit.
A template asset management plan (AMP) has been uploaded to the SBM Toolkit. The AMP will enable you to produce robust documentation to support your estate monitoring and assist in formulating future plans. The tool is designed to also centralise the information required to complete the Land and & Buildings Collections Tool, comply with the DfE GEMS guidance for good estate management and the GEMS self assessment tool.
The pupil, staff and trustee/governor privacy notices have been updated to reflect the latest DfE model privacy notices. The changes are minor, mainly relating to referencing the UK GDPR rather than the EU GDPR.
We have made an amendment to the academy support staff salary calculator so that you can now add a predicted inflationary percentage uplift to all 5 years within the tool for forecasting purposes.
The Absence Management tool has been updated to include the September 2021 dates onwards.
We have recently updated the template that could be used for the commentary section of academy monthly management accounts. The key performance indicators are recommendations, but schools should personalise these based on their own context and requirements.
This Scheme of Delegation is designed to summarise the key tasks that take place within the support functions of a school and document who is accountable and responsible for completing these tasks. We have also published an example version of the scheme of delegation with roles and responsiblities completed to show how it could be used.
The Policy Tracker tool has been updated to reflect an update to the DfE statutory policies documentation. Reference to NQTs has been amended to Early Career Teachers (ECTs). This updated tool can be found in the General Business Management Tools folder.
The Month End Accounting Workbook has been updated ready for the 2021/22 year of account. This is available to download in the Financial Management Tools (academy) section of the toolkit.
The MAT and SAT template Financial Regulations have been updated to reflect the Academy Trust Handbook 2021. These can be found in the Financial Management Useful Financial Resources folder.
We have received some queries from schools asking what type of shredder they should purchase for securely disposing of records containing personal data. Whilst we can't recommend a particular shredder, this document provides some information on the styles of shredder available and the level of security that might be appropriate.
We have converted the ESFA model trustee report and governance statement 2020-21 from a PDF document to a Word document to aid academies in completing the report. This can be found within the Financial Management Tools folder (for academies).
We have updated the Year End Tools ready for the 2020/21 year end processes. These can all be found within the Financial Management Tools folder.
A year in the life of a school business professional. This planner is designed to assist with providing a framework for the common tasks that need to happen throughout the academic year. A useful tool to support with planning.
The Academy Common Government Funding Streams has been updated in line with current funding in March 2021. The resource is available in Useful Documents for Academies.
We’ve uploaded a resource to support academies with reviewing the pension contributions made on a monthly basis, ready to review against the year-end figures provided by Teachers’ Pensions.
We identified that there was an error with some of the expenditure formulas pulling into the summary worksheets in the previous version of this tool. We have corrected this in the latest version of the tool – v2.5 – which is available now to download in the toolkit.
A brief guide to data protection has been added to the toolkit which could be used as part of the induction for temporary staff or volunteers.
We have amended the policy tracker so that the policies listed within the Academies Financial Handbook as being a ‘must’ for academies are shown as statutory policies on the tracker. We have also added that Financial Regulations and the Scheme of Delegation are policies that both academies and maintained schools should have in place.
We have made a small amendment to this tool where some of the cells within the budget planning section of the tool have been locked to prevent users from accidentally typing data into the wrong cells.
We have uploaded a template report that could be used to provide trustees with a termly internal scrutiny update. This includes reference to progress against the external audit, the internal scrutiny plan, the school resource self-evaluation. The template is available under Financial Management > Resources for Academies > Useful Documents
We have created a simple flowchart to explain how to treat government grants within the month-end accounting process related to accruals and deferrals. The resource is available in the Useful Financial Management Tools section.
This template contains suggested wording to give pupils and parents an insight into how information about pupils is used in online streaming and recording of lessons. The template is available within the General Data Protection Regulations resources.
