There’s been little evidence of interventions or financial management reviews this year and it appears the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has re-focussed on financial delivery. It’s also telling that there were no discernible changes to the reporting of financial irregularities in the Academies Trust Handbook 2022.
There’s been little evidence of interventions or financial management reviews this year and it appears the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has re-focussed on financial delivery. It’s also telling that there were no discernible changes to the reporting of financial irregularities in the Academies Trust Handbook 2022.
In theory, then, there should be a real sense that financial governance in the education sector is now under control. For some schools, however, the prospect of academisation means that this may be a good time to take stock and prepare for the future.
Issues such as procurement, recruitment, the need for robust governance, and independent scrutiny, as well as transparency and information management, have been recurring features of financial management and governance reviews instigated by the ESFA in recent years. Without a strategic plan to cover the main areas of the school’s business, both from a financial management and governance perspective, the prospect of converting to an academy trust may appear daunting.
The interaction between trustees and members needs to be developed at a corporate level to avoid the potential criticism often caused by lack of independence. This is particularly challenging where relationships have existed over time, leading to over-extended autonomy for a senior leadership team. Engaging with a trusted partner to advise on these issues early and setting out the various policies around financial procedures and risk management should be a prerequisite.
Not only does this create an environment of trust, but it engenders a culture of transparency, led by the future board, which encourages compliance with the Academies Trust Handbook requirement of being accountable as well as coming to terms with the requirements of probity and delivering value for money.
Failings exposed by various financial management reviews published by the ESFA identify shortcuts taken in procurement and tendering, with conflicts of interest going unnoticed and unaddressed. These issues have resulted in boards being prevented from making informed decisions and the subsequent damage can be far reaching.
Internally, gifts and hospitality, as well as budgets for marketing, training and staff events, need to be properly authorised and scrutinised to ensure there can be no expenditure which would be construed as irregular or excessive. A suite of effective policies which all staff can review and have access to leaves little room for excuse and is well worth the investment.
Whilst many organisations start to consider these issues above and beyond their priorities in delivering education, it’s good to know there is a wealth of Good Practice Guidance for Academy Trusts online.
The appointment alone of external auditors will not solve the problem if the accounting officer, the board and sub-committees do not have a grasp of the issues themselves, and of their responsibilities from the outset. The exposure and scrutiny from the ESFA or the Department for Education and the management time required to deal with these issues is best avoided.
Partner
paul.wainwright@brownejacobson.com
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Regardless of the outcome of ballots on industrial action, unless there is drastic change to funding for schools in relation to pay increases, it will be unusual to find any organisational budget that is not impacted by the current economic situation.
There’s been little evidence of interventions or financial management reviews this year and it appears the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has re-focussed on financial delivery. It’s also telling that there were no discernible changes to the reporting of financial irregularities in the Academies Trust Handbook 2022.
The Children’s Commissioner, Rachel De Souza, has recently published a report “Beyond the labels: a SEND system which works for every child, every time”, which she intends to sit alongside the DfE’s SEND Review (2019) and SEND Green Paper (2022) and which she hopes will put children’s voices at the heart of the government’s review of SEND system.
As well as providing day-to-day support to help you focus on managing your settings, we also provide training and professional development on a range of topics to keep you and your staff up-to-date.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) recently issued new, non-statutory guidance regarding the wearing of natural or protective hairstyles, specifically in reference to their representation in uniform, behaviour or standalone appearance policies.
Emma Hughes, head of HR services at Browne Jacobson, explains how CST’s updated executive pay report and the linked benchmarking service from XpertHR can help trust boards make robust decisions on pay.
There’s greater opportunity than ever for parents, carers and guardians to voice any concerns they have relating to their child’s education and for their concerns to be heard and to be taken seriously. While most staff in schools and academies are conscious of their legal duties relating to complaints management, many are struggling to cope with such a significant increase in the volume of complaints they must manage.
This guidance has been prepared to support academy trusts (Trusts) who want to hold a fully virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) or a hybrid AGM, as we know that Trusts may want to be prepared for future disruption as well as having a general interest in holding more meetings virtually. The guidance also applies to other meetings of the Members (known as General Meetings).
We’re pleased to collaborate with Lloyds Bank, who recently asked us and audit and risk specialists Crowe UK to offer guidance that academy trusts would find helpful when considering setting up a trading subsidiary.
The DfE has published new guidance and opened the application process for window two of the Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) for 2022/2023, with a fund of £86m in trust capacity funding focused particularly on education investment areas.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established in March 2015. We now have its report. As you would expect with such a broad scope, the report is long and makes a number of far-reaching recommendations. In this article, Dai Durbridge highlights seven of the 20 recommendations, sets out how they could impact on schools and suggests what steps to take now.
Browne Jacobson’s education team has been named as winner of the ‘Legal Advisors to Education Institutions’ category at the Education Investor Awards 2022 for a record sixth time.
Since the new Suspensions and Exclusions Statutory Guidance was published, we have received a lot of questions about the use of managed moves. For the first time, the Statutory Guidance does explain what a managed move is, but in relatively broad terms and does not cover the mechanics of how a managed move should operate.
Over 3000 young people from across the UK and Ireland took part in a virtual legal careers insight event, aimed at making the legal profession more diverse.
Holly Quirk, an associate barrister in Browne Jacobson’s Manchester office, was awarded the Legal Professional of the Year Award at this year’s Manchester Young Talent Awards.
The risk of assault against staff is, sadly, something that all schools need to consider carefully. Here one legal expert explains what they can do to protect staff and ensure they fulfil their duty of care.
An engineering company in Tyne and Wear was fined £20,000 after a worker fractured his pelvis and suffered internal injuries after falling through a petrol station forecourt canopy, whilst he was replacing the guttering.
