How schools can cut costs

Helen Dowsett, of School Business Services, says there are a variety of ways in which schools can cut costs as budget pressures continue.

• Create a buying group. Academy trusts can bulk buy to get better pricing on any goods and services. Some suppliers will allow you to have multiple delivery addresses. If your school is not part of an academy trust or is a single academy trust, then local schools can band together to create a buying group. This approach can also be used for energy contracts.
• Work your reserves. If your school/academy trust has cash reserves, check that the money is in accessible high interest accounts. There’s now a good choice of banks offering higher interest rates that schools can sign up to.

• Review contracts. Rather than letting contracts auto renew, schedule in a contract review to ensure it is still value for money and being used efficiently.
• Be smarter with staffing. Reduce cover agency fees by considering employing your own cover staff. This can be particularly cost effective for multi-academy trust, where staff can be employed centrally and then ‘bought in’ on a day rate by trust schools.
• Create additional income. Can your school or its grounds be let out? If your school site is in a town centre, renting out the car park at weekends and evenings could be an option. Depending on the space and facilities available, hosting conferences or other large events during holidays could also provide valuable additional income.
• Review your budgets regularly - and ensure each budget remains current. Just because a department had a large budget last year doesn’t mean they will need it this year. Check with colleagues what is essential and desirable for them to have in their budget. Also, check stock regularly.

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