ESFA - Academies land and buildings collection tool

Not long to go now! It’s only a matter of days before we can turn our attentions to our loved ones for the Christmas period.

It will certainly be one that we will remember for many reasons that is for sure, but to close out the year we just wanted to remind you of an important deadline approaching not long after your return in 2021. The deadline in question concerns the land and buildings collection tool. The land and buildings collection tool collects information about all of the land and buildings used by academy trusts and their academies. It’s basically a snapshot of your trust’s land and assets at 31^st August 2020, and must be completed by 28^th January 2021. Here are some things to consider:

• If you completed this last year, then login into your Identity and Access Management System (IDAMS) account and check all roles are assigned to the correct people.
• Your return will be populated with the data that was submitted last year. You will need to check this data and update it to reflect your occupancies and assets on 31^st August 2020.
• When you add an occupancy, you now need to add supporting documents at the same time, and link each document to an occupancy. Each occupancy must be linked to at least two documents, whether you’re uploading them or using a document previously uploaded.
• You can now manage your documents more easily: simply upload and link them to occupancies as you work through the return.
• You can recall the form after you’ve sent it for approval.

For a summary of all data collections and their revised dates, click here. Short on time or resources? No problem. SBS are on hand to support you with the submission or even complete it on your behalf. If you're already a customer, this can form part of your SLA. If not, this can be completed as a one-off project, onsite or remotely. Click here to see our remote services Register your interest here for our free ‘Guide to academy financial returns’ webinars next term, where any questions you may have can be answered no matter the subject. Our ‘Essential Skills for the SBM/Bursar’ in November was over-subscribed, so make sure you guarantee your place early. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact the Finance team at SBS who are always on hand to provide assistance and guidance so if you have any questions, please contact the Service Desk on 0345 222 1551 • Option 2, or email financeservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk. More importantly though, we just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year and we can’t wait to touch bases with you in 2021!

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