Schools are anxiously hoping for a big injection of government support this week as school budgets are squeezed between energy price rises and teachers’ pay rises.

What’s happening to school budgets (and when)?

Pay rises 

On 19th July, the government announced an 8.9% rise in teachers’ starting salaries to £28,000 outside London, as well as 5-8% raises for teachers in the early stages of their careers, and 5% for school leaders and experienced teachers. The raises will take effect in September.

A proposed one-year raise of up to 10.5% for support staff and changes in term-time-only contracts are also challenging budgets. With 80% of school budgets typically going on salaries, even a small increase is a significant sum and could lead to job losses.

Energy costs

Rising gas and electricity prices—especially gas—are set to take a bigger slice of school budgets, with price caps due to go up on October 1st and then further in January 2024. Hannele Reece, head of Essex’s King Solomon High School, said energy costs had risen by 300%, absorbing 4% of the budget—equal to the pay of five experienced teachers—and this was in summer, before they put the heating on.

School leaders, having just submitted a budget forecast return (BFR) last month, face mounting pressure to balance these expenses with staffing, teaching and learning costs, and are hoping for the new package of government support with energy costs to extend to schools as well as homes and families. 

How to manage school budgets in these interesting times                 

Whatever the government’s decision, there’s still plenty you can do to make the best of the situation. This academic year, it’ll pay to focus on two important areas: data and contracts.

Data

• Get clear on where the school’s income is coming from and why, and if you have time, explore sustainable income generations.
• Assess local pupil number trends and update your 3-year budget forecast as soon as you have the data from October’s census, so you can start planning early for next year’s funding.
• Keep the staffing structure behind your school budget up to date to make staffing costs as accurate as possible.
• Make sure you understand the monthly reports from your finance staff: ask questions about underspends, overspends, trends and issues.
• Support finance staff in running reforecasts and sensitivity analysis to assess how income and expenditure changes will affect your school budget. 
• Make sure the data in your budgeting software stays live and includes realistic predictions of costs, funding, pupil numbers, and other factors. To manage uncertainty, create reforecasts for several different scenarios–including the worst case.

Contracts 

It’s time to review all the school’s contracts, not just energy contracts. Ask yourself these questions:

• Does the school have a contracts ledger? Do you have access to it?
• Do your contracts offer value for money?
• Could you find a better-value solution?
• For MATs, can economies of scale be made anywhere?
• When are contracts up for renewal?
• When do you need to give notice?
• Will your supplier give discounts for multi-year deals?
• Would there be a tender process if you changed suppliers?
• How would a contract change impact staff, processes, and procedures?

While these are undeniably tough times for school budgets, the more you can do to gain an in-depth understanding of your data and contracts, the more money you’ll be able to free up to retain your staff, serve your pupils, and keep everyone warm this winter.