What does the service offer?
Qualified and experienced finance advisers who provide a comprehensive range of financial advice and support tailored to schools’ individual leadership and financial management needs. The service offers a combination of personal and virtual visits, individual and group training, and local office-based support via phone and e-mail.
The EFS team can help your school
Operational finance
- Support with day-to-day operational finance activities.
Managing your budget
- Support, advice and guidance to help you manage your budget effectively.
Financial compliance
- Guidance for on ensuring compliance with relevant financial regulations.
Strategic finance
- Support with longer term financial planning, benchmarking and school financial efficiency.
Online and telephone support
- Email and telephone access to the finance team via named finance adviser
- Dedicated customer website.
- First-line finance query handling
- Central customer support team email efs.help@hants.gov.uk and telephone 01962 847549.
Training and development
- Finance induction programme for new starters.
- IBC self service finance system training for new school finance staff and headteachers.
- Virtual briefings to school administration staff on the latest developments in education finance and other useful information.
- Regular hints and tips newsletters.
Budget planning software
- Schools are provided with budget planning software to support their budget planning and forecasting. Short, medium, or long-term financial forecasts can be produced for the school governors to approve.
Budget setting
- Budget surgery face-to-face session or remote support.
- Advice on producing a balanced budget.
- Development and maintenance of budget planning tool.
Budget monitoring
- Budget monitoring visits either face-to-face or remote support.
- Review of budget monitoring.
- Payroll reconciliation review.
Locum support
- Supporting schools with transactional finance and budgetary support in the absence of school finance staff with financial responsibilities.
Targeted and preventative support (identified schools)
- Strategic challenge, support, and advice.
- Action planning.
Key benefits to the school
- Dedicated finance advisers based in Oxfordshire who understand and respond to individual school’s needs.
- Advice and support on operational and strategic financial management.
- Easy access to the finance team access via email and telephone.
- Maintenance of accurate and up-to-date financial records.
- Focused approach for schools that need extra support.
- Support in fulfilling statutory obligations/returns and facilitating good practice to meet annual requirements.
- Compliance with regulations set out by Oxfordshire County Council.
Pricing
Current pricing for traded services is available