Resource Allocation is a key enabler in the Windsor Academy Trust (WAT) strategy to help achieve our moral purpose of unlocking academic and personal potential. Financial resources are finite and need highly effective strategies to ensure they are directed towards the achievement of our moral purpose, strategic aims and the trust object: “education for the public benefit”, as set out in our Articles of Association.
The WAT Financial Policy Manual describes the policies within which our financial management is conducted to ensure compliance with statutory requirements and should be read in conjunction with this strategy.
This document is a resource for internal and external stakeholders to state and demonstrate:
• Our approach to financial strategy through six principles.
• How we meet and exceed the DfE descriptors and five pillars of trust strength.
• How we make use of flexibilities in funding agreements and sector regulations.
• Our strategic approach to effective financial investment and management.
2. WAT Approach
A financial strategy must be clear and concise, directing resources to the achievement of our strategic aims. It must also allow for variation and be nimble to react to new opportunities or unplanned circumstances. Our strategic approach to a sustainable financial strategy is secured through the following principles:
1. Maximising funding
2. Expenditure efficiency
3. Sustainability
4. Digital technology
5. Efficient approaches and processes
6. Growth
These principles compliment and align to the DfE’s five pillars of quality for multi-academy trusts, specifically those covered under the Finance and Operations pillar, as being:
• Culture
• Financial Strategy
• Resources Allocation
• Capital Strategy
• Reserves
• Financial information management
DfE Trust Quality Descriptions - Finance and Operations
Theme Description
Culture
Financial strategy
Resource allocation
Capital strategy
Reserves
Financial information management
Recognises the importance of effective and efficient use of resources for the benefit of all schools in the trust and the wider education system.
Uses financial data and intelligence to set a stable, accurate and sustainable long-term financial strategy for the trust. Has a clear approach to delivering value for money through effective budgeting and risk management.
Demonstrates efficient and effective use of resources, for example through school and trust resource management benchmarking tools and Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning.
Maintains and invests sustainably in the trust’s capital infrastructure, including buildings, digital infrastructure and technology.
Operates a well-planned reserves policy that provides sufficient contingency for cashflow and any unplanned, urgent expenditure and aligns resources to expenditure priorities across all its schools.
Has strong financial and information management systems with effective oversight, for example ensuring data compliance and having policies and processes in place to minimise risk of fraud, data breaches and financial mismanagement.
2.1 Maximising funding
Understanding the different funding streams, mechanisms and drivers is critical to resource maximisation. As a key factor in national funding methodology for the education sector, pupil numbers are a critical area of focus and achievement. Ultimately, the success of our schools will drive funding and a relentless focus on our moral purpose will result in schools achieving their “Pupil Admission Number” (PAN). Continual monitoring through information systems allows for actions to be taken where necessary. Scenario modelling assists with the creation of a sustainable financial plan.
Other Government funding opportunities are equally a vital source of funding, for example, being successfully awarded Trust Capacity Funding (TCaF) has contributed to our sustainable growth strategy.
In addition, maximising opportunities for applications to additional grants alongside
an excellent sector knowledge enables us to maximise the generation of Local Authority funds (SEND, Growth).
Additional opportunities through the use of trust assets alongside our civic responsibility generate additional avenues for revenue income generation.
Through our reserve and investment policy, investment opportunities both short and long term, are maximised.
The receipt of capital funding through a formulaic allocation, “School Conditional Allocation (SCA)” provides a significant resource for the maintenance and upkeep of our estate.
Additional capital grants are an important source of funding. The maximisation of these opportunities are achieved through the use of specialist partners.
2.2 Expenditure efficiency
Culture is everything, and we continually strive to ensure that every pound spent has the greatest impact on ensuring all learners can realise their potential. Delegated responsibilities ensure this permeates through the organisation at all levels.
An effective procurement strategy ensures that quick and decisive decisions can be made to take advantage of market opportunities, whilst ensuring we are proactive rather than reactive. We work with specialist partners making use of expert knowledge to inform decisions.
The achievement of non-pay efficiencies are aligned to initiatives with focused targets
alongside expected continual annual challenge to ensure non-pay expenditure is having maximum impact.
Our Integrated Curriculum and Financial (ICFP) process takes centre stage throughout the budget setting process. Comparisons and benchmarking to internal and external metrics provides robust challenge and enables resources to be allocated to have the greatest impact.
Centralisation of services is an effective strategy for efficient use of resources. This strategy is aligned to the frontline delivery and impact to ensure they are not done for the “sake” of it.
2.3 Sustainability
Financial investment decisions need to be made for the now and also the future. Decisions focused on short-term improvement can sometimes lead to longer term cost implications. It is therefore vital that both revenue and capital investment decisions are fully aligned with the WAT Strategy and the achievement of its objectives.
Capital investment for revenue benefit is an integral part of our sustainable strategy, through our five-year capital plan, decarbonisation and energy management plan, revenue benefits are recycled and redirected to the frontline.
Revenue reserves play an important role in the financial strength of an organisation. It is important that they provide a sufficient contingency for unexpected and unforeseen events. Through our reserve policy we strike a balance between mitigation and investment for the achievement of our objectives and priorities.
2.4 Digital technology
Since 2020, our digital technology strategy has supported the delivery of academic and personal outcomes for thousands of children and their families and delivered quantifiable reductions in expenditure. Through the increased and continual use of one-to-one devices in school and at home, we continue to deliver:
• Reduced copier and printer devices
• Reduced use of curriculum delivery resources (stationery and exercise books)
• Reduced paper usage Increased use of digital reference materials
• Rationalisation of quantity of desktop devices (and energy consumption reductions)
• Reduction in scope 3 emissions and transport costs due to less deliveries coming into schools
Through this strategy we are achieving reduced costs and leaving the world in a better place for future generations.
2.5 Efficient approaches and processes
WAT demonstrates an efficient and effective allocation and use of resources through a number of approaches. Our annual budget setting process is continually refined making use of sector specific tools such as Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning, and supported by leading budgeting software solutions.
Since its inception, the culture of a single and shared financial resource has been a key ingredient to the success of WAT. This approach has been formalised in our Financial Pooling Policy, setting out our use of flexibilities for reserve and general annual grant (GAG) pooling that are available.
As referred to earlier in this document, the formal policies and procedures contained within the WAT Financial Policy Manual play a vital role in
2.6 Growth
Recent growth in the opening of our first Free School and the joining of schools to WAT has had a direct correlation with the financial size of our organisation. Increasing pupil numbers will bring additional revenue and capital resources alongside new assets and liabilities.
As the Academy sector continues to mature, opportunities of Trust mergers and academy transfers will present an increasing opportunity.
The financial benefits of organisational growth are quantifiable, however, they must not be
meeting our regulatory financial management objectives. Equally important is the delivery of these through simple and efficient processes led by a centralised finance function. Our investment in a new Financial Management System (FMS) will further enable end users to complete processes efficiently via electronic means and have live access to key financial information and data to inform decision making.
Benchmarking can be an invaluable tool in refining and enhancing financial strategies. We use simple and common financial metrics that are easily understood to evaluate performance, identify best practice and set goals. By making use of the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (FBIT) tool and School Resource Management Advisors offer we are able to look externally for identifiers of best practice.
the single and dependent reason for doing so. It is important that any organisational growth is aligned with our principles for growth and managed in a way to ensure capacity is always available.
Future growth will continue to enable WAT to have increased levels of financial resilience, deliver cost reductions through economies of scale in procurement and sharing of resources. Through the continued creation and expansion of learning communities these benefits will be achieved in a planned and coordinated manner.
