Devon County Council

Outline of Work

Context

Overall objective:  to provide schools with a flexible individually tailored package that meets their individual needs for support with financial management and administration.  You will support the Director of Finance, the "responsible officer" (Section 151 officer under the Local Government Act 1972), in meeting his statutory responsibilities for the proper administration of financial affairs.

The services listed below must be available to all schools by a variety of means, including personal visits, at different times of the year and working day to accord with school priorities.  The services provided must support the statutory responsibilities of both the schools and Devon County Council. This will include the provision of guidance notes, inclusive of, or with reference to, polices and legislation.

Basic information on school systems

Where possible electronic communication is used between the LA and schools.  This applies in all areas and relatively few documents are sent in hard copy format.  

Accounting records, etc.  

Schools maintain local management information systems including the SIMS FMS6 finance module.  Currently only 24 schools maintain their own bank accounts, the rest authorise supplier payments locally and transmit batches electronically to County Hall to generate the actual payments to suppliers.  The book of accounts is held at County Hall.

Budget and monitoring returns

Four basic returns are required from schools each year.  A budget return by 1 May, a summer term monitoring report during June, an autumn term report in November and a year end report in April/May.

Formulae, financial regulations, finance manual, etc.

The School Funding Formula, Scheme for the Financing of Schools, Finance Manual, Coding Guide, VAT manual, etc are all available to schools via the web.

• Funding Formula for the Primary and Secondary Sector
• Scheme for the Financing of Schools
• Finance Services - Children and Young People's - Finance Manual
• Financial Coding Guide 2006/2007

The Service

The service comprises a number of elements each of which has associated objectives, sub-elements and skills or experience requirements.   This list provides an indication of the areas of activity but is not exhaustive.

• Budget preparation
  Aim: To enhance a school’s ability to construct a sustainable budget plan over three years.  
• Calculation of funding from pupil projections
  Assist the school to recognise the likely impact on funding of changes in pupil numbers.  This may be either for the current year or for up to three forward years.
• Budget monitoring
  Aim: To enhance a school’s ability to forecast the year end position on the school budget share (or other budgets under review).
• Achievement of FMSiS
  Click on the link above for more information
• Attendance at school finance committees
  Aim: To attend at the request of the Head Teacher or Governors to assist them with the interpretation of financial data, provide them with information to support budget management decisions or give advice on LA financial processes.
• Preparation of cases for Schools in Balance panels
  Aim: To ensure that where a school cannot balance the budget without recourse to staff savings the finance officer will work with the school to produce a robust case for consideration by the Schools in Balance panel.
• Preparation of bids for financial assistance
  A typical example would be a bid against centrally held contingency where a school has incurred expenditure that could not reasonably be afforded or planned for.
• Health check for schools with their own bank accounts
  Schools with their own bank accounts are required to produce quarterly and year end reports on transactions and balances through their accounts.  Finance officers can provide a health check to verify that balances are as expected and accounts can be reconciled.
• Supporting schools self-evaluation
  Aim: To support school staff and governors with financial self-evaluation.
• Contribution to induction of new head teachers
  Aim: To assist a new head teacher with assuming the financial management element of the role.
• Contribution to continuing professional development of school staff
  Aim: To provide personal development opportunities to school staff and governors to enable them to fulfil their role more effectively.
• Provision of helpline during term time and Easter holidays
  Aim: To provide easily accessible daily advice and support via the dedicated helpline service
• Month end service
  Aim:  To provide a financial administration service to undertake the normal FMS6 month-end work undertaken in schools
• Support for new administrators
  Aim; To assist new administrators build their knowledge in a structured way during their initial period in school.
• Detailed support on financial administrative processes
  Aim: To provide regular planned advice and support on the whole range of financial and administrative processes in schools.
• Detailed support on personnel administration
  Aim: To provide advice and support to school staff with personnel administration including support with the Personnel module of SIMS and production of contracts
• Assistance with recruitment of staff
  Schools may require assistance with drafting job descriptions, person specifications, questions and exercises for candidates and may ask their support person to sit on the interview panel.
• Interpretation of financial data
  This could vary from benchmarking exercises with other schools and other authorities to helping respond to a query from external inspectors, governors or parents.
• Costing of activities and assisting with pricing strategies
  Schools undertake a variety of activities with which they may require assistance.  Some restrictions apply to the activity and pricing.  This includes educational visits, provision of school uniforms, letting of school premises, provision of school meals, etc.
• Construction/evaluation of alternative financial strategies
  This may relate back to budgeting and three year planning or to asset management – consideration of loan, leasing & purchase options, etc
• Stop-gap administration service
  Aim: To provide additional support to schools in the absence of their school administrator.

Relevant Legislation and Policy

• DCC Financial Regulations and Standing Orders
• Schools Finance Manual
• Scheme for the Financing of Schools
• National and European legislation in respect of taxation, data protection and freedom of information.
• Schools Local Payment Scheme policy and guidance incorporating the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

Statutory Requirements

Staff visiting schools will have successfully undergone an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check.