DfE’s benchmarking tools for schools improve financial management (update)

Published10 June 2022

Last updated19 December 2022 — See all updates

View my financial insights to make savings

The view my financial insights (VMFI) tool is password protected and is therefore able to provide tailored, school specific insights, to support schools in their financial decision making.

VMFI provides a prioritised list of areas to investigate based on the comparisons with the 30 most similar schools nationally. The tool pulls this together in one place for trusts and local authorities so users can instantly identify areas to investigate further. It then matches the data with relevant advice, guidance and commercial frameworks offered by DfE to help schools spend their resources efficiently.

You can access VMFI via the ‘Understanding your data’ section of the School Resource Management collection page, or directly at view my financial insights.

VMFI saves time and money for academy trustsBradford Diocesan Academy Trust

Ashley Reed, Chief Finance Officer of the Bradford Diocesan Academy Trust uses view my financial insights (VMFI) to access comparative data for schools and see trends across their Trust. Before using VMFI the finance team had to search, collate and copy information from a range of sources to compile reports:

Historically it has been difficult to source benchmarking data. VMFI brings this all together in one place - if you need to do benchmarking you can go there and it’s available to you. We are already saving on average one day a month.

The finance team examine the red categories flagged up by VMFI to help identify the cost savings that could be made. The biggest saving, as a result of using VMFI, has been on catering costs for a number of schools in the Trust. The finance team organised a central procurement to which 7 schools opted in, this produced substantial savings and an improved service for the Trust by changing provider. The quality and variation of meals has also improved greatly which has increased take up. More schools will be opting in going forwards and more savings made.

Ashley describes the Trust as ‘governor led’ and that VMFI is integral in supporting governors in understanding the financial position of the schools they are working with. Whilst VMFI provides user-friendly graphs and charts which are popular with governors, he is also keen to highlight that VMFI also provides the high level of detail required by the leadership team. VMFI is already saving the finance team on average one day a month:

VMFI is all about the visual. It allows people to look at costs in quite a detailed way visually which is easy for non-finance people to understand. It also provides senior leaders with the right information at the right time.

Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust

Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust has been benchmarking its financial performance both internally and externally since 2007. VMFI has supported the Trust in bringing this information together in one place. Jane Kellas, Finance and Operations Director for the Trust said:

VMFI is one of the best tools to come out of the DfE. We now have easy access to comparative data - a single point that we can direct our trustees, governors and senior leaders to, highlighting the key areas for investigation.

Before using VMFI the finance team needed to access a minimum of four separate sources to compile the data:

We don’t have to do the amount of work that we had to do previously to get the comparisons. VMFI does the heavy lifting in interpreting the data and providing this information visually.

The team use the charts and graphs from VMFI in reports and presentations to school finance officers, trustees and governors.

Jane is keen to highlight the trustworthiness of VMFI having corroborated it with their management system. They are confident in using VMFI as a validation tool informing both the budget and the strategy. The areas highlighted for investigation by VMFI helped the finance team to start the conversations about budgeting:

It’s also helped focus the decision making particularly when taking on schools in special measures. VMFI provides additional back up to support the areas we have identified for improvement.

Jane’s team also promote VMFI with principals who are considering a change in spending so that they can see the impact equivalent changes have had on other schools.  Since using VMFI, the Trust has found that their schools have forecast more accurately.

VMFI enables the academy’s key stakeholders to view the headline financial data for themselves and to understand where it comes from. VMFI is also now a significant part of the training for school governors to support them in developing an independent perspective and the ability to challenge.

VMFI saves time and money for maintained schools

VMFI benchmarks schools against others that are similar, either based on pupil characteristics or building characteristics. Nicky, a primary school business manager used VMFI to drill down and examine those schools which appear to be more efficient:

This information enables me to identify ‘what good looks like’ in comparator schools. I then simply pick up the phone and have a conversation to identify where I can make cost savings by changing suppliers. VMFI is a great tool for networking.

VMFI identified that this primary school was spending higher than comparators on teaching staff, particularly on agency staff. The school business manager looked at the schools identified by VMFI as providing more cost-effective provision, and rang a couple of local schools to see who they used for agency supply and how they managed their structure. This led to decisions which saved this school £15,000 in a restructure and a further £5,000 on agency staff. Nicky said “being a very small school with a very small budget, that’s a huge saving for us.” It amounted to 0.7% of their annual income.

This school business manager also highlighted the value of VMFI in working with governors:

The Chairs of Governors are all accountable for the financial management of schools. VMFI is a fantastic resource to develop their understanding so they can ask meaningful questions and ensure their schools are delivering best value provision.

Contact us

If you have any questions on VMFI, you can contact BetterFinancialReporting.comms@education.gov.uk.

The schools financial benchmarking service

The schools financial benchmarking service is a public-facing tool that everyone from school business professionals, to governors and parents can use to support school resource management. It allows users to compare a school’s spending with that of other schools and trusts, and to contact those with similar characteristics to share information and learning.

You can access the schools financial benchmarking service via the ‘Understanding your data’ section of the School Resource Management collection page, or directly at schools financial benchmarking service.

River Learning Trust

River Learning Trust has grown rapidly over the last seven years with on average four new schools joining a year. It now comprises almost 30 schools including some sponsor schools which joined in a challenging financial position.

In 2018, their three-year projection showed that they would be looking at a sharp reduction of the overall reserves, leading to a substantial deficit in some schools. They wanted to establish a culture of financial efficiency across all their schools, making them accountable for their future spending. This included ensuring efficient staffing deployment, while keeping staffing costs to a maximum of 78% of income (except in exceptional circumstances) and keeping sufficient funding for learning resources and premises spending. The remaining balance would support investment in areas that would have a long-term effect on the education of the pupils.

The Trust introduced the ICFP process to all schools and used the schools financial benchmarking self-assessment dashboard to review each of the school’s budgets to highlight systemic overspending. The Trust brought the finance, governance, and school improvement teams together to implement a shared goal and to instigate an action plan to reduce costs efficiently and effectively.

The Trust saw real benefit by making sure that all governors were trained to understand ICFP and able to use the benchmarking site, meaning that they could make well-informed decisions and hold school management to account appropriately. The Trust also familiarised staff at various levels with the tools, creating an improved culture of financial awareness, and efficiency, whilst maintaining and improving student outcomes.

This early and interactive budgeting process was further enhanced recently with the development of the Trust’s own ICFP tool and the appointment of a curriculum planning adviser allowing greater consistency and monitoring at Trust level.

Benedicte Yue, chief financial officer, River Learning Trust, said:

Our Trust has improved its financial position through this process with the support of both ICFP and schools financial benchmarking tools, but also by ensuring that the diagnostic is used at the early planning stage and followed up by actions, with active engagement of all stakeholders. All the schools that were in deficit are now recovering and gradually building their target reserve.

The ICFP process allowed redirection of resources to meet strategic and educational priorities, in particular to top up high needs funding, invest in IT and build central capacity and expertise while preserving a broad and balanced curriculum.