Schools Financial Health Competition

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for education and children’s services in England. It works to achieve a highly educated society in which opportunity is equal for children and young people, no matter what their background or family circumstances. DfE is a ministerial department, supported by 9 agencies and public bodies. Good financial health in all schools is critical to good business management and to good outcomes for pupils. The Government has protected funding for schools, which will rise as pupil numbers increase. However, as with other public services, schools will need to take action to improve value for money due to the costs pressures on their budgets. DfE want to identify a whole sector, long term, sustainable approach so that schools can meet this challenge. Despite a wealth of information being available to schools, we know that not all schools have the capacity, and/ or skills to manage their finances as effectively as they could, and that there is currently a wide range in the amount and quality of engagement within school leadership teams. Through this competition, DfE wants to find innovative and practical new ways to engage and enable schools to become more financially efficient, healthy and sustainable. We want to help schools to change the way that they think about and respond to financial health and efficiency, and find practical solutions to enable schools to become more efficient and sustainable. A total of up to £200k (inc. VAT) is allocated to this Phase 2 only competition. The value of phase 2 development contracts will be for up to £100K (inc VAT) per application and for up to 12 months duration.