Will a School Resource Management Adviser be deployed to your Trust?

The DfE have this month published their report evaluating the impact of deploying Schools Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs) in 72 academy trusts in the 2017 to 2018 academic year. SRMAs are practitioners such as school business professionals and headteachers who provide peer-to-peer tailored advice to individual trusts and schools on effective resource management. The aims of the pilot were to:

• Promote and share best practice on managing resources across trusts
• Build the financial capability of the sector to consistently high standards
• Provide effective peer-to-peer support to trusts that would most benefit

Although the majority of savings identified by the SRMAs in the pilot involved optimal deployment of teaching and leadership staff, many of the recommendations related to savings Trusts could pursue in areas such as energy, ICT learning resources, catering and premises costs. 

The report concludes that the rollout of SRMA programme will continue through to August 2020. Should a School Resource Management Adviser be deployed to work with your Trust and recommend pursing savings in any of the areas identified above, one of the easiest ways to do this is to put your requirements out to competition through the relevant CPC Framework Agreement.

Should your Trust decide to commit to exploring the opportunity to recruit a Procurement Manager across the Trust, as one Trust detailed in the report case studies has done. Do discuss your requirements with Tenet Education Services who provide onsite managed procurement services to the education sector.