New Academies Financial Handbook

The DfE have published the new Academies Financial Handbook that will apply from 1st September 2020. The chapter on Procurement & Spending Decisions maybe short and sweet but is important reading for anyone involved in purchasing on behalf of their Academy or Academy Trust.

The Handbook states that academy trusts must “ensure a competitive tendering policy is in place and applied, and the procurement rules and thresholds in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 are observed” – this is where CPC can help. CPC frameworks are compliant with The Public Contracts Regulations, saving you the time and worry about how to adhere to these rules!  The handbook points you towards the DfE Deals for Schools website – Good News – many of the CPC frameworks are already recommended on Deals for Schools and more are to follow!

The Handbook also states that academy trust must ensure “professional advice is obtained where appropriate” – Tenet Education Services understand the mechanics of procurement and are on hand to conduct tender process on your behalf (whether via a framework, local quotes or tenders advertised across Europe), allowing you to concentrate on what you do best.  Their team can provide professional advice on cleaning and catering contracts, spend and efficiency reviews, contract management and procurement mentoring services. They also offer a managed procurement service providing you with first class onsite procurement support.

Underpinning the procurement section of the handbook is the need to ensure spending decisions represent value for money.  The DfE define value for money as “achieving the best possible educational and wider societal outcomes through the economic, efficient and effective use of resources, the avoidance of waste and extravagance, and prudent and economical administration”.  This is what CPL Group are all about!  Our members tell us regularly how using CPC frameworks has saved them money and resulted in an efficient procurement process.  Take a look at what King Edward V1 Academy Trust in Birmingham said about using the CPC Utilities Framework or how Palladian Academy Trust in Bath saw a 333% return on their investment through Tenet Education’s Managed Procurement Service.

Plus, the best thing is…any surplus that is made by either CPC or Tenet Education Services is redistributed back to the education sector!  Meaning you could benefit twice from using the services of CPL Group including our brand new E-Learning programme that covers the fundamental principles of good procurement practice for school and academy business managers. Visit the CPL Group website for more information on this fantastic new resource or please contact our Head of Procurement, Pat Condon [email protected] for further details.