Schools Financial Services Newsletter - March 2021
Spring Finance Information Group
The Spring FIG will be held virtually on the morning of 3 March 2021. At this FIG, the KCC School Budgets Team will be providing a budget update for 2021-22.
If you have not booked your place and wish to do so, please ensure you book a place via CPD Online. If you are unable to book a place, please contact Schools Financial Services as soon as possible.
The agenda for the Spring FIG was sent out in the SFS Update on 11 February.
Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS)
The DfE have announced that the deadline for the completion and submission of the SFVS to the Local Authority has moved from 31 March 2021 to 28 May 2021.
The decision has been taken due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the continued pressures that schools are facing.
More details can be found on the DfE website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-financial-value-standard-sfvs
Closedown
The Closedown deadline for Kent Maintained Schools is Tuesday 23 March. Kent Maintained Schools will have been emailed a copy of the Closedown guidance on 1 February.
For all Kent Schools in the Corporate Banking scheme, without access to Bankline, Schools Financial Services will be producing a copy of their bank statement. This will be emailed to the School Finance Contact week commencing 15 March which can be used for 2020/21 Closedown.
If you require a bank statement and haven’t received one by midday on 17 March 2021, then please contact us and we’ll be able to produce this for you.
Those schools with Bankline or who are not in the corporate scheme should follow the guidance provided in the Closedown pack with regards to reconciling transactions up to 23 March 2021.
Helpdesk Closure
The Helpdesk will be closed on Tuesday 2 March 2021.
In This Issue
- Spring Finance Information Group
- Training Webinars
- Schools Financial Value Standard
- Budget Setting
- Closedown
Training Webinars
The spring term training programme has a few courses remaining and are all available to book online.
- FMS6 Healthcheck
- FMS6 Beginners Closedown
- FMS6 Closedown
The summer term training programme is now available on CPD Online and is available for course bookings.
- Budget Setting
- Budget Monitoring
- Payroll Reconciliation for BPS Users
- Introduction to School Finance
- Introduction to Finance for Headteachers
- Various FMS6 Courses
- Senior Leaders
- Financial Controls
These courses are free to all Kent Maintained Schools.
If you're interested in attending, ensure you have booked your place via CPD Online.
Budget Setting
The deadline for the submission of the 3 Year Budget Forecast is Monday 31 May.
The Funding Template and relevant guidance is now available on Kelsi for Schools.
The Next Year function on BPS will be made available from 5 April for functionality testing and to update pay scales and pay bands. Schools will be informed when these updates have been completed.
You will receive an email from Schools Financial Services in March requesting information on how the school will be proceeding with pay updates for the 2021/22 financial year.
NatWest MoneySense
NatWest are running a free financial education programme for 5-18 year olds.
NatWest's website contains lots of information for parents, including information about home learning and child trust funds.
There are plenty of resources for teachers to deliver remote or face-to-face lessons and there are lots of games and puzzles for students to complete.
