Academies E Bulletin

EFA Administration

The checking of Teachers through the DBS is a well-established process and to take this a stage further the National College for Teaching and Leadership has taken this a stage further through their Employer Access Online.

Use of this system will allow Academies to check whether a teacher is subject to a prohibition order but also allows a check on whether they are also barred from acting as management in an independent school.
 
Importantly, following the introduction of Section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 which became effective in January 2015 the Academies can use the same service to perform checks on new members of Governing Bodies. Section 128 is based around prohibition on participation in management of independent educational institutions, whether complete prohibition or in certain circumstances or if certain conditions are satisfied. Governors are not eligible to go through the DBS as they are not in regulated activity. Please note that existing members of the Governing Body do not need to put checked.

Risk Protection Arrangement

The RPA scheme has been in existence for a year as an alternative to commercial insurance, and is marketed as a cheaper alternative for Academies than commercial insurance. Within the scheme there is also claims handling and risk management services. The current rate remains a deduction from the GAG of £25 per pupil. There is currently a consideration of whether the rate can be reduced from September 2016.

For those yet to consider it opting in can still be done via the link- click here 

Academies funding

If your Academy provided a summer school the deadline for making a claim for funding of the summer school is Friday 9 October, and it needs to be submitted through a claim form on the Key to Success website.
 
At the recent EFA Auditor workshop it was confirmed that the move to a National Funding Formula was continuing now that the election has been completed and the Government has been able to confirm its policies. Due to the hold placed on the process whilst the elections were held it has been agreed that the methodology that is in place for 2015/16 will be rolled forward to the funding calculation for 2016/17, and pupil led factors will continue to make up around 80% of the allocated funding. The next stage of movement towards the National Funding Formula is waiting on the current round of spending reviews.
 
It was acknowledged that whilst the Government has granted the DfE budget protected status there will still be significant pressures on budgets. There will be no additional funding, at this point in time, and it is already known there are increasing salary costs and the associated rise in pension costs without considering other overheads.
 
The process remains that the Local Authorities will be provided with their pot from central government, for both maintained schools and free schools/Academies, at which point they will apply their pupil led and institutional led factors. The LA then pays the maintained schools direct before providing the EFA the calculations and funds for the Free Schools/Academies.
 
There is a commitment to ensure that all Academies receive their funding statements by 31 March each year, and these statements will be available on the information exchange.

New Academies

The EFA has updated its welcome pack for new Academies which highlights their areas of work, their key services and systems together with information on what Academies need to know and how to use these services. Alongside this there are videos on the EFA website for new headteachers and business managers covering key areas like funding, the financial assurance framework and the schools efficiency toolkit.
 
There is also a reminder that the obligation falls onto new Academies to notify the relevant LGPS administrators that they have become an Academy so that the opening position can be calculated.

Academy Accounts Return

Donna Lewis head of the consolidation process at the EFA provided a feedback session on the 2014 AARs. 90% of the expected returns had been filed with the EFA, although at 3 September there were still 12 outstanding. Some of the common errors that were found within these returns were...

• Not all tabs were completed
• The form was not completed using round '000's as requested
• The counter party tab was weak, which in itself is a key issue as this is most important in the consolidation process
• The staff costs did not include NI and pensions and where staff numbers were provided it needs to be full time equivalent and not the actual numbers
• Non-disclosure of those earning over £60,000 or inclusion in the wrong box on being in post for under a year

There has been an improvement in the accuracy of the information, the 2103 returns had only 13% passing the process without adjustment whilst last year this rose to 32%. During the 2014 process there were 631 letters sent out to Accounting Officers over the adjustments made.

Regional School Commissioners

This is a relatively new role and has been descried as a mini secretary of state, albeit they do not make policy but are in a position to influence it. There are 8 of them in the country and they have been tasked with making sure all Academies and Free Schools perform, together with taking under their guidance maintained schools who are underperforming.
 
The remit includes...

• Looking at results and rating the schools accordingly
• Putting in place interventions to improve underperforming schools
• Opening free schools
• Approving new Academies
• Looking for good or outstanding schools to sponsor other schools
• Find new sponsors for existing sponsored schools who are underperforming
• Managing the level of schools within each sponsor

Currently it is thought that 60% of existing sponsors are schools themselves, after the initial sponsorship by external commercial entities the changing rules with regard to related party trading amongst other issues has led to a decline in non-educational sponsors. The RSC's are responsible to a headteacher board within each area the composition of which is done to try and ensure coverage of all types of institution within their area.
 
It is expected that there will be significant movements of schools between MAT's and also single Academies moving to join MAT's or collaborating more closely. One school of thought suggests that within 5 years all schools will be Academies or Free Schools, the majority of which are in MAT's of around 15-20 schools in size.

Accounting Landscape Changes

UK accounting standards are currently undergoing their biggest change in decades with the move to a single accounting standard as the driving force. Behind this has come the revision of the Charities SORP to reflect this change. The hierarchy for reporting for Academies is:- 

1.      UKGAAP, so the new standard FRS 102 
2.      Charities SORP now SORP 2015 based on FRS 102
3.      The Academies Accounts Direction
4.      Other guidance
 
As a consequence the Accounts Direction for 2014/15 has seen 2 issues, one for Academies incorporated before 1 January 2015 and one for those incorporated post 1 January 2015.
 
The EFA has now issued its guidance for the transition from existing UKGAAP incorporating the FRSSE, Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities to the new UKGAAP based around FRS 102. There are changes that will be required for Academies preparing 31 August 2016 Financial Statements not least in that the comparatives, i.e. the year ended 31 August 2015 figures, will need to be FRS 102 compliant. This means that the transition date to FRS 102 rules becomes 1 September 2014.
 
Below is a list of areas that will see some changes, however this is not an exhaustive list and not all will apply in all cases. There will need to be discussions with the Academies advisors as too which ones do apply and how they will be applied:-

1.      Trustees Report
-        More information on key management personnel and issues around pay setting,
-        levels of delegated authority and approval by the Governing body,
-        reserves policy and how it relates to actual reserves
-        and going concern

2.      Statement of Financial Activities
-        Change of headings
-        Income recognition criteria changing
-        No separation of governance costs

3.      Balance sheet
-        Capitalisation of software
-        Assets under cost or deemed cost through valuation
-        Substance over legal form taking more priority
 
click here for the link to the EFA transitional guidance

Upcoming deadlines

Due dates for...

• Companies House Annual return
• FMGS
• Teachers Pension Audit submission

Summary reporting deadlines for EFA...

• Financial Statements
• Accounts Return
• FMGS
• Budget Forecast

Please click here for all the relevant deadlines above

The UK200Group Academy Forum is part of the UK200Charities & Education Group.