It is the time of year where we are reviewing our contracts ready to plan for the new budget 2025/26.

Many schools are experiencing financial constraints and uncertainty as to whether they will be able to forecast an in-year surplus and continue to set a balanced budget going into the next financial year.

The contracts register is an important tool, and it is essential to review the school’s contracts and services ready for the new budget to determine their value and decide whether to terminate or continue. By doing this early this term allows enough time to terminate any contracts that are no longer required or being tendered. Communication is key, liaise with relevant staff to ascertain that curriculum contracts are still being utilised or whether the school has enough resources to end the contract.

For many contracts, these are vital to the school and there is no question as to whether they remain. For others, it is a balancing game, particularly when the contracts relate to site maintenance. Unlike insurance that is mandatory, we must determine the level of preventative maintenance that we initiate against our equipment; electric gates, security, play equipment etc. It is advised that schools have a good understanding of their contracts and the level to which they provide cover in the event of failure. For example, a bronze contract may include three call outs, but this year the school used seven, which incurred additional charges. Are we better to increase next year to the silver package that included ten call outs? Or is there an underlying reason as to why we had so many call outs, is there something to be repaired that we were holding off investing in, but essentially this is costing us more money in the long run? A short exercise in actual costs incurred can help to ascertain the way forward regarding best value and this will build evidence for your School’s Financial Value Standards (SFVS) return.

Think about how you manage your school site. Are you proactive or reactive? Do you wait for something to need repair before spending money, or do you put a little each year to maintain your equipment to prevent incidents?

Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) is essential and for many schools the approach to this is that this is unaffordable. However, lack of PPM can be risky and could lead to school closure or accidents if ignored. The DfE’s guidance manual on Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS) states:

Poor or irregular maintenance of school buildings can result in:

• disruption of education
• closure or partial closure of your buildings
• invalidation of your insurance
• poor value for money
• unnecessary expenditure to rectify problems which could have been avoided
• shorter building life
• risks to the health, safety and welfare of your building users
• legal claims
• non-compliance with regulations

One example relevant to this time of year is gutter and drain clearance. This is often not included in the grounds maintenance team’s contract and falls to the responsibility of the school’s site manager to undertake or arrange alternative contracts. The risk of not keeping these areas clear can lead to blockages and damage to the building. Heavy rainfall or snow can then cause floods and damage that could lead to parts of the schools becoming unusable. Insurers will want to see evidence that the property has been correctly maintained, and claims could become problematic without this.

Similarly, when we undertake annual servicing and maintenance, it is important to carry out any actions in a timely manner that are instructed in the reports. It is not simply a tick box exercise, and funds should be allocated in the budget in case of recommendations required. Failure to implement could put your school or stakeholders at risk. For example, the service report for play equipment should have any actions undertaken in a timely manner, as any incidents resulting from faulty equipment could not only cause injury but put the school at risk of insurance not covering any claims.

The Hertfordshire Grid has got a bank of excellent advice on health and safety and school site maintenance (select pages are restricted to Hertfordshire maintained and academy school access), and the Good Estate Management for Schools (GEMS) manual created by the DfE is gives very informative guidance:

thegrid.org.UK: Health and safety offsite visits and premises

GEMS:  Good Estate Management for Schools