January 2022
January 2022
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the Schools Finance New Year Bulletin. We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, hoping you are keeping well and managed to spend time with your family.
We hope you are ready for arguably our busiest term and to see what this year has in store for us!
1. School Finance Team
We are pleased to announce that the team are now starting to work with our schools towards the 2021-22 Year End process. We are hoping to speak to many of you during our forthcoming Bitesize Sessions as well as the SBS Training.
If you have any urgent queries and cannot contact us directly, please send them to schoolfinancereturns@hillingdon.gov.uk where a member of the Schools Finance Team will be able to pick them up.
2. SIMS Direct Annual Entitlement Contract 2022/23 - ESS Ltd
As per our email sent on the 17th December 2021, Jo Allen, the LBH Strategic and Sourcing Manager has contacted the ESS accounts manager. Procurement did challenge costs and investigated options for LBH to contract directly on behalf of each maintained school (as we used to) but ESS will no longer support that model and from 1st April 2022 all customers will have to engage directly not through a single direct contract through the authority.
3. VAT (Reminder)
Thank you for the Quarter 3 VAT Submittal returns. As always, we have a tight turnaround with these returns to ensure reimbursement by the end of the following month.
The Council is committed to being fully compliant with all tax laws, rules and regulations. Schools are advised to continue to check that ALL VAT transaction are correctly processed and input into the financial systems.
4. Leases Returns
Reminder, in early preparation for Year End 2021-22 we have attached an updated version of the Lease Return template with this bulletin. Further information is now given on the first 'Tab' of this template with regards to leases. A reminder that a completed return is due by the Wednesday 26th January 2022(the completion of this return will also be covered in the next 'Bitesize' session).
5. SBS Budgets 2022-23
Given the current pandemic uncertainty, the budget workshops will be again held virtually this year and delivered by your school's finance link officer.
We will be including the Budget Workshops invitation letter to all Headteachers in the next School Leaders Briefing. For all Finance Staff, the letter is attached with this Bulletin. There will be less than the usual selection of dates to choose from this year, but we also aim to work with schools on an individual basis where required. We will still be providing full training sessions to new bursars as in previous years.
The virtual budget training sessions for new finance staff will be split into three, two-hour sessions to allow the new staff additional time to go over the areas covered in the sessions:
- Thursday 10th February 2022 9.30am - 11.30am
- Thursday 24th February 2022 9.30am - 11.30am
- Thursday 3rd March 2022 9.30am - 11.30am
The virtual budget workshop sessions for existing finance staff will take place after February half term on the following dates:
Morning sessions - 9.30am to 11:00am Afternoon sessions - 1.30pm to 3:00pm
Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Tuesday 22nd February 2022
Wednesday 23rd February 2022
Tuesday 1st March 2022 Tuesday 1st March 2022
Wednesday 2nd March 2022 Wednesday 2nd March 2022
Please note that the deadline for bookings is Wednesday 2nd February 2022.
Details of how to prepare for the Teams meeting and what to have on the day, to follow soon. In the meantime, please see attached a 'New Code Listing for 2021-22'.
Please note: Attendees to the virtual sessions will need access to a laptop or desktop computer that is equipped with an internet connection, a microphone, and a camera (optional), along with Microsoft Teams software. If this creates any difficulties, please contact the Schools Finance Team at your earliest convenience.
6. School Finance Team Bitesize Sessions
Over the coming months we will be delivering 'Bitesize Sessions' via Microsoft Teams covering several finance topics such as Year End, Staff Remuneration returns, Lease returns, etc. The next two sessions will be focusing on Year End 2021-22 in two parts. We will be holding Part 1 session on the following date:
Wednesday 26th January 2022 at 10.00am
We have attached an agenda with this Bulletin stating what will be covered. Please note, the Year End Guidance has been separated into several sections and will shortly be circulated to schools to assist with the preparation for closing the 2021-22 accounts.
The session should last no more than one hour including Q&As. Bookings for your session should be confirmed by email to schoolfinancereturns@hillingdon.gov.uk by Monday 24th January 2022. Once registered, you will receive an email confirmation including a Teams invite.
If you are unable to attend, but would like further information regarding this matter, please contact your Link Officer.
Questions may be forwarded in advance, to be covered in the session. However, there will be an opportunity to ask questions as well as using the 'Chat facility' on Teams so the use of a laptop or desktop PC that is equipped with a microphone is preferable.
7. Funded Training in School Resource Management
The Department for Education has funded webinars to help schools, trusts and local authorities plan for the future and ensure long term financial sustainability.
Focusing on resource management and integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP), delegates will receive the knowledge and tools they need to quantify areas of inefficiency, diagnose the causes, and ensure effective use of resources.
The webinars will be delivered by Entrust Support Services. You can choose between six different webinars, running until March 2022:
- ICFP metrics
- ICFP tools
- Estates management (brand new for this year)
- Procurement
- Joint working
- Benchmarking
All the webinars are delivered virtually, and are suitable for school business professionals, your school senior leadership team, curriculum leads and members of your governing board. There are no limits to the number of free places you can book for each training session.
Find more details or make a booking here
8. Attachments
· Updated Leases Return 2021-22 Template Lease Return Template 2021-22 (Excel doc) [31KB]
· IR35 Annual Declaration 2021-22 Template IR35 Annual Declaration 2021-22 Template (Word doc) [23KB]
· Bank Letter 2021-22 Templates Bank Letters Template (Word doc) [33KB]
· The Bitesize Session Agenda - 26th Jan 2022 Bitesize Session Agenda - 26th Jan 2022 (Word doc) [24KB]
· Example Cost Centre-Ledger Code-CFR Code Structure 2021-22 Example Cost Centre-Ledger Code-CFR Code Structure 21-22 (Excel doc) [33KB]
9. SBS Helpline and email
SBS provides a helpline to schools for technical questions:
Telephone: 0345 222 1551 option 8
Email: sbsonline@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk
Kind Regards
Schools Finance Team
Graham Young 01895 277687 gyoung@hillingdon.gov.uk
Davinder Devgon 01895 250458 ddevgon@hillingdon.gov.uk
Greg Watson 01895 250451 gwatson2@hillingdon.gov.uk
Nina Yasin 01895 277665 nyasin@hillingdon.gov.uk
Elaine Hill 01895 250985 ehill@hillingdon.gov.uk
