SRMAs are practising sector experts such as school business professionals that work collaboratively with schools and trusts, providing independent advice tailored to each individual setting.
This includes hands-on management support and advice on how a school or trust can use their revenue and capital resources to deliver the best possible educational outcomes for their pupils.
You can read about how two Hackney schools are set to save £1.5 million over 3 years after working with a SRMA.
Current SRMAs are a diverse group, including some semi-retired senior school and trust leaders, some still working in schools and others who are self-employed consultants.
Every SRMA completes an induction and accreditation process which is led by an independent body. This accreditation provides assurance that the SRMA can use the findings of their visit to develop appropriate recommendations along with costed savings.
SRMAs feel that the opportunity to work across many different settings has led to an enormous amount of learning and personal development that can be applied across other areas of work. Many SRMAs sit as trustees or on local headteacher or finance director networks and can contribute much more because of the experience gained from their SRMA work.
Why SRMAs have been introduced
The goal is for every school and trust in the country to be confident about:
their own level of resource management
the potential to make improvements particularly through benchmarking their use of resources against other similar schools
how to direct resources to have the greatest impact on attainment, including through ensuring schools are procuring goods and services using the best available deals
The SRMA offer is free of charge and open to any school, local authority or trust that may benefit from this support, whatever their financial position.
SRMAs can provide advice and support to address current or future forecast deficits where these exist, but in all cases, they help trusts and schools identify opportunities to make better use of their funding, enabling them to target resources where they will have the most impact on outcomes for children. It is up to schools and trusts to decide which, if any, of the SRMA’s recommendations they will implement.
Anyone interested in becoming a SRMA, or any school or trust that wishes to take up the SRMA offer should contact ESFA.
SRMA visits are commissioned through:
an invitation to take up an SRMA visit, offered as part of ESFA’s improvement and prevention engagement with trusts and local authorities
a request from a school leader, trust, or local authority for expert support
ESFA’s formal intervention work using powers set out in the Academy Trust Handbook (ATH), which aims to improve the financial position of academy trusts subject to a notice to improve or warning notice.
DfE is committed to helping schools improve outcomes for pupils by making every pound count and getting the best value from all their resources.
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