Finance Information

Somerset Road Education Trust & the schools within it uses Benchmarking to compare budget information with schools or trusts in similar circumstances to see if spending could be more efficient. With the use of above tool it enables us to:

· identify schools or trusts that are similar to ours, or with similar challenges

· compare our school or trust’s spending with similar schools or trusts

· compare staffing structures of our school or schools within our trust with similar schools

· find contact details for similar schools or schools within similar trusts

For school budgets, there are 4 main cost areas of interest:

· premises (for example, building maintenance)

· occupation (the cost of occupying the school building, for example, energy and water)

· supplies and services (for example, stationery, books and examination fees)

· staff

Benchmarking helps us to:

· look at spend in these areas overall, as well as sub-categories of spend

· compare our spend with other similar schools (or academy trusts)

· inform the school development process

· ensure & inform processes with regard to financial sustainability ensuring the Trust can confirm that it is a “going concern”