The founding partner of the government’s cost-cutter programme has lost out on a £7 million contract to send advisers into schools.
The Institute of School Business Leaders (ISBL) was called in by then-academies minister Lord Agnew to support the school resource management adviser (SRMA) scheme when it was piloted in 2018.
But it will no longer be responsible for supplying the money-saving experts – meaning it won’t hold either of the two contracts for the SRMA scheme in the new year.
Stephen Morales, the organisation’s chief executive, told Schools Week: “We submitted a bid in good faith and others were successful where we weren’t, but we’re OK with that.
“We are proud of the seven years we have invested in equipping over 130 practitioners with the tools and knowledge to act as highly effective system leaders, but it is now time for other organisations to be involved.”
The £7 million contract, which will run until the end of 2027, was won by North Yorkshire Council and financial planners School Business Services. The former runs the current supply contract, ending this month, alongside ISBL.
They will be expected to “sustain the supply of enough accredited persons with capacity to take on and deliver at least 300 new SRMA deployments each financial year”.
Mentoring for 105 CFOs
The contract states they will also ensure 105 trust chief financial officers receive mentoring from a school business leader through to the end of 2025-26.
Suppliers will “identify, supply and manage” their cohorts of cost-cutters and so-called trust business professional mentors.
Morales stressed ISBL decided not to apply for a separate contract to train and accredit SRMAs three years ago. But he said “most, if not all, [advisers] are people we’ve trained over the last 10 years”.
The cost-cutters – normally school business leaders – started visiting schools six years ago as part of an economy drive under Agnew.
Last year, government data showed SRMAs had identified more than £1 billion of cuts during 1,454 visits in the prior five years.
But how much money was actually saved isn’t as clear cut, as the government only checked six months after visits. It last found schools had made savings of £24.3 million.
An evaluation, held between 2017 and 2018, found a “benefit-cost ratio of £13 for every £1 spent” on the scheme.
But government research concluded more than half of schools said the advisers did not find them new ways to save cash.
