Schools’ transformation programme update

The schools workstream led by Director of Education and Childrens Services, Gareth Morgans, meets monthly with the aim of identifying cost reductions and better ways of working, and supporting the development of more sustainable school budgets to help protect front line provision.

Sharing and disseminating good business practice.

To support consistency and promote best practice in school administration a series of networking opportunities for administrative staff have been developed.

It is recommended a member of the administrative team from each school should attend these events, which will include information advice, guidance and training from a range of county officers, external presenters and experienced colleagues.

Networking, advice and development meetings will be held termly. These sessions are designed to support the sharing of good practice and dissemination of information, advice and training for all personnel with responsibility for school administration.

Primary Business Managers and Administrators
17/10/2023, 21/02/2024, 15/05/2024 9am-12.30pm Neuadd Y Gwendraeth

Secondary Business Managers and Administrators
19/10/2023, 22/02/2024, 16/05/2024 1-4pm Neuadd Y Gwendraeth

Efficiency and Benchmarking

A range of Benchmarking and Efficiency matrices have been developed to support School Leaders and Governing bodies in identifying areas in which adjustments can be made to promote operational and financial efficiency.

Following the agreement of Secondary Headteachers to share data, a Curriculum, Staffing and Financial benchmarking exercise was undertaken. The findings of this review have been shared with Headteachers for use as an aid to local decision making and school development planning. The documents enable Senior Leaders to compare key areas of structure and expenditure with other similar schools and to explore the reasons for variances, with a view establishing if a change of approach to an area could result in higher levels of efficiency for the school. Following the success of this pilot consideration is now being given to the best format for a Primary based exercise.

For schools facing more specific financial difficulties the transformation team are supporting Headteachers and Governing bodies with the preparation of detailed efficiency matrices which seek to identify areas of cost saving for schools by undertaking detailed analysis of curriculum and staffing models, and school expenditure patterns.

Following these reviews key actions are identified to support schools in adjusting their processes and practices to support them in moving towards increased efficiency. The workstream is currently prioritising schools who are in, or are facing, deficit positions. If governing bodies of other schools wish to access this support, please contact Allan Carter in the first instance.

SLA’s

Following consultation with School stakeholders work has been undertaken with SLA leads to develop a consistent framework for SLA data and information. The first phase of this work was completed in readiness for the start of the financial year 2023 -24 with the annual SLA costs being collated into one document for each school. The documentation for Annual SLA’s has been brought into a consistent format and Work is ongoing to bring all multi year SLA’s into the same format. This consistent approach is intended to support schools in being able to quickly and efficiently access information about their SLA’s and to support the monitoring of effectiveness and value for money moving forwards.

All SLA documentation has been centralised and can now be found on Porth, individual schools financial information relating to SLA’s is available via My School on the CCC Sharepoint.

Procurement

Schools are encouraged to access the savings available through using the Councils Corporate buying contracts.

The following contracts are open to all schools and recent benchmarking has identified schools accessing the contracts have secured substantial savings. In addition, should any school have issues with any framework suppliers not meeting the service levels required of the contract the CCC procurement team will be able to support in resolving issues and disputes.

   This contract offers free next day delivery on a range of items. They also offer simple compliant online purchasing options and full invoicing and credit facilities. Products available include paper and envelopes, stationery and equipment, exercise books, office supplies and furniture, hygiene and facilities products and PPE.

  This contract offers free next day delivery on a wide range of educational supplies. Please note this is the approved supplier for Schools in Wales. The previous contract holder Consortium is no longer operating under the framework and are under no obligation to meet the delivery and price agreements linked to the framework. The council is also unable to support with service related issued pertaining to the use of Consortium as a supplier.

  This contract offers significant reductions on line rental and equipment costs for telephony. Please be aware there are a number of companies attempting to agree independent contacts with schools at present using the 2025 changes to BT lines as a pretext for initiating contact. Adept is the only approved supplier for schools, they are working in conjunction with the IT department to ensure all schools hardware and infrastructure can support the changes. Schools are strongly encouraged not to sign contracts with other suppliers.
Any school not already using Adept for all phone lines are advised to contact Allan Carter for support in moving to Adept.

The contract for the provision of photocopying devices and services for schools in CCC has now been awarded to Canon. If you are currently in contract to Konica, please contact Allan Carter for advice on the steps required to transition to Canon at the end of your current contract, there is a significant lead time for machines and therefore it is advised all schools start the transition process at least 6 months before their current contract is due to expire. Please DO NOT renew your contract with Konica. The IT department will work with schools at the appropriate time to support a smooth transition to the new systems.

The council has a corporate contract with PHS for hygiene and washroom services. To access the council specific pricing for this contract please contact Dominic Boyle. Please be aware contracts agreed directly with PHS may not be benefiting from the reduced pricing available to schools under the corporate contract. It is recommended all schools establish their current contract expiry date and contact Dominic at least 6 months prior to expiry to allow the more competitive pricing to be applied to future contracts.

If you have any ideas for contracts which could be explored corporately to support schools in accessing improved pricing through group purchasing, please contact the Transformation team.

Waste and Recycling

From April 2024 all commercial waste including schools waste and recycling will by law be required to be sorted at source and collected by type. The council recognises this will present a challenge to schools. To support schools with this change, the council is currently working with CWM environmental to develop a new contract which will provide both efficient services and appropriate storage receptacles both in bin areas and within schools. Schools who are already with CWM will be included in this corporate approach.

Any schools currently using alternative suppliers are encouraged to review their contracts for waste and recycling and to ensure their suppliers are offering appropriate support.

Any school wishing to obtain a quotation for service by CWM should contact Allan Carter for support.

Agency supply

The high cost of agency supply has been recognised as an area for review across all departments in the council. There are currently several pilots and reviews being undertaken to establish the reason for the high agency supply demand and to look at options for supporting departments in reducing the costs involved. To support in this the transformation team are currently undertaking a review of agency supply in schools. We will be approaching schools in the Autumn term to request information and discuss supply needs to support us in ensuring the requirements of schools are understood and to seek any good practice which can be shared to support reduction in costs for schools.

New Supply Framework Pricing

The Welsh Governments’ Commercial Procurement Section has issued a revised Supply Framework for the Engagement of Agency workers for schools. Details of the confidential pricing have been circulated to Headteachers and Senior Administrators via the weekly bulletin. If you manage Supply in your school please contact your Headteacher/Senior Administrator for access to this information.

Have your say

The purpose of transformation is to improve, to become a modern, innovative, and dynamic organisation we all want to work for.  If you have any ideas for ways to make something within the council even better, let us know, all ideas are welcome, transformation is for everyone.

We welcome ideas and suggestions from all members of staff. Even the most outrageous suggestion can sometimes be unpicked to find some very useful ideas which wouldn’t otherwise have been thought of!

• What do customers complain about and how can we stop it from happening?
• Where are the areas of waste or inefficiency in the current process?
• How can the process be improved?
• Can the whole process be done differently?
• What are the essential parts of the process? Can the other bits be stripped out?
• Is there a reason for what is currently being done? Keep asking “Why?” until you get to a reason, or “because we’ve always done it”.
• What wastes your time?

Have your Say