​

Wednesday's Weekly

​You can find each edition under 'Information & Guidance', 'Newsletters'

Number 4 - 21 October 2020​ - Revised Budget meeting dates, Revised Budget submission, Revised Budget scenarios, SFO availability for Oct and Nov.

Number 3 - 14 October 2020 - Prep for Revised Budget meetings, school meals information, unallocated income.

Number 2 - 30 September 2020 - Refunds for cancelled trips to School Fund, Ready Reckoners, Covid catch up grant, overtime & supply claims.

Number 1 - ​​​​​​23 September 2020​ - UIFSM funding, refunds for cancelled trips, t​​eachers pay increase for Sept 20, COVID exceptional costs reimbursements, Revised Budget checklists and Revised Budget meetings.​

Latest News & Updates

Teachers pay increase

​​​​Information and instructions regarding the Sept 20 Teachers pay increase were sent to SBM's on Monday 14th and Thursday 17th September.​

Summer Holiday cover

The Schools Finance email will be checked twice a week during the summer break and you will receive a reply/acknowledgement within 3 working days.

If you require an urgent response, please ring 01454 863265.

3rd March 2020 - Year end letter, instructions and schedules

19/20 year end instrustions were sent to all SBM's on 3rd March.  Please ensure all deadlines are adhered to.

5th February 2020 - ICFP conference

Email sent to SBM's with flyer for ICFP conference on 1st April.  This would be exceptionally beneficial for all SBM's (or equivalent with financial responsibility) and Heads.  Flyer below.

ICFP Conference Flyer-FINAL.pdf

14th January 2020 - Financials Web training

Email sent to SBM's with details of an additional date now availble - Thursday 13th February from 12.30pm.

14th January 2020 - Supplementary grant for increase in pension costs

Email sent to all SBM's with link to information regarding the grant plus screen shots of how to obtain the figure from HCSS needed to complete the online form.

10th January 2020 - Supplementary grant for increase in pension costs

Email sent to all SBM's with link to information regarding the supplementary grant for Teachers' pension costs.  Included was email sent from HR to schools on 25th November with similar information.

The latest DfE information can be found HERE

7th January 2020 - SFVS training

Email sent to all SBM's with information regarding SFVS training at Little Stoke on 28th January.  The Local Authority has agreed to pay for these sessions.

 SFVS-Finance-Flyer.doc

6th January 2020 - Financials Web training

The session on 13th Janaury is now full, spaces are still available on 16th and 30th January.  The Local Authority has agreed to pay for these sessions.

19th December 2019- Financials Web training

Email sent to all SBM's with information regarding Financials Web training at Little Stoke on 13th, 16th and 30th January 20.  Please click below and tick Schools Finance then search to view.

https://cpd.sgsts.org.uk/schools/courses/bookings/default.asp

4th December 2019 - Teacher Pension Grant methodology

The latest methodology statement can be found HERE

Detailed allocations for schools are below:

Teachers Pension Grant Allocations September 2019 to April 2020.xlsx

This information was emailed to all SBM's today.

2nd September 2019 - sickness & special staff costs claims

For those who subscribe to the Integra schemes, please ensure all claims up to the end of August are submitted to Schools Finance by Wednesday 11th September.  Email send to all SBM's today with full details. 

23rd July 2019 - summer holidays

During the summer holidays, Schools Finance email will be checked every Tuesday and Thursday and queries dealt with then.  If you have an urgent query, please ring 01454 867171.  We will be back in the office from Monday 2nd September.

11th July 2019 - claim forms and ready reckoner

Please ensure you use the correct version when sending in sickness or phased return to work forms or refering to the Ready Reckoner.  The version number is in the file name.

Sickness claims should be on Version 3, PRW should be on Version 4 and the correct Ready Reckoner is Version 2.

5th July 2019 - updated PRW form

There was a fault on the phased return to work form sent out in May which has now been rectified.  Version 3 sent to schools today please ensure you use this one for any submissions.

12th June 2019 - 2nd additional training date

Tuesday 25th June is now FULL. 

Wednesday 26th June from 12.45pm has been added reference SF/19/183 - see flyer below for full details and book online.

Flyer Free Financial Regulations Training.pdf

31st May 2019 - Additional training date

Tuesday 25th June from 12.00pm - see flyer below for full details.

21st May 2019 - free training session

Flyer Free Financial Regulations Training.pdf

Please see the above flyer for details of a free training session taking place on Wednesday 5th June from 9.30am and Monday 10th June from 12.30pm.

20th May 2019 - Sickness claim forms

The new forms for 19/20 to claim for short & long term sickness and phased return to work were emailed to School Business Managers this morning.  They are also on our website under 'How to'.

17th May 2019 - Budget submission

Don't forget - the deadline for submitting your budgets is Friday 31st May.  Please submit to Corportate Finance and your Schools Finance Officer.  Email addresses can be found on your visit note.

1st May 2019 - Claim forms

The sickness and maternity claim forms are in the process of being updated and will be available soon. 

29th November 2018 - Schools income

Current Missing Income

South Gloucestershire Controls Team is responsible for posting all income received into Schools CIVICA accounts.  Sometimes the income received has little or no reference which means the Controls Team cannot allocate it.

In order to allocate this income we are asking South Gloucestershire Schools to check their CIVICA accounts and notify us of any missing income using the attached form.

Future Income

If Schools are expecting income into the South Gloucestershire Schools General Account can you please email all remittances or Income details to controls@southglos.gov.uk

If you are unable to find an expected income amount on your Schools Civica Code, please provide details using the Missing Income Form.

Where Parents send payments using Payment Systems E.g Parentpay – Please ensure systems are setup with correct Cost Code references E.g XXX00/9301 (where XXX = schools unique code), so that payments are automatically allocated to the correct ledger code in Civica. Your Provider will be able to help you if you are unsure how to do this on your particular system.

15th November 2018 - NatWest charges

You may have received some bank charges on Natwest Bank Account (Imprest/School Fund). This is an error and you should receive a refund shortly.  

Please do not claim the value back on Imprest accounts or include it as expenditure on school fund. Maintain a record of charges and check for the refund.

2nd November 2018 - CIVICA: For the attention of all School based Civica Financials Users 

Corporate IT are retiring their Citrix farm and replacing it with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services. The Citrix shutdown date proposed by Corporate IT is: Friday 9 November.

Attached is a brief guide explaining the steps needed to access Civica in the future.

Accessing Civica Financials via Remote Desktop Services.pdf 

22nd October 2018 - Offer of funding from National Grid for Primary Schools

Look out for an offer of funding from National Grid.  In the coming weeks, National Grid (through an intermediary called Benevity) will be welcoming applications from Primary schools for additional funding for STEM resources.  The average funding offer will be around £500.00 and forms part of their obligation under Section 106 to support the local community and education in the area.  This funding can be used to purchase items to add value to schools resources and could provide additional materials for both the curriculum and out of school clubs.

This information has now been circulated to South Gloucestershire Schools. Please see the following two documents:

HCP STEM fund school invite email final.pdf

National Grid STEM Programme Guidelines for schools final.pdf

25th September 2018 - School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document: September 2018

Schools HR have circulated two documents in relation to School Teachers Pay and Conditions (September 2018) with options that you may wish to consider when implementing an uplift to teacher's pay.

Following a number of queries from schools we have created a help guide that will allow you to model your chosen option in HCSS budgeting software.

Schools HR briefing sheet 1

Schools HR briefing sheet 2

Help guide to model options in HCSS