For academic year 2024-25 we propose retaining 6.5% of each individual schools GAG funding.
The top-slice will be used to fund the following expenditure on behalf of the schools within the Trust:
- Strategic management
- Central team support staff costs
- Strategic and operational HR Support
- Financial management
- Estates management
- Safeguarding support, training, and audit costs
- 2 FTE fully qualified counsellors
- Educational psychology services
- External assessment and trust-level data analysis
- Employee assistance scheme
- Trust wide (high speed fibre) internet provision & telephony services
- Annual external audit & teachers’ pension audit (TPA)
- Internal assurance services
- Professional external legal services
- External health and safety (H&S) support (incl. fire risk assessments)
- Completion of all legal and statutory returns, i.e. ESFA (Education and Skills Funding Agency), ONS (Office of National Statistics) Charities Commission
- Bank fees
- Annual pension re-valuation fees (actuarial fees)
- Financial software hosting fees
- In-house leadership & staff development training, access to external professional development opportunities
- National College (continuous professional development) CPD subscription
- School improvement support including termly support visits from our external school improvement partners.
- Governance support services and full Clerking services (incl. Local School Boards)
- Comprehensive Governors training and support package, skills audit, and development planning.
- Payroll administration and teachers’ pensions returns
- Support in training and up-skilling of administration and finance staff to meet trust-wide procedures and standards
- Trust Website design and compliance
- Data Protection Officer (DPO) services
- School to school support costs
- Risk management system
- Access to a number of professional subscriptions
Outside of the top-slice, the Trust will work collaboratively to use its purchasing power on all high-value purchases and services to ensure we provide best value for taxpayers and to ensure we target as much money to the front-line.
The 2024-25 top-slice statement and appeal policy can be found here: