For many schools, the summer holidays provide an opportunity to pause, reflect and prepare for the year ahead.
Whilst much of the focus naturally falls on curriculum planning, staffing and pupil outcomes, the summer period is also the ideal time to review another area that can have a significant impact on both budgets and operational performance – non-teaching spend.
From catering to cleaning, these services account for a substantial proportion of school expenditure. Yet they’re often reviewed only when contracts come up for renewal or budgets come under pressure.
Before the new academic year begins, here are five questions every school leader should be asking.
1. Do you actually know how your spending compares?
It’s impossible to know whether you’re getting good value if you don’t know what ‘good’ looks like.
Many schools benchmark teaching performance, attendance and pupil outcomes, yet relatively few regularly benchmark the costs and performance of their support services.
How much are similar schools paying for catering? Are your cleaning productivity rates in line with comparable schools? Are your food costs where they should be?
Without meaningful benchmarking, it’s difficult to identify opportunities for savings or improvements. Using reliable sector data allows schools to make informed decisions rather than relying on assumptions or historic budgets.
2. Are you managing your suppliers – or is the contract just rolling along?
Good contract management shouldn’t stop once a contract has been awarded. Whether it’s your catering provider or cleaning contractor, regular performance reviews help ensure suppliers continue delivering the quality and value originally promised.
Simple questions can reveal valuable insights:
- Are agreed KPIs being achieved?
- Have prices increased appropriately?
- Are service levels still meeting the needs of the school?
- Could the contract be delivering more?
Regular reviews often identify opportunities to improve service, resolve issues early and maximise value without changing suppliers.
3. If you run catering in-house, do you have the right systems in place?
Managing an in-house catering operation is complex. Menu planning, nutritional compliance, recipe costing, stock control, ordering and reporting all demand significant time and accuracy. Plus ensuring your compliant with new School Food Standards and allergen rules is an ever-evolving job.
Trying to manage these processes through spreadsheets and paper records can create unnecessary administration and increase the risk of errors.
Specialist catering management platforms, such as Litmus Edge, help schools streamline these tasks, providing greater visibility over costs, improving compliance and freeing catering teams to focus on delivering great food rather than paperwork.
As schools prepare for September, it’s worth asking whether your current systems are supporting your team – or slowing them down.
4. Are you utilising data to make decisions?
School leaders make countless financial decisions throughout the year and the strongest decisions are based on evidence, not assumptions.
Whether you’re reviewing food costs, analysing purchasing trends or assessing contractor performance, having access to accurate, meaningful data enables schools to identify issues before they become problems. Platforms such as Litmus Verify make this process significantly easier by bringing key performance data together in one place, giving schools and trusts greater visibility of how their operation is performing.
Good reporting doesn’t simply tell you what happened – it helps you understand why and what to do next. Having that visibility can make the difference between reacting to budget pressures and proactively managing them.
5. Could you achieve more without increasing your budget?
With budgets continuing to be stretched, many schools understandably assume improving services means spending more.
In reality, significant improvements often come from spending more effectively rather than spending more money.
Benchmarking can uncover opportunities to reduce unnecessary costs. Better contract management can improve supplier performance. Smarter procurement can deliver better value. The right technology can reduce administration and improve operational efficiency.
Small improvements across multiple services can quickly add up to significant savings, helping schools reinvest resources where they matter most – supporting pupils.
Starting the new academic year with strong focus
The start of a new academic year often brings new priorities, new challenges and new financial pressures. Taking time before September to review your non-teaching spend means you’ll have greater confidence that your support services are delivering the best possible value.
Whether it’s understanding how your costs compare with other schools, reviewing supplier performance or exploring smarter ways to manage in-house catering, a proactive review can deliver benefits throughout the year ahead. Get in touch with us here if you’d like to understand how your school compares with similar organisations or explore opportunities to improve value across your managed services.
The Litmus team
