What is a School Resource Management Adviser?

School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs) are ‘school business experts’ who use their expertise to help schools, which includes LAs schools and trusts to drive transformational change within the sector. They will do this by supporting schools to maximise their use of resources to deliver positive educational outcomes including thorough effective integration of curriculum and financial planning.

Academy trusts and LA maintained schools who have come to the department’s attention as having poor financial health, either now or in the future will be prioritised for support, but SRMAs are also be deployed to help schools at lower risk consider different ways to use their resources more effectively. SRMAs will take a holistic view of the school’s financial situation and make recommendations that take account of the individual contexts. SRMAs will need to be experienced professionals with extensive up-to-date and practical experience and knowledge of the sector, and a record of success in their profession.

People working in an educationally or financially failing institution are unlikely to be suitable to be School Resource Management Advisers.

The aims of an SRMA are:

• To provide effective peer to peer support to a school or trust.
• To conduct a supported ICFP review with the school or trust.
• To develop a range of recommendations using the ICFP metrics and contextual information which the school or trust can use to make efficiencies.
• To promote and share best practice on School Resource Management using your expert knowledge and key DfE Toolkits and resources.
• To provide expert support in all areas of School Resource Management including Financial Management, Human Resources, Governance, Income Generation, Procurement and Estates Management.
• To support schools or trust to implement ICFP providing a sustainable model for financial and resource management.

Who will I be supporting?

SRMA’s support a wide range of Academy Trusts and Local Authority Maintained Schools. SRMAs cover the following types of deployments:

• MAT or SAT
• Local Authority
• Special School or SEN
• Expansion
• Free School
• COVID

The remit of a deployment varies from schools/trusts that are at significant financial risk, those that are projecting a decline in their financial health in future years or peer to peer to reviews to support improved efficiencies.

The ESFA have moved away from SRMA support being a reactive approach for schools or trusts that have poor financial health to a proactive strategy allowing schools and trusts to look ahead and mitigate any potential financial risks reducing the need for intervention later. 

Who can become a SRMA?

To become an SRMA, you will need to have at least two years’ experience of school business management or financial management.  You will be required to have a good understanding of how the school system works including a level of expertise in financial management, estate management, procurement, or human resources. Accredited SRMA’s will have passed through an accreditation process. The accreditation process will provide assurance that the SRMA will be able to use the findings of their review (including analysis and discussions with organisations leaders) to develop appropriate recommendations, with costed savings, for the organisation to take to improve their use of resources.

Qualifications and experience, SRMAs:

• Must have significant experience of school business management and running effective schools
• Must have a high level of skill and experience in business management
• Must have significant financial experience
• Must have a thorough understanding of sector specific operational issues
• May have relevant accounting qualifications
• May have specialist experience of working with Special Schools or Alternative Provision Settings
• May have a more detailed level of expertise in particular areas, that may provide added value, such as estate management and capital investment/VfM, procurement or human resources. Such skills should be identified when the prospective School Resource Management Advisers are selected. Where advisers do not have detailed experience, they would be expected to note the relevant issues as part of their initial investigations, drawing in expertise where relevant and use the final report to clearly signpost the need for further expert advice.