How smarter buying can help UK schools make ends meet

Schools and colleges in the UK are navigating a complex web of financial challenges, but within these challenges lie opportunities to innovate and adapt. With limited budgets and rising costs—from staff pay to classroom supplies—education leaders face tough decisions about how to make every pound stretch further.

 

Cutbacks are inevitable, as can be seen in the projected £4.6 billion deficit in the Dedicated Schools Grant by 2025-26, while both staffing ratios and class sizes have also been impacted. Colleges are under similar pressure, as funding costs rise and the sector struggles to afford pay increases for staff.

 

In the private sector, the removal of VAT exemption has seen higher costs for parents, with some moving their children out of the sector altogether, which has limited the ability of schools to raise fees.

 

While these pressures are significant, they also present a chance to rethink how resources are managed and explore smarter ways of working.

 

Take procurement, for example. Schools purchase everything from stationery and IT equipment to science lab essentials, often without the benefits of centralised systems or expert guidance. This can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities to save. But what if processes could be streamlined and simplified, giving staff more time for teaching and learning?

 

The landscape is undeniably challenging, and while some schools are part of a wider consortium that aims to consolidate buying across several establishments, many schools operate independently, with procurement often falling under the remit of office managers, secretaries or teachers. Even where they are part of multi-academy trusts, it’s often the case that there is no dedicated procurement professional.

 

This means many purchases are made on an ad hoc basis, buying items as and when required, often from different suppliers. Not only is this hugely inefficient for the staff involved, it also means schools and colleges are likely to be paying over the odds and failing to take advantage of economies of scale. Such purchases are often made by individuals and then claimed back through expenses, which can add to the burden of accounts teams trying to reconcile transactions.

 

A further issue is the lack of management information that stems from not having control over spend, which can make it difficult to keep track of what has been spent and with which suppliers, removing the potential for further analysis and efficiencies.

 

One way schools and colleges can make savings is through the use of digital platforms such as Amazon Business. These can help streamline the purchasing process by providing a single site through which multiple items can be purchased, reducing the administrative burden on individuals tasked with buying them and ensuring value for money as a result of competitive pricing.

 

The ability to implement spend limits or restrict who can make purchases, meanwhile, can reduce unauthorised spend. Criteria can also be put in place to ensure any purchases comply with wider policies such as encouraging the use of local suppliers or meeting sustainability targets, and progress towards these can be tracked over time.

 

Analytics tools, meanwhile, allow users to identify insights into spending patterns, helping schools and colleges make better decisions on what and how they purchase, and providing clear reporting information for accounts teams.

Teachers at the International School of London previously spent hours flicking through physical catalogues to identify items they needed to buy. It was the start of a laborious process that would then involve filling in forms to request items, chasing sign-off from department heads and finance teams and then waiting for orders to arrive.

 

Not only was this hugely inefficient from a cost perspective, it was also eating into time that teachers could have been spending helping students or in the classroom.

 

The solution was to bring this disjointed and haphazard system under a single platform, and the school took the decision to partner with Amazon Business. Under the new set-up, teachers can request the learning materials they need in a couple of clicks, while those tasked with approving purchases can now do so on a single ordering account with one click. Using its trusted delivery network, items can be with schools in a short timeframe, often the next day.

 

“We had two key priorities in adopting Amazon Business: using technology to streamline the purchasing of learning materials, and giving time back to our educators,” says Joris Deckers, IT and Operations Officer at ISL Group. “It’s ultimately all been about supporting the teaching and learning. That’s why we’re here! With Amazon Business, we’ve approximately halved the steps that we need to take to make a purchase, so from an educator’s point of view it’s a much easier process.”

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To find out more about how Amazon Business could help your organisation get more control over spend, visit business.amazon.co.uk/en/work-with-us/education