Guidance

BFR ICT guidance

Updated 3 April 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

New fields have been added to the BFR to capture information around trusts forecast ICT spend. This guidance explains why we are doing this, and how to report these costs within the revenue and capital sections of the BFR 2024.

1.1 What is new this year

We have introduced seven new lines within the revenue section of the form (lines 336 – 342) and five new lines within the capital section (lines 621 – 625) to collect data on how much trusts spend in key areas of ICT.

1.2 We will be asking for your spend against the following categories:

Category	Revenue	Capital
Connectivity	Y	Y
Onsite servers	Y	Y
Administration software and systems	Y	Y
Laptops, desktops and tablets	Y	Y
Other hardware	Y	Y
IT support	Y	N
IT learning resources	Y	N

Trusts should NOT include ICT revenue and capital expenditure within 378 (revenue) and other capital assets (capital) from September 2023 onwards to avoid double counting. Instead, include them within the new ICT lines depending on whether they are revenue or capital expenditure.

No data will be required from your trust for the 2022/23 year, and therefore the first three columns of these fields will be greyed out within the form. We only require data from September 2023 onwards. Please see the two examples below.

Example 1: shows the new ICT lines in the revenue and capital sections and the fields where no data input is required

Columns 1, 2 and 3 (2022/23 academic year) will not require any data input for the revenue or capital sections, and will remain greyed out and un-editable:

Revenue section

Note: above screenshot taken from the revenue section of the form, within the non-staff costs sub-section. This shows the revenue ICT cost lines for the 2022/2023 year, emphasising this year will be greyed out, and trusts will not be required to enter data for this year.

Capital section

Note: above screenshot taken from the capital section of the form, within the capital expenditure sub-section. This shows the capital ICT cost lines for the 2022/2023 year, emphasising this year will be greyed out, and trusts will not be required to enter data for this year.

Example 2: showing the new ICT lines in the revenue and capital sections and the fields where data input is required

Columns 4 onwards (Sept 23 – Mar 24) will require data input for both the revenue and capital sections, and will be editable:

Revenue section

Note: above screenshot taken from the revenue section of the form, within the non-staff costs sub-section. This shows the revenue ICT cost lines for Sep 23- Mar 24 onwards, emphasising the lines from this date onwards will require data to be entered.

Capital section

Note: above screenshot taken from the capital section of the form, within the capital expenditure sub-section. This shows the capital ICT cost lines for Sep 23- Mar 24 onwards, emphasising the lines from this date onwards will require data to be entered.

2. Why we are asking for this data

This new section will help your school or trust to monitor spend in key areas of ICT that can lead to cost and time savings longer term.

We want all schools to reap the benefits of ICT, but we know that it can be expensive. It is important that schools invest in technology that meets their educational objectives.

Schools and trusts have told us that understanding spend on key areas of technology will help them:

• evaluate whether the technology is meeting the needs of staff and pupils

• make decisions on whether to stop or continue investing in the technologies

• budget and plan for technology to support maintenance, repairs and refresh

This will also help the Government develop better programmes and services that support schools and trusts to be more informed buyers of technology, ensure they are safe and secure, and to support system wide efficiencies.

You will only be asked to provide actual and forecasting assumptions on technology from 2023/24 onwards. We do not expect you to provide a breakdown of costs on these areas of technology for 2022/23.

The following are excluded from the technology costs in the budget forecasting return:

• teaching schools

• boarding schools

• donations

How to report your ICT spend with the BFR

This section provides detailed information on the types/nature of technology expenditure included within each category.

3. ICT revenue categories:

1.1 Connectivity

Where leases are mentioned, the lease charge in the income and expenditure account (I&E) should be included in this section.

1.2 Onsite Servers

1.3 IT Learning Resources

Where a resource is used for curriculum and non-curriculum (i.e. administration) purposes, and where costs are material, costs or estimates of the split should be coded separately at the time of purchase.

1.4 Administration software and systems

Where a resource is used for curriculum and non-curriculum (i.e. administration) purposes, and where costs are material, costs or estimates of the split should be coded separately at the time of purchase.

1.5 Laptops, desktops and tablets

1.6 Other hardware

1.7 IT support

4. ICT capital categories:

This section provides information on the capital expenditure associated with technology in schools.

Leased asset additions recognised should not be included. Instead, these should be included in the revenue section of the BFR.

Please provide expenditure where these can be capitalised for the following technology areas:

2.1 Connectivity

2.2 Onsite servers

2.3 Administration software and systems

Where a resource is used for curriculum and non-curriculum (administration) purposes, and where costs are material, costs or estimates of the split should be coded separately at the time of purchase.

2.4 Laptops, desktops and tablets

Where a resource is used for curriculum and non-curriculum (I.e. administration) purposes, and where costs are material, costs or estimates of the split should be coded separately at the time of purchase.

2.5 Other hardware

5. How to map your ICT spend from the DfE’s chart of accounts (CoA) to the BFR for 2023/24

For trusts using the DfE’s CoA, please refer to the following guidance.

Currently, not all CoA codes will map directly into the new ICT BFR fields as the existing structure does not allow for the account codes to align with the contents of the new ICT fields. The CoA 2024/25 will be updated to accommodate these new reporting categories.

For this year, those trusts who have adopted the DfE’s CoA should refer to the table below which shows the CoA account codes your trust can use to populate each of the ICT revenue lines in your BFR:

Details	Description of costs within this category	CoA code 2023/24	Guidance for BFR 2023/24
BFR line 336 – ICT costs - connectivity ICT guidance: 1.1 connectivity Curriculum and non-curriculum	a. main and backup broadband lines, wireless networks, network switches, network cables b. telephony, ISDN, ASDL or other dedicated phone lines. c. leasing costs associated with connectivity and telephony d. safety and security features, such as cyber security and filtering and monitoring, if bundled with connectivity services	735300¹: Telephony 820100²: Educational IT equipment 820420: ICT Broadband	¹Allocate across BFR lines 336 & 337 ²Allocate across BFR lines 336, 337, 340 & 341
BFR line 337 – ICT cost – onsite servers ICT guidance: 1.2 onsite servers Curriculum and non-curriculum	a. purchased or leased onsite physical servers present in the school or Trust where they are not capitalised b. onsite servers that support cloud-based storage across a trust	735300¹: Telephony 820100²: Educational IT equipment 820320³: ICT Hardware (not capital)	¹ Allocate across BFR lines 336 & 337 ²Allocate across BFR lines 336, 337, 340 & 341 ³Allocate across Sections 337, 340 & 341
BFR line 338 – ICT costs – IT learning resources ICT guidance: 1.3 IT learning resources Curriculum	a. curriculum software to support teaching and learning such as apps and lesson planning tools b. subscriptions and licenses associated with educational software and websites c. digital learning platforms	820150: Educational software & licences
BFR line 339 – ICT costs – Administration software and systems ICT guidance: 1.4 Administration software and systems Non-curriculum	a. administration and management software such as management information systems (MIS), safeguarding, finance, cashless catering, building management and payment portals b. operating systems and device licences, unless bundled into the cost of laptops, desktops and tablets. c. ICT hosting, including cloud and data storage. d. cyber security and filtering and monitoring if not part of any connectivity services.	820370: ICT Software (not capital) 820400: ICT Licences 820550: ICT Hosting Fees
BFR line 340 – ICT costs – Laptops, desktops and tablets ICT guidance: 1.5 laptops, desktops and tablets Curriculum and non-curriculum	a. laptops, desktops and tablets purchased or leased by the school that are used for teaching, learning and administration b. peripherals such as keyboards, mouses and display screens if bundled into the cost of the devices c. operating systems and licences if bundled into the cost of devices	735400: Other equipment 820100²: Educational IT equipment 820320²: ICT Hardware (not capital)	¹Allocate across BFR lines 336, 337, 340 & 341 ²Allocate across BFR lines 337, 340 & 341
BFR line 341 – ICT costs - other ICT guidance: 1.6 other hardware Curriculum and non-curriculum	a. hardware such as printers and consumables, audiovisual display screens and projectors b. peripherals such as keyboards and mouses where they are not bundled into laptop, desktop and tablet costs (see revenue section 1.5) c. purchase or hire of any hardware where not capitalised	740100: Security Alarms / CCTV Services 810400: Audio visual 820100²: Educational IT equipment 820320²: ICT Hardware (not capital) 820450: ICT consumable 820470: Printer consumables 820570: ICT other	¹Allocate across BFR lines 336, 337, 340 & 341 ²Allocate across Sections 337, 340 & 341
BFR line 342 – ICT costs – IT support ICT guidance: 1.7 IT support Curriculum and non-curriculum	a. third-party ICT support contracts b. maintenance, repair of technology c. ICT related consultancy when not bundled into any other services	820300: IT support contract 820350: ICT repairs 820500: ICT annual maintenance 820520: ICT consultancy 825400*: Other educational consultancy	*Extract ICT cost from this code

To manually complete the new ICT lines in your BFR from 2023/24 onwards, you will need to follow the steps below:

Step 1: Review this guidance for the details of spend data within each ICT category that is required within the BFR form

Step 2: Extract the required balances from your FMS ledger account codes for each element within the ICT categories and map against the CoA codes as per the COA code 2023/24 column in the table above

Step 3: Transfer the balances to the BFR lines that map from these CoA codes

Step 4: For some CoA codes, there is currently no direct mapping into the ICT categories, so we are asking trusts to split balances between two or more BFR lines. See the column ‘Guidance for BFR 2023/24’ for the codes that need to be split.

6. How to map your ICT spend to the chart of accounts (CoA) and the BFR for 2024/25

For 2024/25 onwards, we will be creating new CoA codes where there is currently no direct mapping into the ICT categories. We will provide further guidance after May this year.

7. ICT capital costs vs chart of account (CoA) codes

We recognise that trusts have individual capitalisation policies therefore rather than creating new codes for capital ICT reporting we recommend trusts to either:

• set up bespoke balance sheet account codes on your FMS by amending the sixth digit of the DfE’s account codes, being zero, with your choice of digits between 1 and 9 or

• make use of analysis codes or project codes that your FMS system offers you

For either of the above scenarios, we also suggest setting up bespoke reports to extract the information needed for the ICT data request so that you have the information in the correct format ready to input into the BFR.

From Sep 23 onwards only, you will need to split out the ICT balances from lines 378 in revenue, and lines 636, 637,638 or 606 in capital if you are using the CoA, and manually input them into the new ICT lines.

No new account codes will be added for capital as it would add too many account codes to the balance sheet code structure, which in turn would increase the complexity of financial reporting.

If your trust has Automated their CoA for the annual accounts return (AAR) 2022/23, your ICT costs for the year 2022/23 will have been automatically mapped as usual to the Non Staff costs line 378 within the revenue section, and within these lines in the capital section – 636, 637,638 or 606.