Guidance

School resource management advisers: information for local authorities, maintained schools and academy trusts

Updated 27 October 2026

Applies to England

About school resource management advisers (SRMAs)

School resource management advisers (SRMAs) are experienced professionals who advise schools and trusts on using their money and resources in the best way possible. They are not employed by the Department for Education (DfE) but are trained and approved through a national programme.

SRMAs might be school business managers, school leaders, or education consultants. They work alongside school leaders as a supportive and honest partner, not as inspectors or auditors.

Each SRMA works through one of 2 national providers:

• North Yorkshire Council (NYC)
• School Business Services (SBS)

They must follow strict rules about confidentiality and data protection.

SRMA visits are paid for by DfE and so are free to schools and trusts.

What an SRMA visit is for

Any school, trust or local authority can ask for an SRMA visit. If your school is run by a local authority, the local authority must agree to the visit before it goes ahead. The aim is to help you use your money and resources in the best way to support pupils’ learning and future success.

DfE will support each deployment through the relevant team. Where a local authority deployment involves more than one school, the SRMA will work with each school individually.

There are 2 main types of SRMA visits: a standard review and a bespoke visit.

Standard review

This is a full review, ideal for schools or trusts that have not had an SRMA visit before. The adviser will look at your financial data, key figures and how you manage resources. They’ll also check if you use integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) and will carry out a full ICFP analysis. The visit will be tailored to your needs and include meetings with key staff. Afterwards, the SRMA will write a report for you, setting out their findings and suggestions.

Bespoke visit

This is a tailored visit with a specific focus, designed to support one or two priority areas, rather than covering all the elements in a standard review. A bespoke visit may be useful if you’ve already had a standard review and want help with something like updating your budget, choosing a finance system, building a central team or introducing ICFP to trustees. These visits can also be helpful during a time of crisis, when targeted advice is needed quickly to support urgent decision-making.

Most deployments take about 3 months from start to finish. The SRMA will usually visit for one to 3 days and may also arrange online meetings as needed.

At the end of the visit, they will talk through their findings and suggestions before they finalise their report. It’s up to you (and your local authority, if you’re a maintained school) to decide which ideas to take forward.

Every deployment includes the offer of a follow-up meeting 6 months after the report has been shared. This is a chance to talk about progress, ask questions and decide if you need more support.

Local authority summary report

Local authorities can request a summary report alongside individual school reports. This can be particularly helpful if the local authority has not had any previous SRMA deployments or following significant organisational change.

A summary report provides an independent review of the authority’s approach to school financial oversight, support and strategic planning. It highlights strengths, identifies opportunities for improvement and sets out recommendations at local authority level. It can help local authorities assess current practice, strengthen support for schools, and identify opportunities to improve financial sustainability and value for money across the maintained sector.

Requesting support

You can request support by emailing dfe.srma@education.gov.uk.

For academy trusts: a named DfE contact will explain the process for academy trusts and what to expect.

For local-authority-maintained schools: from October 2026, DfE regional teams will lead engagement with local authorities about SRMA support. They will build on existing relationships or begin new strategic discussions about the support available locally.

This organisational change will not affect the level of service. Local authorities and maintained schools will continue to receive a fully funded service tailored to their circumstances. The revised arrangements are intended to provide a more direct route into support and allow practical decisions to be made more quickly.

If the local authority does not have an established regional contact, or would prefer to approach DfE directly, the local authority or school can email dfe.srma@education.gov.uk. The SRMA team will refer the request to a lead in the relevant DfE regional team and help to start the process.

Before an SRMA visit

Once an SRMA deployment has been agreed, the SRMA team will appoint an SRMA from one of the 2 national providers: NYC or SBS.

If you’ve requested a visit, we’ll ask you to briefly explain why you’ve made this request and mention any specific areas you’d like the SRMA to focus on. This helps DfE choose the right SRMA for your school.

We’ll let you know which SRMA has been allocated for your visit and check there are no conflicts of interest (for example, whether the SRMA has worked at your school before or has a close relative working there). Once that’s confirmed, the SRMA will get in touch to agree dates for meetings and visits.

SRMAs are encouraged to use DfE’s online benchmarking tool to get a quick overview of your finances. This tool compares your school or trust with similar ones.

DfE will provide the SRMA with relevant background information and highlight any agreed areas of focus. For maintained-school deployments, the relevant regional team and the local authority may provide this information.

For academy trusts: your DfE lead may also share extra financial documents, such as your latest budget forecast or management accounts, if you’ve already provided them. You might also have a short call with the SRMA and the DfE lead to talk through the visit and agree any specific focus areas.

For local-authority-maintained schools: the SRMA will first speak with the local authority to make sure everyone is clear about what’s needed. The SRMA will then contact each school to arrange visit dates and request the information they need for the deployment.

Documents the SRMA might ask to see

The SRMA may request your:

• current and previous year’s budget and financial plan
• pupil numbers (actual and forecast)
• staff list and structure, including salary costs
• curriculum plan and teaching hours
• completed school resource management self-assessment checklist (for academies) or schools financial value standard (SFVS) (for local-authority-maintained schools)
• management accounts and financial reports
• contracts and service agreements
• risk register
• minutes from recent governance meetings
• internal or local authority audit reports
• finance policy
• estate and sustainability plans
• strategic or growth plans
• any recent schools forum decisions
• information about local authority support and school-place planning (for local-authority-maintained schools)

Meetings and visits

Where possible, the SRMA will visit your school or trust in person. This helps them understand your setting and build a good working relationship with your team. If an in-person visit is not practical, the SRMA can meet with you online instead, and can help determine the most appropriate approach. During all meetings, we expect everyone to conduct themselves in accordance with the seven principles of public life, which promote integrity, objectivity and respect.

The SRMA will usually spend one to 3 days with you, depending on the size and needs of your school or trust. These visits might happen over a few days or be spread out over time. After their final meeting, they have a short period in which to complete their report.

The visit will begin with a meeting with your leadership team. You can decide who should attend, but it might include your headteacher, business manager and a governor or trustee. In a trust, this could include the chief executive, chief financial officer and chair of trustees.

The SRMA will talk through what they’ve observed in your data and agree with you where to focus their time and who else they should speak to.

For a full review, the SRMA will look at how you manage your finances and resources and will complete a full ICFP analysis using your data. They’ll suggest ways to make the most of what you have, reduce unnecessary workload and improve planning. They’ll also point out helpful tools and national deals.

For more focused visits, they’ll agree with you what information they need and who they should meet.

At the end of their visit, the SRMA will meet with you to share their findings and suggestions. These may include ideas for saving money. They’ll also ask for your feedback on their recommendations.

For local authority deployments, the SRMA will also meet with local authority representatives. This helps them understand the wider picture and how the local authority supports its schools. If the local authority has asked for a summary report, this meeting will help shape it. We also encourage local authority officers to join the SRMA’s meetings with individual schools where appropriate, as their involvement can provide valuable context and help support follow-up activity.

After an SRMA visit

After the SRMA finishes their visit, they will write a report. All reports are tailored to your school or trust’s specific situation.

Standard reports follow a set format. They include key financial figures, the SRMA’s analysis and their recommendations. Bespoke reports will look different, depending on the visit’s focus.

The report will include:

• a summary of what they found
• suggestions for how to improve how you use your money and resources
• any potential savings they’ve identified

For local authority deployments, the SRMA will produce a separate report for each school reviewed. If requested, they may also produce a local authority summary report that highlights good practice and identifies strategic observations and opportunities for the local authority to consider.

All reports are checked to make sure they are clear and accurate. Once the report is final, DfE will send it to the:

• chair of trustees and accounting officer (for academy trusts)
• local authority, which will then send it to the school (for local-authority-maintained schools)

We aim to send reports within a month of the SRMA’s final meeting with you.

It’s up to each school or trust to decide which of the SRMA’s suggestions to follow. You do not have to agree with everything, but if you choose not to act on a recommendation, you should be able to explain why it does not suit your situation.

Once complete, the SRMA’s report is owned by the school, trust or local authority it was written for, which can decide how it’s used or shared. If the SRMA has identified procurement-related opportunities, we may share relevant information with DfE’s Maximising Value for Pupils Team, who may contact you to offer free support through Get help buying for schools. If you’d prefer not to share this information, let DfE know by emailing: dfe.srma@education.gov.uk. Beyond this, the report is seen only by the SRMA team and the delivery team working with you.

DfE does not publish SRMA reports. If you choose to publish yours, you must comply with data protection regulations and redact any personal or sensitive information, including the SRMA’s name. Let us know if you publish the report, so we can prepare for any external queries.

When we send your report, you’ll also get a link to a short feedback survey. Your feedback helps DfE improve the SRMA programme.

Follow-up and evaluation

We offer a follow-up meeting around 6 months after we send your SRMA report. We’ll get in touch 4 to 6 weeks before that point to see if you’d like to go ahead, and to make arrangements if so. These meetings are usually held online and take up to half a day. They’re an opportunity to reflect on progress, share what’s working well and discuss any further support you might need. Where possible, we’ll aim to involve the same SRMA who carried out the original visit.

We’ll also ask you to complete a short evaluation workbook, whether or not you choose to have a follow-up meeting. This lists the SRMA’s original recommendations and asks you to note any actions taken, including any savings made or planned. If you have not acted on a recommendation, or do not intend to, you can briefly explain why. If you do have a follow-up meeting, the SRMA can help you complete the workbook during that discussion.

The evaluation workbook is valuable in helping us to understand how useful the SRMA visit was and how we can improve the programme for other schools and trusts.

We may also contact you about sharing your experience as a case study, like the ones from the London Borough of Hackney Council or the Minerva Learning Trust. These help us show where the SRMA programme has made a difference and where it could be better.

If you want more support after the visit, you can choose to work with the SRMA again. While SRMAs will not promote their own services during the visit, you’re free to arrange additional help with them afterwards, as long as any arrangement follows proper procurement rules and offers good value for money. Any extra support would need to be paid for by you.

If you have any questions about SRMAs or would like to request a visit, email us at: dfe.srma@education.gov.uk