Service Level Agreement 2023 - 24

Buckinghamshire Council responsibilities

The Section 151 Officer has statutory duties in relation to the financial administration and stewardship of the Council and lays down the financial requirements for maintained schools detailed within the Finance Zone of the Schools Web. The Finance Service carries out the statutory responsibilities on behalf of the Section 151 Officer. In addition to providing services to meet the statutory responsibilities, the Finance Service offers a range of additional financial management and support services to maintained schools and academies. For maintained schools this includes: providing finance support packages, managing issues relating to the County Council’s and Schools bank accounts, managing all aspects of payments and receipts for non-cheque book schools, ensuring that they are made on time and allocated correctly, assurance services and finance training support.

We aim to provide a professional service and support to schools through advice and monitoring.

Performance Indicators

• Fixes see Measures of Service Performance
• Customer satisfaction feedback

School responsibilities

• Provide a named contact at the school.
• Provide all necessary and relevant information in order for Buckinghamshire Council to provide services.
• Utilise Service desk (ServiceNow) portal as the first point of contact, assigning your call to relevant area i.e. Schools Finance, Payable/Pcards or Receivable to ensure promptest possible query turnaround.
• Regularly check for ticket updates via portal on your outstanding calls and utilising existing call reference to update any specific scenario raised.
• To use the published timetable to meet deadlines so that Buckinghamshire Council can provide services appropriately and reliably. If deadlines are not adhered to and as a result Finance has to chase a call charge will be made to the school.