Collaborative Fund Evaluation Guidance April 2018
Contents 1. Overview 3 Collaborative fund evaluation 3 2. Elements of the collaborative fund evaluation 3 What do I need to complete? 3 Grant expenditure and financial breakdown 3 Assurance 3 Collaborative fund declaration 3 Annex A Statement of Expenditure for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 4 Annex G 4 Internal Audit 4 DfE Grant Funding Agreement 2017-18 terms and conditions 4 National leaders of governance 5 3. How to complete the annual process 6 Accessing the online portal 6 Resetting your password 6 Collaborative Fund Home Page 8 Completing grant spend and financial breakdown 9 Financial breakdown Error! Bookmark not defined. Total spent during grant evaluation year 10 Underspend 10 Downloading documents in the online portal 11 Uploading documents to the online portal 12 Printing the evaluation 13 Submitting your completed return 15 4. Deadline for completion 16 5. Help and support 16 6. Frequently asked questions 17 2
1. Overview Collaborative fund evaluation Collaborative fund evaluation is DfE s process to provide financial assurance for grant funded activity over the previous financial year. 2. Elements of the collaborative fund evaluation What do I need to complete? There are different elements to the evaluation which you will need to complete and return depending on the grants you have received. Details of what documentation you need to return can be found under the Documentation Requirements section once logged into the online portal. We would advise that you have a copy of this guidance document to hand whilst completing your evaluation to ensure all elements are completed and submitted as required. Grant expenditure This annual evaluation enables DFE to ensure that grants issued to schools are spent appropriately. We have consolidated the reporting of spend for grants live in 2017-18 financial year into this annual process and made this light touch to reduce bureaucratic demands. However, we need to balance low bureaucracy with the requirement to audit how public money is used. All grants issued during the 2017-18 financial year, along with any underspends from previous financial years, have been included in the evaluation. This includes any grants issued where the timescale to complete the activity has not yet passed. All grants require a response to a number of questions. Most of the questions require just a figure to indicate an amount of expenditure. No further explanation will be required unless indicated within the question. If a category of expenditure is not relevant to your use of a particular grant, please leave the reponse blank. Please note only the headteacher or the designated alternative named contact person can access the portal. Assurance Collaborative fund declaration A collaborative fund declaration confirming the accuracy of evaluation evidence provided is required to be signed by both the headteacher for the school along with the chair of governors. This declaration must be signed and uploaded into the online portal. 3
Annex A Statement of Expenditure for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 A sample of schools have been selected to provide a Statement of Expenditure and associated supporting documentation which is to be signed by the headteacher or the chair of governors. The Annex A Statement of Expenditure return must be signed and uploaded into the online portal along with supporting documentation. PLEASE NOTE Annex A Statement of Expenditure is only required from your school if it is listed as Required under the Documentation Requirements section once logged into the online portal. Internal Audit Each year we select a representative 5% sample of schools and grants for audit. If selected as part of the sample, we may ask you to supply additional information. Annex G If you are in receipt of 40K or more of Collaborative Fund grants it is likely that you will be required to gain external assurance from auditors, this is not required to be returned as part of this process. This will be required to be returned to DfE in Autumn 2018. Please ensure you consider this as part of your annual assurance processes in school. DfE Grant Funding Agreement 2018-19 terms and conditions To enable DFE to issue any further grants via the collaborative fund process in the 2018-19 financial year, if your school has not already done so, we require you to read the DfE terms and conditions and sign and return a copy of the 2018-19 2 page acceptance document. These should be signed by the headteacher, chair of governors and the school business manager or equivalent and uploaded into the online portal before final submission of your return. PLEASE NOTE we can accept digital signatures or scanned electronic copies but we cannot accept typed signatures. PLEASE NOTE if you have not previously received grants from the DfE or if your bank account details have recently changed, you will also need to complete and return the relevant DfE suppliers bank details form. Please also note, the DfE can only hold 1 bank account per legal entity. 4
National leaders of governance If you are in receipt of a National Leaders of Governance grant of 2000 for 2017-18, please ensure that all grant spend evidence is in line with the following grant funding guidance. The NLG grant can be used to fund: reasonable expenses incurred by the NLG in: o undertaking or preparation for NLG deployments. o attendance of NLG / system leadership network meetings and events o attendance of NLG training (eg External review of governance training) and Induction Expenses may include travel, subsistence, stationery or telephone costs. training and development for the NLG governing board. This could include: o accessing leadership development programmes / governance training offered by DFE and other organisations o membership of National Governors Association (NGA) or other relevant organisation o bespoke external consultancy to provide governance training to your governing board o training for the clerk The NLG grant can also be used to fund development of the governing board of the home schools of the NLG but only if the NLG is actively deployed and reports the deployment to DFE via the online deployment portal during the grant period (April 18-March 19). This applies only if the NLG is actively deployed and has reported a deployment via the online deployment portal during the grant period. Any such claims submitted without a reported deployment will be removed from the grant evaluation and not reimbursed. professional indemnity insurance for activity undertaken as a NLG, if not covered by the NLGs school policy The NLG grant cannot be used to fund: consultancy rate/day rate/time served for the NLG in undertaking deployments or in development/training of their own governing board. This is a voluntary role so no payment for the NLG should be taken from the NLG grant. other system leader time for supporting schools such as an NLE or SLE school support/administration/bursar time local authority governor services (except for a clearly defined proportion for training) - local authority training can be funded activities and services required for the business as usual running of the governing board such as clerking services, recruitment costs, disciplinaries etc. purchase of alcohol purchase of IT equipment and software professional/post-graduate qualifications (eg Masters etc) training and development for schools the NLG is supporting 5
3. How to complete the annual process Accessing the online portal Resetting your password To access the online portal click on the link provided in the email you have received or click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address bar in your online browser window. https://nctl.custhelp.com/app/utils/login_form/redirect/nctl_grant_instance%252flist_scho ols You will need to reset your password to enter the portal, to do this click on Forgotten username or password as shown below. You will then be asked to enter your email (you must enter the email address to which the Collaborative Fund Evaluation email was sent to and which is detailed in the email you received). Click Reset my Password and you should receive an email with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not receive this email and you have used the username detailed in the email you received, please email grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. Click on the link titled Reset my Password within the email. Once the password is re-set you will be directed to the Account Overview Page shown below. Click the link under the heading Collaborative Fund Evaluation. 6
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Navigating to the Collaborative Fund Evaluation homepage You will then see the school/s that you are the Collaborative Fund Evaluation contact for. Click on a school to begin the Collaborative Fund Evaluation. Collaborative Fund Home Page Once logged in and you have selected the school you are completing the evaluation for you will see the Collaborative Fund Home Page shown below. Please watch the 2017-18 Collaborative Fund Evaluaton video for further guidance on how to complete the evaluation. TEST ORG 8
Review the Document requirements section (circled red below) to see what documentation you are required to return. Completing grant spend and financial breakdown You are required (unless stated otherwise) to complete grant spend and a financial breakdown for every grant that is listed on the home page. By clicking on the view evaluation link in the Evaluations column on the home page for a specific grant you will be directed to the Evaluations page (shown below) for that grant. This page provides further information on the grant along with links for you to complete spend and financial breakdown. If you reported a grant as fully spent in last year s Collaborative Fund Evaluation but the end date for the grant had not passed, the Total Allocated will show as 0 as there is no expenditure to report for this year. You do not need to enter grant spend in these cases. Financial Breakdown Click on the view button in the grant expenditure column (circled red below). You will see the evaluation questions and editable free text boxes. There is no word or character limit set but please answer each question with a spend figure only, unless asked otherwise. You now have two options: Click Save and stay which will allow you to remain on the same page Click Save and return which will take you back to the Evaluations page TEST ORG 9
Total spent during grant evaluation year Click on the 0 button in the Total spent during grant evaluation year circled red below. TEST ORG In the Total Spent box enter the spend against that grant up to 31 st March 2018. Enter the amount as figures only e.g. if your spend was 4000 enter 4000. If your spend was 0 then just enter 0. Please round figures up or down to the nearest pound ( ). Once the spend amount has been added, click the Submit button. If you need to amend the spend figure, just click again on the figure in the Total Spent column and repeat the steps above. Underspend For grants with an end date before 1 April 2018 which are not fully spent you will need to provide underspend plans. Underspend plans should be in line with the original purpose of the grant. If you have had activity delayed or have committed funds but have not yet been invoiced then please provide a brief summary. Please note that you do not need to provide underspend plans for grants where the end date is after 31 March 2018. Click on the click here option in the Underspend column for the 2017/18 evaluation row (circled red below) to enter underspend plans. Please note that underspend plans are not required for the NLG grant. 10
TEST ORG Click save and return which will take you back to the evaluations page. Downloading documents in the online portal There are a number of documents relating to the evaluation process which you will need to complete and submit via the online portal. A breakdown of which documents you need to complete can be found on the Home page under the Document requirements section. These documents can be located in the online portal under the heading Links to Document circled below in red. To download a document go click on the link for the required document. A pop-up bar may appear at this point. If so, click the Open option. A new window will open displaying the document. To save or print a copy of the document, go to the File option in the web-browser menu bar at the top of the page and select Save As or Print as shown below. 11
If you have selected Save as you will then need to select the area on your computer where you would like to save the document then click Save. Uploading documents to the online portal Click on the Upload Documents/Attachments link on the Home page shown below. Now click on the Browse button and search for the required document on your computer. Once found, click on the document to highlight it and click the Open button. You need to repeat this for each document to be uploaded. Each time a document is uploaded you should be able to see a list of the files you have uploaded. You can remove attachments once uploaded by clicking on Remove at the side of the file uploaded. When you have uploaded all the appropriate documents click the Submit button shown below. 12
Once you click Submit the documents will be submitted to DFE, you will no longer be able to see the documents within the portal. * Please note if you have not previously received grants from the DfE or if your bank account details have recently changed, you will also need to complete and return the relevant DfE suppliers bank details form. Please also note, the DfE can only hold 1 bank account per legal entity. Printing the evaluation To assist the chair of governors with declaring that all of the information in the evaluation is correct, once you have completed all sections, the evaluation can be printed. To do this, click on the Print Evaluation link on the home page as indicated below. You will then see a list of all grants that you have provided a Collaborative Fund Evaluation (shown below), please note the print view will include grants that were evaluated in previous years. You are currently completing a 2017-18 evaluation. Click the Click here link within the Print column (shown below) for a specific grant. 13
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You will then see the evaluation for that specific grant (example below), by clicking on the Print icon (circled red) you will then be able to print the evaluation. Submitting your completed return When you have completed all of your evaluation and uploaded all of the required documents you will need to submit your final evaluation. To do this simply check the tick box to confirm that you have uploaded all the required documents, in doing so the Submit Evaluation button will appear. Please ensure you click to submit evaluation and not exit the portal without doing so. 15
Once submitted you will not be able to change any of the information you have provided. Should you need to change any of the information submitted you will need to contact grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 4. Deadline for completion All elements of the annual return should be completed and submitted to DFE via the online portal by 11:59 on 29 June 2018. DFE will not be able to pay any grants for the 2018-19 financial year until we have received the completed evaluation and associated documents and evaluated the evidence provided. 5. Help and support If you have any questions regarding the process please contact grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 16
6. Frequently asked questions 1. I am unable to log in. What should I do? Contact the DFE grant management team at grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 2. I have forgotten my username and/or password. How do I reset either or both? Your username can be found in the email you received regarding the Collaborative Fund Evaluation. To reset your password, click on the link shown below and follow the guidance in section 3.1 of this document. If you are still experiencing issues having done this please contact the DFE grant management team at grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 3. Who should complete and provide the information on the evaluation? The headteacher for the school is accountable for the evidence provided on the evaluation return. 4. How do I know what documents I should be completing and returning? Please refer to the Document requirements section of the online portal. 5. What should I do if there are grants missing from the evaluation that the school has received? Please report this to grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 6. What should I do if there are grants listed against my school that we did not receive? Please report this to grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 7. The total allocated indicated for a grant does not match my records. What should I do? 17
Please report this to grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. Please note if the grant was carried forward from previous years the total allocated will be the amount ( s) that your school had remaining at the end of the financial year ending 31/03/2017. 8. Do I need to provide evidence of spend that has taken place since 31 st March 2018? You should not include grant funding spent between 1 April 2018 and the date you complete your evaluation return in your spend to date figure. 9. How should I report any grant underspend? Please report underspend against the grant in the underspend plans box. Please refer to section 3.3 for further guidance. 10. The previous headteacher has left the school, who should complete the evaluation? The current headteacher for the school should complete the evaluation. 11. Do I need to complete and return Annual Certification of Expenditure outlined in Annex G of my grant letter? If you are in receipt of 40K or more of Collaborative Fund grants it is likely that you will be required to gain external assurance from auditors, this is not required to be returned as part of this process. This will be required to be returned to DFE in December 2018. Please ensure you consider this as part of your annual assurance processes in school. 12. My school has received multiple School to School Support Fund payments. How do I identify the correct client school for each? Within the grant statement section for School to School Support Fund grants we have prepopulated the Provide Evidence field with the name of the supported school each grant relates to. 13. The NLE responsible for the NSS Bursary grant has left the school; do we still need to provide an evaluation of the grant? Yes, this should be completed by the headteacher or the designated alternative named contact. 14. We have indicated an underspend, how do we return the unspent funds? Where you are required to return unspent funding DFE will issue a claw back letter to your school. If you are to receive future grants these will be adjusted to reflect unspent funding. 15. I have not received an official grant offer letter for some of the grants listed for evaluation, how do I obtain a copy of the letter? Grant Offer Letters would have been emailed to the headteacher so please check relevant email accounts. If you still cannot locate the letter report this to grant.assurance@education.gov.uk and a copy of the grant offer letter will be issued. 16. We have indicated an underspend for a grant; however we are committed and able to spend the remainder of the grant by 31 March 2019 but the grant end date has passed. Do we need to return the unspent funds? 18
Where you have plans to spend underspent funding for grants where the end date has passed please detail your plans in the underspend plans box against that grant. Underspend plans are subject to grant manager approval. 17. We have transferred all or some of the grant we received to another school. Do we still need to provide an evaluation of the grant? If so, who should provide the evaluation? The school in receipt of funding from DFE is responsible for delivery of activity and financial assurance of spend and you should therefore complete the evaluation for these grants. 18. The school s headteacher or the Chair of Governors is not available to provide approval for the evaluation prior to the deadline of 29 June 2018. Can someone else approve on their behalf? If your school is in this situation please contact grant.assurance@education.gov.uk. 19. Why can t I type straight on to the declaration form or terms and conditions? As part of the assurance and audit requirements it is not possible to electronically write on these documents. It needs to be printed, signed, scanned and uploaded back into the online portal. Information on how to do this is provided in section 3.4 of this guidance. 20. Can I request an extension to the deadline of 29 June 2018? The annual review is DFE s process to provide financial assurance for grant funded activity over the previous financial year. The deadline is in place to enable us to provide this financial assurance which unfortunately means we cannot extend the deadline beyond 29 June 2018. 21. What are the implications of not meeting the deadline of 29 June 2018? You will be considered to be non-compliant and you will receive communications from our Financial Assurance team. 19