Last updated:
23rd January 2024
Forms
Imprest - Latest Version
Below is the latest version of the school imprest form.
An approved Imprest claim submitted by 5pm on a Tuesday will be processed by the Schools Finance team by Friday of the same week and reimbursement should be received into the school bank account within 10 working days of submission. Please remember this processing deadline in connection with the monthly WiSER report schedule.
Electronic Journal for Schools
Please complete the attached form to journal income or expenditure between account codes.
Journals have to be approved for both sides of the transaction. Please ensure the email sending the journal to the Schools Finance Helpdesk for processing includes all necessary approvals. Please do not copy Schools Finance Helpdesk into emails which collect these approvals.
Certified Officers
REGISTER OF CERTIFYING OFFICERS (RCO)
This form is required to record each officer who has authorisation to sign for and commit the school. The responsibility for maintaining up to date records lies with the Headteacher.
Changes
Any change in personnel or financial limits must be notified to the Schools Finance Team at Shute End as soon as possible after the change takes effect.
Review of RCO
The names and limits on this register should be reviewed regularly, ideally annually when setting the School Financial Value Standard (SFVS) and school Financial Policies. The form does not have to be re-signed by all signatories each year – the review should however be minuted at Finance Committee or Full Governing Body, and the form should be formally approved, signed by the Chair of Governors and dated accordingly.
Approval limits
The Headteacher should have an approval level sufficiently high to manage all day to day running of the school, but for other members of staff the school may choose to set graduated limits as appropriate within the staff structure.
The Chair of Governors should not be a Certifying Officer. The reasons for this are twofold:
- The Governing Body should have strategic oversight only, as their duty is to hold the school to account in relation to ensuring value for money and monitoring the budget. The Chair of Governors does not have any operational responsibilities and as such should not be included in the Register of Certifying Officers.
- The Chair of Governors is the person signing off the RCO, so if they are included as a Certifying Officer then the fundamental internal control of separation of duties fails.
For any very significant projects or expense items, due process should be followed as regards putting the project out to tender. The preferred tender would then be presented to governors for discussion and approval. Once approved this decision would be recorded in FGB minutes which would be signed off by the CoG. A purchase order would then be raised for the agreed spend, supported by the signed minutes. This would then mean the Headteacher could sign off invoices relating to this specific Purchase Order, even if they were above his/her normal authority level, as long as the invoices were supported by the appropriate signed minutes.
Register of Certifying Officers (RCO) form_Oct 2020
CAMHS Phoenix School
Below is the latest version of the CAMHS Phoenix school imprest form.
CAHMS Phoenix School - Imprest Claim form
Budget Virement
Below is the form to move budget from one expenditure type to another.
Virements should only be completed in exceptional circumstances where more than £20k is moving between teaching staff costs, support staff costs and running costs. Movements of less than this amount can be recorded as forecast variances on Budget Monitoring returns.
WiSER Schools Virement Request
Signatory & Bankline Forms
Wokingham MCP (change of signatory form)
SUMMARY OF CHANGES for Signatories & Bankline Access on Imprest Accounts
Guide to Change of Signatories with Natwest and Changes to Users on Bankline
Procurement Cards - Clearspend
The Procurement Card Administrator is the Financial Accounting Team here at WBC.
For any queries relating to Procurement cards please e-mail and respond directly to ProcurementCards@wokingham.gov.uk
Procedure for applying for a credit card for a new School cardholder:
- Complete the Business case form - all sections to be completed
- Complete the Natwest Application form - only sections 2 & 3 (highlighted in yellow) to be completed, stating the applicant’s home address
- Each form should be scanned in a separate document
- Return both completed forms together in one email to ProcurementCards@wokingham.gov.uk for approval by the Head of Finance
- Once approved, your application will be sent to Natwest for processing
- NatWest will send your card and PIN to the WBC Procurement Card Team - it normally takes about 2 weeks
- When the card and PIN are received, the Procurement Card Team will contact you to arrange collection
- On receipt of your card, please contact ProcurementCards@wokingham.gov.uk to ask the Team to set up your access to view your account on Clearspend as you cannot do this yourself
- Once your access is set up, please follow the link to register with Clearspend: http://www.natwest.com/clearspend
The forms and the help guides for Clearspend can be found below.
The school’s employee agreement can be found at the front of the Business Case Form.
For any queries relating to Government Procurement Cards please always e-mail: ProcurementCards@wokingham.gov.uk
Clearspend - Mobile user guide
Clearspend Touch ID and Face ID