Education

The White Horse Federation

Simplifying buying, while strengthening compliance.

Overview

The White Horse Federation is a multi-academy trust comprising 30 schools in the South West of England, educating over 11,000 pupils aged 4 to 18. With around 1500+ employees and an annual income of £88 million, the Trust oversees significant non-salary spend each year. As a member of the Queen Street Group - representing the UK’s largest academy trusts - and part of the Department for Education’s Procurement Excellence Programme, The White Horse Federation plays a leading role in shaping best practice for school procurement nationwide.

Fragmented spend and compliance pressures

In its early years of growth, procurement at The White Horse Federation was decentralised. Teachers often made purchases independently, resulting in fragmented spend, expense claims, and limited visibility for the central team. This created inefficiencies, higher transaction costs, and non-compliant processes that were difficult to monitor and control.

“As a government-funded organisation, we must balance speed with compliance,” recalls Rijk van der Merwe, Commercial Director. “Amazon Business gives us the framework to move fast when schools need resources urgently, while still complying with the Procurement Act 2023.

Building a compliant and scalable framework

The Federation’s relationship with Amazon dates back over a decade, but the real transformation began when it adopted Amazon Business through the YPO framework. This addressed compliance requirements and streamlined invoicing.

The most significant step came with the integration of Amazon Business into the trust’s Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) system, enabling approval workflows, Guided Buying, and full Spend Visibility. “Using Amazon Business has been essential,” says Rijk. “The integration with our P2P platform makes it much easier for us to control purchasing and report on it, ensuring full visibility and accountability.”

“It’s not just what we buy, but how we buy. Partnering with Amazon Business has allowed us to track costs across the Trust, negotiate strategically, and secure further savings while maintaining a compliant route to market.”

— Rijk van der Merwe, Commercial Director, The White Horse Federation

Driving visibility, savings, and strategic value

Since adopting Amazon Business (AB), The White Horse Federation has processed tens of thousands of orders more efficiently and achieved over £100,000 in savings. VAT handling has been simplified through AB Pay by Invoice, which enhances compliance and consolidates supplier management across all schools. Procurement has shifted from a reactive function to a strategic driver of value, which helps improve the outcomes for our pupils.

Looking ahead, The White Horse Federation plans to build on this success by deepening its strategic partnership with Amazon Business, ensuring procurement continues to deliver organisational value and directly support the trust’s mission of improving outcomes for pupils.

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The White Horse Federation

Overview

Fragmented spend and compliance pressures

Building a compliant and scalable framework

“It’s not just what we buy, but how we buy. Partnering with Amazon Business has allowed us to track costs across the Trust, negotiate strategically, and secure further savings while maintaining a compliant route to market.”

Driving visibility, savings, and strategic value

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