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How educational organisations can reduce costs and boost efficiency
In a difficult environment, it’s essential that schools, colleges and universities operate as efficiently as possible. Online marketplaces provide an opportunity for them to better control what they spend and identify opportunities for further savings.
The UK’s education sector is under huge pressure. In 2024, unions accepted a fully funded 5.5 per cent pay increase for schoolteachers and a staged approach of up to 5.7 per cent for university lecturers, bringing an end to the crippling strikes that had impacted the sector for many years. But the potential for further industrial action remains, particularly as the cost of living continues to increase.
In schools, while mainstream funding has increased by 2.2 per cent, this is below the rate of inflation, and costs are expected to rise by 3.4 per cent during 2025, according to the National Education Union. Many are also in desperate need of maintenance and repair, with some buildings no longer fit for purpose.
Universities are also in financial difficulties, with many facing budget shortfalls and announcing plans to cut jobs and even remove courses. The Office for Students suggests 72 per cent could be in financial deficit by 2025-26, and is predicting a shortfall of £1.6 billion across the sector.
Colleges, too, face significant cost pressure, and discussions around pay are still ongoing. Unions believe the recent allocation of £300 million in additional funding, earmarked to improve buildings, needs to fund a pay rise for staff.
All of this means budgets remain under significant pressure, so procurement professionals in this sector – whether working for just one establishment or across multi-academy trusts – need to do all they can to keep costs as low as possible. This could be for more expensive items such as technology or furniture, but also for lower-value products that can add up to larger amounts, including stationery, toiletries, cleaning products or items required for maintenance and repair.
The extent to which organisations have been able to manage such spend to date has been mixed.
Procurement teams are often stretched, and tend to focus on higher-value spend categories, meaning that lower-value items are often overlooked.
These may be purchased on credit cards or payment cards by end-users, and claimed back through expenses. In schools, there may not even be a procurement team, with such tasks falling to an office manager, bursar, secretary or even a teacher.
Procurement professionals – or others tasked with purchasing – can use Amazon Business to allow authorised personnel to buy items, with pre-arranged limits around spending and supplier selection.
This can save time for end-users in researching products, and for those with procurement responsibilities in approving these. “We use Amazon all the time,” says Michelle Curtis, Senior Finance Officer at Unity School Partnership. “Whether it’s stationery, cleaning equipment, safety equipment – you name it, if we can buy it from Amazon, we will. It’s an obvious time-saver and has simplified the process completely.”
There is also potential to glean vital information in real time, which can identify opportunities for further efficiencies, providing data on what has been spent and where. Analysis of this might mean it makes sense to buy more items through a single supplier, enabling organisations to take advantage of bulk-buying prices, or could lead to items being redeployed across estates to avoid having to purchase new equipment.
It also makes reporting back much easier, enabling organisations to track what has been spent and provide finance departments with the information they require.
