Organising a cost-effective support staff structure

Read advice and case studies on achieving better efficiency in how you use support staff, and download our guide to calculating support staff salary costs.

Last reviewed on 7 March 2022
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 11310
Contents
  1. Employ a good school business manager
  2. Focus on roles rather than individuals
  3. Download our salary calculator
  4. Benchmark your spending
  5. Share staff with local schools
  6. Outsource some support staff functions
  7. Case study: using term-time contracts 

Employ a good school business manager

If you don’t already have one, employing an effective school business manager (SBM) should be the first thing you do when structuring your administrative support staff. You should also decide whether the SBM will be part of the senior leadership team (SLT).

To learn more about the role of an SBM and decide if this would be right for your SLT, read our other article.

Schools should be willing to spend more on a good SBM because of the significant amount of savings that can be made.

The DfE recognises an SBM’s role in efficiency

5 of the main internal drivers of efficiency are:

  • Linking effective spending with attainment
  • Access to financial management skills
  • Efficiency as a norm
  • Use of information
  • Challenging inefficiency

The review highlights the importance of having