We know the reality of MAT budgeting. Balancing budgets across multiple schools is complex, with each academy bringing its own priorities and pressures. Funding fluctuates, cost rises can be difficult to predict, and decisions in one school can quickly affect the trust’s wider financial picture.
Our latest Sector Insight Report found that more than half of trusts expect an in-year deficit, and one in three anticipate reserves dropping below 5% within the next three years. Against that backdrop, the need for confident, data-led budgeting has never been clearer.
These challenges are further exacerbated by budgeting tools that aren’t fit for purpose. When information sits in separate spreadsheets or systems, inconsistencies arise, and confidence in the data erodes.
IMP Planner changes that by giving MAT leaders a single, trusted view of their finances.
The most common MAT budgeting challenges
Fragmented data across schools
Many trusts still rely on separate spreadsheets or systems for each academy, making it difficult to maintain a consistent, up-to-date view of trust-wide finances. When there are multiple data points, leaders spend more time checking for errors than shaping strategy. This leads to slow decision-making and often reduces confidence in the numbers.
The solution: Bring all financial data together in one connected platform. A unified system gives every school access to the same live dataset. This ensures consistency across the trust, in turn improving accuracy and visibility.
Time-consuming budget planning
Even with experienced finance teams, compiling budgets across multiple schools can be laborious. Much of the process involves repetitive tasks like consolidating figures, updating templates, and chasing inputs. Time that could be spent on analysis is lost to manual work.
The solution: Streamline the process with automated calculations. Budget changes that impact multiple schools can be entered once, meaning consistent data entry. Budgets are produced faster, more accurately, and with greater confidence.
Uncertainty around funding changes
Funding rates can shift at short notice. Grant values change. Staff pay award assumptions for teachers and support teams evolve. Each adjustment can quickly make a budget unreliable. Without flexible tools to model these pressures, leaders are left planning on out-of-date figures rather than live financial reality.
The solution: Use scenario planning and forecasting to test different funding outcomes before they happen. Easily visualise the impact of sensitivity analysis using IMP’s in-built Scenario Comparison reports. By understanding the effect of potential changes early, MATs can plan proactively and make resilient, evidence-based decisions.
Lack of real-time visibility
Static spreadsheets and disconnected reports make it difficult to spot trends early. By the time an issue becomes visible, it can already have affected performance across the trust.
The solution: Gain real-time insight with live dashboards and a wealth of built-in reports. This gives finance teams an immediate view of spending and performance across every school, helping them to respond proactively based on accurate, up-to-date information.
Reporting pressures
Trustees require reliable figures that they can interpret across the trust at a glance. School users expect line-level reports, allowing them to monitor each detailed budget row. Manually producing separate reports for different stakeholders across multiple schools is time-consuming and stressful. Too often, reports require manual manipulation before they’re ready for publication.
The solution: Simplify reporting with a consistent, centralised system. Finance teams can produce accurate reports quickly within the system, at Trust, school or group of schools level. Embedded commentary and clear audit trails allow finance teams to explain results with confidence, no longer having to spend countless hours editing formats within spreadsheets.
How IMP Planner helps MATs budget with confidence
IMP Planner is built for MATs. It brings budgeting, forecasting, and reporting together in one system designed around the way trusts operate.
By connecting every school’s data in real time, IMP Planner gives finance teams a single version of the truth. Budgets are faster to build, forecasts are easier to update, and reporting is more transparent. Leaders gain confidence that their numbers are right and can focus on what those numbers mean.
Scenario planning becomes part of the normal cycle, not an extra project. Forecasts can be reviewed and adjusted instantly, helping MATs respond to funding changes with clarity rather than uncertainty.
The result is a smoother process, stronger decisions, and full confidence in your financial data.
See how IMP Planner works in a live demo. Book a slot here.
