Verbal Item
Minutes:
Managed Services
DM noted that when, reported to the Forum in March, Managed Services was still at the project stage and implementation still in progress. He reported that there had been significant issues with the set-up of the system following . He said that the scale of change had hampered the transition and the situation was unlikely to get there before September. He said that the local authority was putting every effort into resolving the issues through BT.
DR confirmed that he and his staff were working hard to identify issues and escalate them. He said that BT now had a dedicated person working on schools issues. He said that he had taken the Chief Operating Officer of BT to visit Chelsea Academy to hear first-hand the issues that schools were experiencing. DM said that officers would seek to ensure that the experiences of primary schools were also reflected.
Schools Forum members thanked officers for their work in trying to amend the situation. They noted that the positive was that the majority of payments had been made in time, but that there remained difficulties in terms of systems arrangements which indicated an absence of planning from BT prior to implementation. DM said that the local authority was listening and responding, and that more resources from BT had been put in place meaning that the service should improve. DR noted that there were likely to be back-end issues that were yet to come light.
DM noted that any missed payment to staff was unforgivable, and noted that there was provision to make emergency payments. He said that the chief concern was the reversion of changes made on one payroll for the next. He said that there had been no prepay roll report to allow changes to be requested. He said that the money for payroll was still in school’s accounts, and BT had yet to collect an invoice.
MP asked if there was anything schools could tell their staff if there were issues. DC gave the example of an individual who might make a larger student payroll. DM said that any exceptions of this nature should be sent to DR.
DR noted that the local authority would drop intercepting and batching payslips, and this duty would go back to BT in July. He said that schools should monitor how this was executed.
School Meals Contract
DM reported that the school meals contract was in the process of establishing frameworks for the lot. He said that the current price would be cheaper for primaries, but there would need to be an update for secondaries on what was coming through. He said that it affected H & F schools the most as they comprised the majority of schools in the contract, and that contract arrangements needed to be worked through. He said that the sequencing would likely see Hammersmith and Fulham are the last borough to call off from the contract,
Vote of Thanks
The Schools Forum recorded its thanks to Sally Whyte, Bernie Peploe, Michael Pettavel, Jude Ragan for their work on the Schools Forum.