Schools Financial Values Standard

The Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) is an analysis of your schools financial management. It is a yearly requirement for local authority maintained schools.

The schools financial value standard checklist asks questions of governing bodies in 6 areas of resource management. It links to guidance that provides clarification for each question, examples of good practice, and details of further support available to assist schools in addressing specific issues.

Template and Guidance:

 Schools financial value standard (SFVS) and assurance statement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Guidance

The school should have attached a statement with records of any Related Party Transactions OVER £20,000 that have been arrived at through proper procedures to SFVS form. The list should be appended to the checklist, using the template for recording related party transactions.

The completed statement should be signed by the local authority’s CFO or someone authorised to sign on their behalf.

The self-assessment dashboard that was formerly part of the SFVS has been moved to the benchmarking website A question in section E asks if the governing body has considered the results of the dashboard or of other DfE benchmarking tools.

Deadline: Local authority maintained schools must submit the schools financial value standard (SFVS) and 'Related party Transactions OVER £20,000' list to their local authority annually.

For the financial year 2025 to 2026:

• schools should submit their SFVS form and  'Related party Transactions OVER £20,000' list to their local authority no later than 31 March 2026

Responsibility: Governing bodies have formal responsibility for the financial management of their schools and so the standard is primarily aimed at governors

Last Updated: 11/12/2025