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Working in the education space for over 30 years, we’ve seen how the landscape has shifted when it comes to outsourcing to external providers. In our final Thought Leaders session of the academic year, we discussed the benefits and pitfalls of insourcing and outsourcing in education.
Our hosts Jen Elliott (CEO), Andy Mackey (COO), Alex Hawkins (Director of HR Services - South) and Lisa Longstaff (Director of HR Services - North) were joined by a panel of experts, well versed in outsourcing strategic and operational functions to support their internal teams success: Sharon Pinson (Business Solutions Analyst at TOVE Learning Trust), Lauren Cartwright (HR Director at SHINE Multi Academy Trust), and Howard Nelson (Chief Financial and Operating Officer at Keys Academy Trust).
Shifts in the outsourced model
60% of our attendees reported increasing their reliance on outsourced services in the past five years. Andy Mackey touched on the cyclical nature of the sector, noting how many trusts have pivoted from early strategy to shift operations entirely in-house. “If we cast our minds back to the foundation of MATs, lots of trusts decided to insource to internal teams and build. But they quickly realised that wasn’t always the best approach.”
Howard Nelson added, “When you’re in-house, everything comes to your team. It sometimes means you don’t deal with things as well as you’d hope to, because you simply haven’t got the capacity.”
For Alex Hawkins, the flexibility of outsourced partnerships has been key to delivering effective results. “Where we add value will differ depending on internal structure, and the expertise that’s already there.” Emphasising the need to complement differing team structures and levels of expertise to provide a high-quality support.
Core functions to keep in-house
A big question on the minds of those looking to outsource is how much of their internal operations will become outsourced.
For many of our panellists, deciphering what remains a core function for their internal team and what can be outsourced externally has been instrumental to securing success.
Howard added, “I don't think you can outsource your ethos, values and vision. Looking after people is a core function of what we've got to do. If we don't look after the people who work for us, they won't look after the children they’re trying to educate.”
Lauren Cartwright emphasised that keeping control over what her team do best has been key to forging a strong working relationship between SHINE and its partner.
“We’re in a landscape where huge focus is on education leaders.” Headteachers face daily challenges, and weathering the storm alongside them can take up a large portion of an HR Director’s time. “There are some things that need to be decided upon and delivered day in, day out, in-house. But if you can wrap a bigger HR package around that, you have a more consistent way of delivering in line with trust culture and values.”
For Jen Elliott, success lies in setting expectations early. “We’re really clear that there are some things that you just can’t outsource,” adding, “We would never advise our customers to give up the heart, soul and culture of their organisation. The strategy has to be your strategy.”
“Our view categorically is that hybrid teams are brilliant,” she shared. With the direction of travel so rapidly different for schools and trusts in today’s sector, having a blend of internal expertise and outsourced support can minimise the expense of recruiting a fully in-house team. “Where there is a short-term need for something, that’s where we can jump in and help!”
Managing your relationship with outsourced providers
According to our poll, 77% of attendees are still exploring plans for the next 12 months - a loss of control over in-house functions is a concern for many schools when exploring outsourcing.
Sharon Pinson urged those looking to outsource to consider the implications of what their contract with a provider will entail. Particularly when moving between providers. “Our intention when we changed provider was to increase our levels of control. But with great power comes great responsibility.”
The reality? Critical functions the Trust thought they’d outsourced fell to their internal team, placing enormous pressures on the limited resources in-house and resulting in the need for an additional hire. She went on, “You have to know what you are getting. And be direct when setting your stall out”, emphasising the need to align your expectations from your provider with what you’ve purchased.
Lauren agreed, “Managing your outsourcing is the key part. If you’re outwardly explicit about your key expectations, including for yourself, they’ll be effective. If you’re an active customer, you will get more from it.”
Peaks and troughs in capacity
Natural peaks and troughs can create a real challenge in managing capacity. Sharon explained that especially when budgets are tight, there is a tendency to try to do it all yourself. Lisa Longstaff agreed, drawing on her own experience as a former trust HR Director. In peak times, operational activities distracted from strategic work, simply because there was no one else to carry out tasks. The solution? “Using your provider to give you the space to do the jobs in your School that no one else can do.”
Howard highlighted the importance of considering capacity during peak periods and the difficulties in forecasting when a particular initiative or busy spell arises. He reiterated the evolving needs of schools and trusts, noting their initial outsourcing focus on transactional support for Keys Academy Trust, “Our partner handles transactional, but equally, we've started using our outsource provider to support on strategic matters, and that's the direction I think we'll be going in.”
With 20% of attendees planning to prioritise senior staff focus on strategic projects in the next 12 months, Sharon emphasised how building a good relationship with your provider can help ease pressure during busier spells. “They’re far more likely to be open to giving you that support through a temporary blip!”
The financial impacts of insourcing
“One of the challenges I had when I joined a trust was helping people understand that we don’t need a role for everything,” Lisa advised. Where budgets are tight in the sector, expensive hiring decisions can bring risks for schools and trusts. “We’d see candidates come through that were at a much lower level than we needed because that’s all we could afford.”
In a traditional hiring sense, when need arises, the default is to spend on in-house, full-time roles. Now, education leaders are exploring more innovative approaches to save costs and ensure quality. Lisa added, “What we actually needed was a really high level of expertise for a day a week. We can get that, just not necessarily through recruitment.”
Howard agreed, "We'd be adding a lot of cost to get the breadth of experience we needed to deliver our HR strategy.” For Keys Academy Trust, the value proposition of outsourcing far outweighed insourcing the Trust’s HR and payroll functions.
This point was echoed by Sharon, who noted considerable savings for TOVE Learning Trust through outsourcing their DPO role.
Lauren also discussed the balance of initial cost of outsourcing against the potential financial risk associated with a purely insourced HR team: “If you look at some of the scenarios we've had, had we managed them in-house, there wouldn't have been an ability to have non-bias. The financial risks this could have created would have been huge.”
Key priorities for the next 12 months
Poll results revealed systems improvements, automations, and diverting senior staff time back to strategic work as key attendee tasks for the year ahead - all themes we see echoed across the education sector.
If you’re one of the 40% currently reviewing central team strategy for the coming academic year, our team can work with you to increase capacity across a wealth of areas within education. Whether it’s assisting with day-to day-operations, providing support with complex cases or projects, or simplifying your everyday operational tasks, our 100% education-focused support can greatly reduce the pressure on your internal team.
If you'd like to learn more about how we could support you, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to discuss your challenges and explore your best options for support.
