Value for Money

Purpose

Value for Money (VFM) is the term used to assess whether or not an organisation has obtained the maximum benefits from the goods and services it acquired or provides, within the available resources.  It also takes into account a mix of quality, cost, resource use, sustainability, fitness for purpose, and convenience to judge if they constitute good value when taken together.

Achieving VFM can be described in terms of three E’s:
Economy–Doing less with fewer resources. i.e., making savings
Efficiency–Doing the same as before, but with fewer resources
Effectiveness–Doing more than before with the same or fewer resources

Scope:

This policy applies to all the activities undertaken by the College against its strategic goal and objectives.

The Office for Students value for money strategy 2019- 21 states: “Students receive value for money when they experience the full benefits of higher education, both during their studies and afterward – in exchange for the effort, time and money they invest.”(OFS website, 2019)

The strategy further states that the “primary measure of value for money will be based on the perception of students and graduates,” and the OFS will monitor progress without imposing their own definition of value for Money. (OFS website, 2019)

The College has a duty of assurance to the taxpayer that the student fees were used effectively and efficiently to provide high-quality teaching and learning, equal opportunities to all students from all backgrounds, which, as a result, delivers positive input to society and economy.

Objectives

  • Incorporating VFM in strategic planning and decision making
  • Monitoring VFM through set standards and continuous reporting
  • Educating the staff onthe importance of VFM and promoting a culture of continuous improvement
  • Assigning the responsibilities to ensure the VFM
  • Demonstrating the achievement of VFM
  • Respond to opportunities to enhance the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of activities and adopt recognised good practices where applicable

Commitments are:

  • Policies: Embedding VFM while creating policies, systems, and strategies at all levels of operations.
  • Innovation: Exploring new opportunities to deliver better VFM by adopting new technologies and processes.
  • Learning: Benchmarking our activities against other organisations and identifying, sharing, and adopting the best practices to deliver value for Money.
  • People: Recruiting qualified and competent staff to provide the best student experience
  • Facilities: Providing and maintaining high-class facilities
  • Budgeting: Considering the VFM when setting budgets, allocating resources, and deciding on the action plans.
  • External audit: Considering VFM as part of the annual audit report issued by the external auditors.
  • OFS: Aligning the College’s approach to VFM with the OFS value for money strategy.
  • Purchasing: Developing Internal controls for all departments purchasing to ensure the best quality of goods and services are provided to staff and students at the most economical price.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Audit Committee (AC).

  • The AC will receive an annual report of VFM from the Senior Staff Committee to provide assurance that the College’s arrangements for securing VFM remain effective.
  • The IAC oversees the internal audit and provides advice to the BOG on the implementation and effectiveness of the VFM arrangements at the College.
  • This policy will be subject to an annual review by the AC.

OFS requires evaluation of VFM arrangements in place in the Auditors Annual Report to the BOG.
Role of the Senior Staff Committee

  • Implement the policies and procedures for value creation approved by the BOG
  • Provide information to the Internal Audit Committee and external auditors promptly to assist them in the evaluation of the value creation processes in place.
  • The Finance Manager will evaluate the effectiveness of any measures taken and include in the annual report to be forwarded to the Audit Committee

Role of the BOG

  • The BOG sets the tone from the top and influences the culture of value creation at the College.
  • Receive assurance from AC that VFM is embedded across the organisation
  • Assess the scope and quality of monitoring processes in place, including the effectiveness of the internal audit.
  • Review any incidents of any VFM weaknesses identified during the year and evaluate the financial loss due to the weaknesses or failings.
  • Review on an annual basis the effectiveness of processes and procedures in place to create the VFM.

Role of OFS

The Office for Students (OfS) has a statutory duty to promote VFM in the provision of higher education.  The BOG must approve the annual reportbefore submission to the OfS.

The OFS will primarily measure the VFM based on the perceptions of students and graduates and monitor progress.

Next steps to enhance the VFM

  • Continue to devise activities to improve efficiency, effectiveness enhancing the VFM
  • ​Develop and implement comprehensive internal controls to monitor and evidence that the VFM objectives were achieved.
  • Set challenging targets to ensure continuous efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Collect evidence of success in delivering VFM to students, government and broader society

 

This document has been designed to be accessible to readers. However, should you require this document in an alternative format, please contact the Academic/Finance Departments at info@mrcollege.ac.uk