Haileybury School
March 31, 2008
Consultant: Richard Coward
Client Profile:
Haileybury in Hertfordshire is one of Britain’s leading co-educational boarding schools. The school has over 700 pupils, ranging from 11 to 18 years of age. Haileybury’s main objective is to deliver excellent academic and extra-curricular services to its pupils. However, to do this it has to control non-core overheads and ensure funds are available to meet the expectations of pupils and parents. This is particularly important, as there is relatively little opportunity for schools to increase revenue.
Case Study:
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Left to right: John Palmer, Haileybury School Bursar; Richard Coward, Auditel Consultant.
In 2001 Haileybury’s Bursar, John Palmer, engaged the expert services of Auditel consultant Richard Coward to help the school achieve this business objective. Richard’s first task was to prioritise areas of non-core expenditure that could be reviewed to maximise ‘quick wins’ for the school. The first phase focused on gas and communications, resulting in first full year savings of over £11,000 and £5,500 respectively. The gas project was particularly notable as the incumbent supplier was the recommended ISBA supplier and yet sizeable savings were still achieved. Other categories of expenditure phased in over the next three years included electricity, water and waste management, resulting in total annual savings rising to nearly £50,000 per annum by the fourth year. This is the equivalent of annual fees from several pupils or the full costs of employing an extra teacher.
In addition to achieving ongoing cost savings, Richard also obtained refunds totaling £6,600 for billing errors and overcharges on historical water and sewerage invoices and resolved a long-running dispute with a previous gas supplier. This related to a liability for Haileybury of £83,000 for historical underpayments resulting from meter failures. Richard was able to use his experience to negotiate a 10% reduction in the school’s liability, and to spread payment over four years.
Other benefits from the relationship include: a new water arrangement to replace the historic fifty-year old contract; and the new waste/compaction service that has enabled Haileybury to improve the site and to promote recycling amongst pupils.
Richard is now established as an important adviser to Haileybury’s management team, working closely with John and his colleague, Andy McDonald (Estates Bursar) to oversee ongoing management of the school’s essential services overheads. This includes responsibility for all the associated administration and preparing draft figures for the school’s annual budgets, allowing the Bursar’s staff more time to focus on their core business activities.
Savings Achieved:
£26,800 Savings for Communications
£89,100 Savings for Energy
£3,000 Savings for Water
£4,000 Savings for Waste
Total Saving: £122,900
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