Rethinking spend management in education: Why now is the right time to act

As schools, colleges and universities have welcomed students back for a new academic year, finance teams face familiar challenges with fresh urgency. Budgets are under pressure. Operational demands are rising. And the complexity of managing spend across departments, campuses and funding streams is becoming harder to ignore. 

For many in education, September is more than just the start of term, it is a key moment to test the robustness of financial operations. 

Rising costs and real-term budget cuts 

Despite recent funding announcements, education budgets remain stretched. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, total education spending in the UK has fallen by 11% in real terms since 2010–11 returning to levels last seen in 2006–07. 

This squeeze is felt across the sector, from rising energy bills in schools to declining perstudent funding in higher education. At the same time, finance teams are expected to improve oversight, support multiple funding sources, and reduce admin often with legacy systems still in place. 

The problem with traditional spend management 

Manual processes still dominate much of the education sector. Many institutions rely on spreadsheets, petty cash, shared credit cards or complex reimbursement workflows to handle everyday expenses. These outdated systems come with high risks: 

• Fraud and compliance issues 
• Delayed reconciliation and reporting 
• Limited visibility into live budgets 
• Inefficient month-end and audit processes 

According to research by Soldo, finance professionals spend on average 47-48 hours per month managing decentralised spend than any other group in the organisation (Soldo & Statista Finance Core Research, July 2024 (n=300, UK & Italy)). This is a burden that directly slows down decisions, forecasting, and project delivery. 

A better way to manage spend in education 

Modern spend management platforms like Soldo are helping education providers move away from reactive processes by giving them real-time control, structured access to budgets, and automated reconciliation tools. 

Soldo’s platform is designed to support institutions with complex funding models and dispersed users whether it is a lecturer booking conference travel or a student union treasurer managing society budgets. 

Here’s what that looks like in practice: 

• Controlled card access for staff, students, and volunteers 
• Digital wallets tied to grants, departments or activities 
• Real-time spend tracking and automated receipt capture 
• Role-based permissions for different user types 
• Streamlined month-end close and reporting 

What institutions are already doing 

Several UK education providers are already transforming their spend management with Soldo and seeing measurable results. 

• Plymouth College of Art, an independent higher education institution, issued 100 prepaid cards to staff and replaced manual admin with automated workflows. The result? Greater efficiency, control, and transparency in day-to-day purchasing. 
• CATS Education, a leader in boarding school provision, moved away from shared cards and manual reconciliation. Staff now manage their own spend with clear limits and visibility, saving the finance team significant time for the finance team. 
• Northampton Students’ Union slashed time spent on spend admin by 75%, thanks to features like receipt capture, auto top-ups, and department-level budgets. According to Jamie Dean, Head of Finance and Compliance: 

“Soldo has absolutely revolutionised what we do in terms of credit card spending. It’s so much easier to track and saves us a huge amount of time.” 

These stories are not just about process improvement, they are about enabling strategic work. Time saved on admin can be redirected towards student outcomes, compliance, and long-term planning. 

Empowering education through simplicity and control 

Governance in education is complex. As the UK Parliament’s research briefing on higher education notes, institutions often manage spend across multiple stakeholders, from academic departments to student-led initiatives, and navigate a mix of funding sources including government grants, donor contributions, and commercial income. This makes real-time visibility and structured controls essential if finance teams are to balance autonomy with accountability. 

Spend management in education is no longer just about cutting costs it is about enabling smarter use of resources. The right system can help institutions: 

• Simplify operational spend across sites and departments 
• Track spend by grant, club, or project 
• Empower staff and student groups to spend responsibly 
• Give finance teams real-time oversight without the admin burden 

As the new academic year begins, now is the time to shift from chasing receipts to managing strategy. Education finance teams need tools that work as flexibly and intelligently as their institutions do.