AU & NZ
SG
MY
US
IE
Access Education Budgets
MAT budgeting software
Budget software for multi-academy trusts who are serious about growth
Access Education Budgets is the software for trust-wide forecasting, scenario planning and reporting. Used by more than a thousand large and small MATs for all their budgeting needs.
Special features support the broader financial management requirements of multi-academy trusts. You can work at and produce plans and reports at a trust or school level or select a specific group of schools for your required activities.
1,000+ MATs trust our budgeting software
Why choose our MAT budgeting software?
Central control
You can control a range of factors at the central trust level including pay scales, profile templates and inflation factors and push these out to the schools.
Consolidated reporting
From BFR to budget monitoring and a trust-wide overview report, you can produce and view powerful reports at the trust and school level all in real-time.
A scalable solution for growing MATs
Access Education Budgets is scalable. Bringing additional schools into your MAT is all part of BAU with the ability to add unlimited users at no extra cost.
Secure and cloud-based
100% cloud-based software with secure single sign-on (SSO) access through Access Evo, anytime, anywhere, means that staff have everything they need wherever they are.
Budgeting for MATs - key features
Manage staff costs and payroll reconciliation
Managing staff costs in a growing MAT is no mean feat. Access Education Budgets keep your staff costs up to date with nationally applied staffing costs and adjustments calculated for you. These automatically take into account multiple contracts, pay scales, pensions and allowances.
And by importing your monthly payroll file you can automatically reconcile expected and actual monthly payments and see an up-to-date view of cost-versus-budget variances against critical fields such as total pay, pension payments and National Insurance, easily tracking budgeted spend against actual payments.
Plan and report at a school, group or trust level
You can plan and report at a school, group or trust level while setting user permission controls for individual academies. An extensive reporting suite allows you to quickly generate customisable, easy-to-understand reports in a variety of formats, including:
- Budget Forecast Return (BFR)
- Budget monitoring
- MAT overview report
- Income and expenditure
- Monthly staffing profile and pupil reports
- Payroll reconciliation
- A comprehensive budget dashboard
MAT specific reporting combines your budget forecast with actual income and expenditure commitments and presents data at the highest level or down to individual schools, groups and ledger codes.
General Annual Grant (GAG) pooling
Automating the process of pooling the General Annual Grant (GAG) funding can increase efficiencies across your trust. For MATs operating in this way, calculating the distribution of funds can save time and free up central staff.
Take control of your financial future with our MAT budgeting software
Discover the power of our integrated financial management suite
Combine Access Education Budgets with Access Education Finance for a seamless approach to financial management. Simplify operations across your trust with one intuitive platform that keeps everything connected and consistent. Looking for even more value? Our Access Education suite bundles make it easier than ever to manage your MAT:
- One platform, one contract, one price—across your entire trust.
- Build a bundle tailored to your needs and enjoy discounts based on your contract term.
- Forget per-pupil pricing—embrace the simplicity of a ‘per trust’ rate.
Take control of MAT budgeting and explore a solution that’s effortless, precise, and built for the unique challenges of multi-academy trusts.
Centralised planning and reporting across your trust
Meet Academy and Trust level requirements, providing views at both levels.
With Access Central Budgets, you get a consolidated and elevated view of multiple establishments across your whole Trust.
- Real-time data: Stay up-to-date with real-time budget planning and actuals data.
- Trust and academy level view: Shared understanding of budgets by both the Trust and Academies thanks to a two-way flow of data.
- Clear decision making: Make clear decisions with actionable insights for both standard and 'what-if' scenarios.
Say goodbye to repetitive manual tasks and data entry, and welcome unbeatable consistency and clarity into your financial processes.
Access Education ICFP for Multi-Academy Trusts
Transform the way your trust manages curriculum and budget planning across multiple academies. With our new Access Education ICFP module, streamlining planning and staying compliant with the DfE ICFP framework has never been easier.
- Trust-wide efficiency: Simplify resource management and curriculum planning across every academy in your trust.
- Seamless integration: Already using our curriculum planning module? Your existing resource plans migrate automatically—no extra work required.
- Centralised data insights: Gain clear, actionable data to make confident, trust-wide decisions that align with your financial and educational goals.
Ready to transform planning for your trust?
Why customers love our MAT budgeting software
The software presents our data in a more intuitive and user-friendly way
Access Education Budgets is 10x better than what we were using before
It’s exceptionally easy to produce management accounts and it is easy to follow with a clear ‘narrative’. I have received a lot of positive feedback from governors and trustees!
The whole team finds the software incredibly user-friendly and intuitive to use
The Access software has helped streamline our processes, downloading all the required reports across our 45 sites now takes around a day per month, and without the software this would take much longer.
Latest insights on MAT budgeting software
Discover valuable resources and updates to support your research and purchasing decisions. Our news and articles offer expert advice, case studies, and industry trends to help you make informed choices for your MAT budgeting software.
View all resources
Access Central Budgets: Centralised planning & reporting for MATs
Benefits of integrated Budgets & Finance for academies & MATs
Access Budgets Reforecasting resources
What are the best practices for school budget planning?
Access Education Suite
Our education software is built by experts to help schools work more efficiently and engage staff and students more effectively. It’s designed to give educators more time to focus on great teaching, not admin.
At the centre is Access Evo, a secure, easy-to-use hub that brings your tools, data, policies and processes into one place. One login. One connected view of your school.
Our all-in-one bundles bring everything together under one contract and one per-school price. It’s not just software. It’s a simpler, more confident way to run your school, with better decisions, happier staff, and fewer day-to-day frustrations.