Reliable, education-specialist finance support

Every decision in school finance affects pupils, staff, and sustainability.

Underpinned by Sage Intacct, our Finance service combines trusted systems with people who understand school finance inside out, helping you maintain strong financial control all year round.

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24/7 Access to finance templates
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ACCA FCCA and CIPFA accredited team with decades of education experience

Trusted finance support for UK schools and trusts

Many schools and trusts struggle with funding pressures and unpredictable forecasts. Without dedicated support, SBMs and admin teams juggling multiple roles result in high costs in terms of time, money, and leadership stress.

Whether you’re managing immediate budget pressures or planning for long-term financial stability, our education-specific finance consultants act as an extension of your team.

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Finance support built for education

Juniper Finance is delivered through three clear service bundles, giving schools and trusts the choice of support that fits their capacity, compliance needs and future plans. 

Every option includes ongoing support from our qualified team.

Core Finance

Service

 

Includes Finance Essentials:

  • Advice line
  • Training modules
  • Knowledge Hub
  • Termly updates

Plus:

  • Monthly financial prep - system housekeeping, nominal code reviews, income/expense reconciliations.
  • Monthly insights - light budget vs actual report and cashflow forecast.
  • Statutory compliance and returns.

 

Add-on Sage for stronger reporting and compliance confidence.

Connected Finance

Service

 

Includes everything in Core Finance:

Plus:

  • Budget consultation and review
  • Budgeting managed service
  • Budget/forecast return upload support
  • Ongoing budgeting support alongside monthly and annual tasks




 

 

Add-on Sage for stronger reporting and compliance confidence.

Complete Finance

Service + Software

 

Includes everything in Core Finance 

Plus:

  • Sage Intacct included as standard.
  • Extended reconciliation, financial performance and full insights.
  • Statutory compliance and returns.
  • Budget and forecast consultation and review.
  • Build full budget and forward financial forecast with support.
  • Deficit and recovery planning.

What’s included in Finance Essentials:

Every Juniper Finance bundle starts with Finance Essentials, giving schools and trusts the tools, guidance and structure to stay financially compliant all year.

  • Dedicated advice line - direct access to education-specialist finance consultants for guidance on daily queries and challenges.
  • Core finance training access - on-demand training modules covering key finance tasks.
  • Knowledge Hub - ready-to-use policies, templates, and tools to support leadership decisions.
  • Termly finance updates - stay informed with briefings and newsletters covering sector changes and operational finance updates.
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Build on your Finance service with specialist modules

Finance Essentials + any of the below:

Reconciliation and financial controls

Deeper oversight to ensure accounts are accurate, reconciled and compliant.

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Financial performance and insights

Detailed analysis and reporting, giving leaders a complete picture of financial health.

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Deficit and recovery planning

Targeted support to stabilise finances, develop recovery strategies and protect long-term sustainability.

​

Statutory compliance and returns

Preparation and submission of returns to meet LA, DfE and ESFA requirements with confidence.

​

Budget planning and oversight

Guidance to build robust budgets aligned to school priorities and reporting timelines.

​

Financial forecasting

Forward-looking forecasts that help schools and trusts plan with certainty and avoid year-end surprises.​

Finance services underpinned by Sage Intacct

At Juniper, people come first. Our accredited consultants utilise trusted systems like Sage Intacct to deliver  enhanced financial control.

Why schools choose Sage Intacct with Juniper:

  • Real-time dashboards for clear oversight of spend, budgets and forecasts
  • Consolidated trust-wide visibility and compliance for MAT CFOs and boards
  • Configured by Juniper’s accredited finance consultants specifically for education
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Onboarding made simple, supported by education exports

From day one, our education-specialist team guides you through setup, configuration and training, so your staff feel ready and supported.

With Juniper, you’re backed by people who only work with schools and trusts, giving your staff complete peace of mind.

1.

Welcome 

  • Sales introduce you to the onboarding team.
  • Welcome pack sent, outlining service and next steps.

2.

Discovery session

  • A finance consultant meets with you online to understand your priorities.
  • Information and templates shared to make transition easy.

3.

Service & set up

  • Access provided to Knowledge Hub, Finance Advice Line and support tools.
  • Your consultant begins the initial review of your finances.

4.

Get started

  • Early tasks scheduled(e.g. reconciliations, reports, and budget support).
  • Ongoing support arranged in line with your chosen bundle.

Meet some of your HR team

We support schools across the UK with timely, tailored HR advice. And we always pick up the phone.

Vicki Vidler

Finance Support Coordinator

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Vicki joined Juniper in January 2024 after working in a Support and Accounts role locally for the past few years. She also has an additional 20 years' experience in similar Account roles. 

Read Vicki's bio

Beverley McMurtry

Senior Finance Consultant

Beverley McMurty - Support Consultant (3)

Beverley joined the Essex Education Team in October 2008. She holds an AAT qualification and has over 40 years of experience working in finance, 15 of which are in education finance. 

Read Beverley's bio

Mara Iovan

Education Finance Consultant

Mara Lovan - Finance Consultant (1)

Mara joined Juniper in January 2023 after a short but memorable career as a School Business Manager. While she enjoyed many aspects of the role, it was the finance tasks that truly sparked her interest.

Read Mara's bio

Jean-Lila Hale

Finance Consultant

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Over the 14 years of Jean’s career, she has 11 years of audit experience within the insurance and education industries. Jean has worked for Juniper Education for over 5 years, within the internal scrutiny team and the education finance team.

Read Jean's bio
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Get to know our Managed Services experts

Discover how they make a real difference to schools and trusts like you.

What do schools think of Juniper Finance?

Helping schools avoid deficits, prepare for audits and plan for growth. 

I cannot do my job properly without Juniper’s support, knowledge, and expertise. Juniper really gets Academies and Trusts.
Jo Sladden Chief Finance and Operations Officer at Hornchurch Academy Trust

Joined up support across your school or trust

Delivered by education specialists, our services work better together, consistent, personal, and grounded in real school and trust expertise.

Flexible enough to grow with you, whenever you’re ready.

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HR

We offer flexible HR packages to match the needs of your school or trust, bringing service and technology together in one education-ready offer.

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Payroll

Juniper’s payroll bureau handles onboarding, pensions and monthly processing, accurate, compliant and on time.

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Internal Scrutiny

Independent reviews and audits across governance, safeguarding, procurement and more, helping boards stay confident and inspection-ready.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Juniper offer different school support tiers?

We offer a tiered support model to improve our overall service quality and make support more efficient and accessible for schools.

This approach allows us to reinvest in better resources, provide self-service options, and give customers more choices in how they receive support, to ultimately improve your experience with Juniper Education. 

What are my school support options?

All customers have the choice to select from our 3 available tiers:

Our On-demand package is free, which includes our knowledge base, self-led training, community forums, and email/ticket support.

Customers who feel a more personal level of support will help them, may choose either our Priority package (£299) or our Complete package (£899). 

What if I don’t want to pay for support at all?

That’s absolutely fine!

On-demand remains free of charge, providing help guides, a knowledge base, and community support. You can continue using these resources at no cost and as frequently as you like. 

We remain committed to regularly updating our product Knowledge Bases with the latest changes and best practises. 

How does my school's support package affect my query response times?

Priority and Complete customers will receive faster responses, while on-demand customers may experience longer response times.

This allows us to provide more efficient support to those who need it most while ensuring everyone can use self-service resources. 

What if I want to change my tier later?

Customers can upgrade their support tier at any time.

How can I discuss this further with you?

You're more than welcome to email us at camce@junipereducation.org with any questions you have.

Which products does this relate to?

Our new School Support packages relate to any software products you are subscribed to and will not impact the services you pay us to complete on your behalf. 

For example, some of our software products include Sonar Tracker, Sisra Analytics and Juniper Websites. Services such as HR, Finance, Education Visits and Governance will not be impacted, and any support you receive for these will continue as normal.

Let’s plan your finance support

  • Dedicated consultants: ACCA, CIPFA, AAT, and payroll-qualified specialists with deep school finance experience, not generalist advisors.
  • Services built around school financial pressures: From reconciliations and compliance returns to audits, forecasting, and recovery planning.
  • Flexible, modular structure: Start with Finance Essentials, then add modules or specialist services as your priorities evolve.
  • Underpinned by best-in-class, market-leading technology – Sage Intacct