Guidance

Using the online form: report or seek approval for related party transactions

Updated 8 October 2024

Applies to England

From 1 October 2024 academy trusts should report or seek approval for related party transactions from the Department for Education instead of the Education and Skills Funding Agency. There has been no change to the process you follow to do this.

1. Introduction

The online form is for academy trusts to report all expenditure transactions and seek approval where necessary for a transaction with a related party, before it’s confirmed with the supplier.

The guidance notes explain the reporting requirements for related party transactions and should be read in addition to this guidance.

A checklist is available to help you prepare evidence for an approval request.

You can save your information at any point and return to complete the submission form.

You will need a DfE Sign-in account to use the form. Register for a DfE Sign-in account if you do not have one already.

2. Completing the online form

2.1 Homepage

There are 4 options on the homepage. You can return to this page at any time using the ‘home’ button at the top of the screen.

Submit new transaction – declare an expenditure transaction or seek approval for a transaction.

Continue saved transaction – this option will appear if you have a saved submission in progress.

View existing transactions – check the transaction list and status of submissions by academic year.

View existing suppliers – view the list of existing supplier records created by the academy trust.

The status of existing transactions will be shown as below:

Transaction status	Description
Approval not required	A proposed transaction is declared and DfE approval is not required. You will receive an email to confirm this when you have submitted the transaction.
Approved	Based on the information and evidence provided, the related party transaction is approved. You will receive an email when the status of your case changes.
Awaiting decision	A new transaction has been submitted for which DfE approval is required. We aim to respond within 10 working days. You will receive an email to confirm this when you have submitted the transaction.
Information requested	More information is needed to complete the assessment. You will receive an email when the status of your case changes. Access the RPT online form portal for further details.
Not approved	The related party transaction is not approved. You will receive an email when the status of your case changes. Access the RPT online form portal for further details.

2.2 Submitting a new transaction

When you select ‘submit new transaction’, you can select an existing supplier or create a new supplier.

For new suppliers, you will need the following information:

Where the supplier is a limited company, you must provide the company number. You can get information about companies from Companies House. You can also choose ‘other’ and tell us the supplier type.

You need to provide the supplier address.

You will be asked to confirm:

• if the supplier is the religious authority of the academy trust
• if the supplier is a sponsor of the academy trust
• the statement that best describes the relationship between the academy trust and the supplier
• if the supplier is a subsidiary company, associate company or joint venture of the academy trust
• if the academy trust has received a donation from the supplier in the past

If details of an existing supplier have changed, contact us using the customer help portal.

2.3 Submitting multiple transactions with the same supplier

Although the related party online form permits multiple transactions with the same supplier to be submitted separately, transactions which form part of the same agreement or contract must not be split.

Each transaction must be submitted for the total value and the full duration of the contract or agreement and not the annual value.

Example A 3-year agreement or contract with a total value of £60,000, comprising goods and services c.£20,000 per year, must be reported as a single transaction for £60,000.

2.4 Transaction information

You need to provide the expected start date, type and value of the transaction.

Entering the transaction start and end date

The date of transaction should be the expected start date of the transaction, or the date from which it will be renewed. This should be a future date as academy trusts are required to seek approval before confirming or renewing a transaction with a related party, however the form does accept submissions for the previous academic year. Provide an end date of the transaction where applicable.

For transactions across more than one academic year, provide the transaction start date with further details of the contract duration or end date in the ‘new transaction’ section of the form.

Entering the transaction value and type

Enter the proposed value of the transaction and select from the list the type of goods or services to be provided. If you select ‘other’, you must complete a free text box.

Estimates based on past years’ actual costs can be provided by academy trusts. Estimates should only be provided where the actual costs of services provided by a related party supplier is variable across the length of the contract or fluctuates based on demand.

If there is a material variance in actual spend to the estimated cost at the year-end position, academy trusts should inform us of this using the customer help portal.

Transactions with a subsidiary company of the academy trust

When reporting a transaction with a subsidiary company of the academy trust, this needs to be made clear in the online submission by selecting the relevant dropdown option.

DfE requires additional documents to be uploaded as part of the supporting evidence when academy trusts are transacting with their subsidiary company if the transaction exceeds £40,000. This includes:

• a copy of the contract or agreement demonstrating a 2-year review or renew schedule, and a no fault, no cost break clause
• a current financial plan of the subsidiary company
• a completed copy of the Charity Commission’s Checklist 1: charities operating with a non-charity as a subsidiary if the subsidiary company is not a charity

Novel, contentious or repercussive transactions and transactions where the accounting officer or Chief Financial Officer is appointed off-payroll

Separate DfE approval is required if the transaction is:

• novel, contentious or repercussive (NCR)
• for the appointment of an accounting officer or Chief Financial Officer who is not an employee of the trust

A DfE colleague will contact you to discuss the approval process using the contact details provided on the online form.

3. Uploading evidence

This section is only applicable if the related party transaction requires approval from the DfE. The checklist sets out the type of documents to upload as evidence.

You will be asked to answer questions and upload evidence to demonstrate:

• the academy trust has competitive procurement procedures and that these were followed
• a scheme of delegation is in place and that appropriate internal delegation levels applied when agreeing the transaction
• the academy trust has an up-to-date register of interests and that the conflicts of interest have been managed

If ‘no’ is selected for any of the above, you will be asked for further details.

• a signed statement of assurance is in place on an open book basis and the supplier is providing the goods and/or services at cost, where applicable

Accepted formats for uploaded evidence are: doc, docx, odt, pdf, xls, xlsx, ods, ppt, pptx, png, raw, gif, jpeg or jpg.

3.1 Check your answers

The summary page shows all the information you have inputted into the form.

You can amend any of the information by using the ‘back’ button on the page to return to a section. You cannot amend the form once you’ve clicked ‘save and submit’.

You can download and save a copy of the summary page as a PDF.

3.2 Declaration and submission

Review the contact information of the academy trust. If the details have changed or are incorrect, please contact us using customer help portal by selecting ‘support with policy or guidance’ and then selecting ‘related party transactions’ from the options menu.

You must make declarations about the process followed to agree the proposed transaction. The declarations are that, on behalf of the academy trust:

• the information provided in this submission is accurate to the best of my knowledge
• the submission contains no instances of irregularity, impropriety or improper use of funds
• the submission complies with the mandatory requirements of the Academy trust handbook and the academy trust’s funding agreement
• the academy trust will keep records related to this transaction and make them available for inspection by the DfE as part of a spot check, audit, or other review

3.3 Important

The academy trust accounting officer is responsible for the accuracy of these declarations, including where these are made by others under delegated authority. The form must be completed by a representative of the academy trust who has authority to do so.

4. After submitting the form

After submitting the form, you’ll receive an email confirming receipt and providing a reference number for the transaction.

We aim to contact you via email within 10 working days with a decision or request for more information. It is important that you submit requests for approval ahead of the transaction start date and with sufficient time to allow DfE to assess them. DfE aims to make a decision within 10 working days.

You can check the status of your submission using the ‘submit your related party transaction service’.

If you’ve made a mistake on the form, information has changed, or you’ve submitted the form by mistake, you will need to contact us. Use the customer help portal stating the transaction reference number and the reason it needs to be removed or amended.

We will confirm if your transaction did not need to be reported. The transaction will then be removed from the RPT online form portal.

Transactions are given a status, as described above. When a transaction status changes, an alert email is issued to prompt you to review the details on the RPT online form portal.

We’ll send an email alert if we need further information about a transaction. The RPT online form portal will have details of the information we need to continue the assessment.