The Aberdeenshire Educational Trust Sub-Committee met virtually on Friday, 11 September 2026, to review the Trust's financial position and discuss ongoing actions.

Action Log Update

The Sub-Committee received an update on outstanding actions from previous meetings. Fiona Massie, Team Leader in Finance, reported that an application deferred pending a decision from the Robb's Trust had now received funding and was on the current agenda for consideration. New draft grant application forms, designed to provide greater clarity on applicant organisation ownership, have been circulated to officers for comment and will be published as Microsoft Forms to simplify the application process. An initial review of the Trust's website has identified opportunities for improvement to make it more user-friendly, with further work planned. An outstanding action requesting further information on a grant application has been resolved, with the information received and the application now on the agenda.

Councillor Sarah Brown raised a query about the functionality of the proposed Microsoft Forms, specifically whether applicants would be able to save their progress and return to complete applications later, particularly given the need to upload supporting documents. Fiona Massie committed to investigating this and providing an update. The committee agreed that item one of the action log, relating to the Robb's Trust funding, and item four, concerning further information on a grant application, would be removed as they were now on the agenda. Items two and three, concerning the application forms and website improvements, will remain as ongoing matters.

Financial Update

The committee reviewed the Aberdeenshire Educational Trust's financial position as at 31 August 2026, presented by Fiona Massie and supported by Wendy Evans, Accountant. As of 31 August 2026, grants awarded for the 2026/27 financial year totalled just over £107,000, with the majority allocated to schools. Income received to date amounted to over £58,000, including interest from the council's loan funds, dividends, and a £15,000 donation from the Robb's Trust. The available balance in the council's loans fund, after accounting for existing commitments and income, was just over £492,000. If all grant applications on the current agenda were approved, this balance would reduce to just under £397,000.

Councillor Louise McAllister, a trustee, expressed her appreciation for the clarity of the financial tables and noted the positive impact of recent changes in simplifying the application process. She enquired about the decrease in applications for arts and drama, scholarships, and research, and the significant drop in further and higher education work experience grants. Wendy Evans explained that applications for arts and drama are typically occasional and that the new website aims to raise awareness of the Trust's funding for these areas. The reduction in further education grants is attributed to a change in criteria, introducing a means test for households earning less than £34,000. She also noted that dividend income was on par with the previous year, with an expected annual income of approximately £109,000, while interest income was slightly lower. Regarding expenditure relating to previous years, it was confirmed that efforts are being made to ensure these committed grants are paid out.

The Sub-Committee noted the financial position of the Aberdeenshire Educational Trust as at 31 August 2026.

The meeting then moved into a private session.