Why ICFP Fails in Some Trusts (and How to Fix It)
February 16th, 2026
Introduction
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Integrated Curriculum Financial Planning (ICFP) has become a cornerstone of effective school resource management. When done well, it creates a shared language between finance and curriculum, aligns staffing with intent, and provides clarity around long‑term sustainability.
Yet across many trusts, ICFP either stalls, delivers limited insight, or quietly slips into the background — replaced by spreadsheets, assumptions, and old habits.
Why?
Here are the most common reasons ICFP fails in multi‑academy trusts, and practical steps you can take to ensure it becomes a meaningful, strategic tool rather than an annual tick‑box exercise.
1. ICFP Is Treated as a One‑Off Exercise
Many trusts approach ICFP as something you “do once a year” — usually in the run‑up to budget season.
The problem? Curriculum and staffing decisions don’t run to a single date. Class sizes shift. Pupil numbers fluctuate. Leadership restructures evolve. When ICFP becomes a static snapshot, it loses its strategic value.
How to fix it:
Make ICFP a live process. Use tools that allow leaders to update assumptions, model scenarios, and instantly see impact. Regular termly reviews keep the conversation real and actionable.
2. Too Much Reliance on Complex Spreadsheets
Most trusts start their ICFP journey in spreadsheets — and that’s understandable. But as soon as you scale beyond a couple of schools, spreadsheets start to create risk:
- formulas break, often silently
- leaders can’t easily compare schools
- two people rarely have the same version
- data entry becomes a job in itself
At this point, ICFP becomes more about wrangling Excel than improving decision‑making.
How to fix it:
Move to a system designed for ICFP. Something purpose‑built, accessible, and consistent across schools.
(This is exactly the problem Waffle was created to solve: it replaces sprawling spreadsheets with a clear, intuitive platform built for trust‑level insight without the manual admin.)
3. Curriculum and Finance Don’t Share Ownership
ICFP breaks down when finance teams try to run the process alone or when curriculum leaders are handed the data without any real understanding of what it means. In both situations, the work becomes a compliance exercise rather than an empowering strategic tool.
How to fix it:
Embed shared ownership. A good ICFP process naturally brings curriculum and finance together. Curriculum leaders must understand staffing ratios, contact ratios, and efficiency metrics; finance leaders must understand curriculum intent and teaching model choices.
Clear, visual dashboards help bridge this gap — giving both sides something meaningful to talk about.
4. Leaders Don’t Understand the Metrics
Metrics like pupil‑to‑teacher ratio, class size averages, or curriculum delivery cost per lesson only drive improvement if leaders understand:
- what “good” looks like
- what’s normal in similar schools
- what each metric is telling them about their model
Without this context, ICFP turns into a box of numbers rather than a strategic toolkit.
How to fix it:
Provide training, context and benchmarking. Clear interpretation guidance means leaders can make informed decisions instead of speculative ones.
5. There’s No Single Source of Truth
ICFP fails when every school leader has their own data source, their own template, and their own assumptions. It becomes impossible to compare schools, spot patterns, or produce trust‑wide strategy.
How to fix it:
Standardise the model across your trust. A centralised ICFP approach doesn’t remove local nuance — it simply ensures everyone is speaking the same language. Then variation becomes meaningful, not messy.
6. Insights Don’t Lead to Decisions
The final reason ICFP fails? No one acts on it. Some trusts produce beautifully prepared ICFP documents that end up sitting in a shared folder, never influencing staffing plans, curriculum redesign, financial strategy, or school‑improvement priorities.
How to fix it:
“Here’s where we are” must be followed by “Here’s what happens if…”.
Scenario modelling is where the real power of ICFP lives.
(Waffle includes scenario planning by design — the tool doesn’t just show where a school stands today, but how decisions change the model.)
Making ICFP Work in Your Trust
If ICFP is failing in your trust, it’s usually not because the framework is flawed — it’s because the tools, understanding or process around it aren’t supporting leaders properly.
Successful trusts make ICFP:
- live (not annual)
- collaborative (not siloed)
- understandable (not spreadsheet‑buried)
- strategic (not transactional)
And they use systems that make the process easier, not harder.
Waffle was built specifically to remove the friction, complexity, and inconsistency that stop trusts getting value from ICFP.
If your trust is struggling to turn metrics into meaningful action, Waffle can be the difference between “we have data” and “we know what to do next”.