Schools to save £10m with new Microsoft deal

New agreement sees Microsoft offer greater licensing flexibility and discount deals for UK schools

Schools across the country are set to save about £10m on their IT spend after reaching an agreement with Microsoft to provide more flexible licensing options.

The three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement, which came into force at the start of 2013, will give all schools the chance to take advantage of discounts and more efficient licensing terms across Microsoft's academic software range.

The MoU is designed to give schools across the UK more flexibility in their licensing choices, as well as adhere to government policy aiming to give schools more control over their own spending.

Some £10m is set to be saved based on UK schools' total software spend but no financial commitments will be placed with individual establishments, according to the Department for Education.

Education secretary Michael Gove said the move will ensure that more money will be freed up to spend on front-line teaching.

Microsoft's director of education sector, Steve Beswick, said the software goliath is committed to providing value for money to schools.

"Microsoft is committed to ensuring that schoolchildren have every opportunity to perform to the best of their ability, as well as making sure that we are able to provide value for money for our services," he added.

"We know from our long-standing partnership with the education sector in this country that high-quality technology and software, combined with high-quality teaching, will help our children flourish at school. We will carry on working with the Department for Education, schools and educators to make sure that we continue to deliver this."