How to lease laptops for your school

A lot of schools are reviewing their fleets of laptops right now, due to Microsoft’s decision to withdraw support for Windows 10 in October.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the process of selecting the right laptops for your school, and financing them via a lease.

What’s happening with Windows 10?

We blogged about this earlier in the year, but the short version is: from 14th October 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide support for laptops and other devices that run Windows 10. 

This is a bigger problem for many schools than it might first appear. If schools have compatible devices, they may be able to switch to Windows 11 without too much trouble.

However, if they’re using devices that are not compatible with Windows 11, schools won’t have the option of upgrading: they’ll need to replace entire fleets of devices. Not doing so could leave schools vulnerable to viruses, malicious attacks and data breaches.

At our sister company Classroom as a Service (ClaaS), we are already seeing an increase in IT leasing enquiries focused around the upcoming Windows 11 transition. We expect this will only accelerate further as the new academic year approaches in September.

Buying vs leasing school laptops

With school budgets under unprecedented pressure, it can be difficult to find the money for equipment upgrades, or new purchases. 

Laptops are one such purchase that can be difficult to fund upfront, especially if you are kitting out whole classrooms, but have you ever considered leasing them for your school instead?

At Utility Rentals, we have been providing compliant lease finance to schools for nearly 40 years, helping them kit out their classrooms with everything from sewing machines to iPads. 

Our sister company, ClaaS, mentioned earlier, is our specialist arm for financing IT equipment. We help schools finance anything from a few laptops to several hundred machines. 

There are numerous benefits to financing your laptops and other IT equipment through us:

• Leave your capital budget untouched. By leasing, rather than buying, your school’s new laptops, you can deploy your capital budget to other projects.
  
• Consistency between devices and operating systems. A fleet of identical laptops is much easier to configure and co-ordinate than a mish-mash of different makes and models of varying ages.
  
• A trusted vendor. We are extremely selective about the suppliers we take on as partners. We require them to be established vendors with a proven track record, who will be available to provide support and warranties as required for the duration of your rental agreement. 

As the UK’s leading specialist in providing lease finance to schools with a 7-year run as Feefo Platinum company, we will always make sure your experience is smooth, timely and transparent.

Leasing your laptops: how it works

Utility Rentals and ClaaS can help your school finance its fleet of laptops with no capital outlay, by spreading the total cost with a flexible rental agreement that has been specially designed for the education sector. 

It works much like a mobile phone contract: you enter into an agreement with us to rent the equipment for a set period of time (usually a few years), and you pay us a regular affordable subscription instead of making a huge dent in your capital budget. Then, at the end of the contract, you have the option to upgrade your equipment to the latest makes and models.

As the UK’s longest-running school equipment leasing company, we understand the pressures on your budget. Our fully compliant operating leases meet all the relevant sector standards, and because they are hire rather than credit arrangements, payments are kept low and there is no upfront expenditure or related financial risk. This frees up your valuable funds to invest in other school resources and facilities.

There’s a choice of rental periods to suit you, and our flexible payment profiles mean you can make payments to suit your budget. Having predictable fixed payment amounts for the rental term ensures easy budgeting as well as protecting you against inflation. Many of our IT suppliers offer extended warranty and support packages too, so you know you’re covered for the duration of the contract.

You’ll also be pleased to know that our paperwork is refreshingly simple and our terms are transparent. What’s more, our friendly team of experts is on hand to talk through everything with you to make sure you have all the information you need before going ahead.

Does my school need to apply for this funding?

No, not any more! All UK state schools and colleges are pre-approved for our lease finance, thanks to a piece of legislation called IFRS 16 which was updated on 1st April 2024.

Without getting too technical, there are two types of lease: an operating lease and a finance lease. Previously, operating leases were the only way state-funded schools were allowed to lease equipment, as finance leases were classed as borrowing (and, as such, a liability). Finance leases could not, therefore, be entered into without the approval of the Secretary of State for Education – which meant long waits and cumbersome paperwork. Operating leases, on the other hand, as hire rather than credit arrangements, got an automatic green light.

Now, the arrival of the IFRS 16 means that all leases are categorised as borrowing and must be approved by the Department for Education (DfE), which has already given general consent that pre-approves a comprehensive list of assets. This means schools now have easy access to funding for a wide range of equipment including IT equipment, catering equipment, furniture, bathroom and sanitary items, LED lighting, and more. In turn, this means we’re able to accept any state-backed school or college for a lease without putting them through a cumbersome and stressful finance application process!

How should I get started?

If leasing your school’s new laptops sounds like an avenue you’d like to explore, there are a couple of ways to proceed, depending on whether you’ve already selected the products you’d like. 

You can get in touch with us either to:

1. Work with your chosen IT supplier to turn their quote into an affordable lease proposal
2. Put you in touch with approved suppliers from our list – we’ll work with them to create the right lease package for your school.

Take a look at some of our case studies to read about the experiences of schools that have partnered with us, and check out our bucketload of 5-star reviews on Feefo! For an initial no-obligation chat about whether leasing is right for your school, please get in touch with our friendly team today.

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• EdTech
• leasing laptops