Transparency data

16 to 19 funding allocations: 2016 to 2017 academic year

Published 10 November 2016

1. Introduction

This document covers funding allocations made to post-16 institutions funded by Education Funding Agency (EFA). We publish the 16 to 19 funding allocations annually and previous allocations are also available.

We’ve issued explanatory notes and video briefings to help institutions interpret changes to the funding system and allocation statements.

The 2016 to 2017 academic year covers the period 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017 for academies, and 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2017 for all other institutions.

2. 2016 to 2017 changes

Our letter to the sector of 14 January 2016 sets out the main policy and funding rates for 2016 to 2017.

The main changes are :

• formula protection funding (FPF) was introduced from 2013 to 2014 for institutions subject to significant decreases in funding as a result of the introduction of funding per student in that year - we announced that it will be phased out over the next 6 academic years, so the final year in which any FPF will be payable will be 2020 to 2021
• for institutions in receipt of FPF in 2015 to 2016 we said we would recalculate FPF for 2016 to 2017 to take account of funding changes previously announced for that year, specifically the large programme uplift and the increase in the specialist programme cost weight
• the specialist programme cost weight for land based provision delivered by institutions with recognised specialist resources increased from 1.6 to 1.75, as announced in July 2014
• we implemented the large programme uplift which reflects the fact that some study programmes are necessarily much larger than 600 hours - it is only available for high quality study programmes providing students with substantial stretch and challenge
• we map deprivation data from the indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) to each student’s home postcode to determine whether disadvantage funding should be allocated - this year we updated the indices to IMD 2015 from IMD 2010 which have been used previously (IMD 2015 is the latest version of this index, released in September 2015)
• we applied the condition of funding for maths and/or English and published the details on how this is applied

Any student that does not have a maths and/or English GCSE at grades A* to C, is not enrolled on either an approved maths and English GCSE or stepping stone in the 2014 to 2015 academic year, and is not recorded as exempt has an impact on the 2016 to 2017 allocation.

3. 2015 to 2016 changes

The main changes in 2015 to 2016 were:

• the cessation of transitional protection funding: transitional protection funding was introduced in 2011 to 2012 for 4 years and ensured that, following changes in policy, institutions did not lose more than an agreed amount in cash terms per student compared with the 2010 to 2011 baseline - 2014 to 2015 was the final year of transitional protection funding which was represented within the total programme funding column
• changes in how the Residential Student Support scheme is administered meant that in 2015 to 2016 we calculated it as part of an institution’s allocation and so it was included in the published dataset for the first time

3.1 2014 to 2015 changes

The main changes in 2014 to 2015 were:

• a change to the funding rate for those aged 18 and over: information on this change was set out in a letter to the sector issued in December 2013 and subsequent mitigation measures for 2014 to 2015 only were announced on 13 March 2014
• for special schools and academies, both the programme and high needs funding was combined into a single flat rate of £10,000 per student:
  • in the 2013 to 2014 published data, element 1 (programme funding) appeared within the programme funding column and element 2 (a flat rate of £6,000) appeared in its own column
  • in the 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016 published datasets the single flat rate of £10,000 per student appears within the high needs funding column at special schools and academies
  • for other institutions, high needs funding was shown in the same way as in 2013 to 2014
• allocations made for the new free meals scheme were also included in the 2014 to 2015 dataset

3.2 2013 to 2014 changes

Since 2013 to 2014 we have calculated post-16 funding using the published post-16 funding formula based on lagged data.

There are some significant differences between this methodology and that used historically including:

• students following programmes of less than 2 weeks in duration are no longer funded
• high cost additional learner support was replaced with a flat-rate allocation of £6,000 which was topped up based on individual student need by local authorities who have the commissioning and funding responsibility for high needs students
• 2013 to 2014 was the first year in which allocations were made to independent specialist providers and special schools and academies

Due to changes made across academic years, the published allocations data is not directly comparable with similar datasets published in prior years.

The figures published are intended to give a picture of the annual allocations to institutions, and may differ from the monthly amounts shown in an institution’s individual funding agreement, particularly in relation to the conversion of schools to academy status. For example, if a school converted to become an academy in September, two-thirds of their bursary fund allocation will already have been paid via the local authority in August, and the remaining third will be paid to the academy in April.

In these published figures, to give a true picture of the overall bursary payments, the full annual bursary allocation is shown against the academy. For definitive figures on monthly payments institutions should refer to the amounts in their annual funding agreement rather than those shown in this publication.

4. Scope of the published data

The publication provides 16 to 19 allocations data for institutions that are funded by EFA for 2016 to 2017.

Education funded by EFA through the published funding formula and high needs post-16 place funding is included. The data does not therefore include funding allocated for non-mainstream activity such as youth contract, or funding for provision not funded by EFA.

We provide funding for education for students up to the age of 19, or up to the age of 25 for those young people who have been issued an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan by their local authority. Students aged 19 to 25 with an EHC plan are reported alongside other students funded through the 16 to 19 budget.

Further information is available on the high needs funding arrangements for 2016 to 2017, including the definitions of a high needs student.

Students in sixth-form colleges and schools aged 19 who are completing a programme which they began aged 16 to 18 (19+ continuing learners) are also included in the data.

Students aged 16 to 18 on apprenticeships and most students who are aged 19 or over (other than as stated above) are funded by Skills Funding Agency (SFA). Details of these allocations are published by SFA.

The Department for Education publishes national participation figures for young people aged 16 to 18 annually, as well as a quarterly release of NEET (not in education, employment or training) figures based on results from the labour force survey (LFS).

The data shows the full academic year allocation as at September 2016. The institution category reflected in the published data is correct as at September 2016. Schools that converted to academies in September will therefore be shown as an academy. Other published allocations such as pre-16 academies show the institution category as it was at the end of the last financial year.

Further information on post-16 funding is available in the funding guidance.

5. 16 to 19 Bursary Fund

The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund was introduced in 2011 to 2012. It is money the government has given to local authorities, schools, colleges and other education and training providers (institutions) to give to disadvantaged students.

Its purpose is to provide financial support to help students overcome specific barriers to participation, so they can remain in education. Institutions are given allocations for discretionary bursaries and draw down funds for vulnerable bursaries from EFA (via the Student Bursary Support Service).

Further information on the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund is available in the scheme guide. The independent evaluation of the bursary fund estimated that this represented over £15 million of discretionary bursary spend each year.

Provision of free meals is now established and in its second year of implementation. Consequently in 2016 to 2017 EFA removed £15 million from the budget to address this double-funding by reducing 16 to 19 Bursary Fund discretionary allocations for those institutions also in receipt of an allocation for free meals.

6. Free meals in further education

Additional funding for free meals for post-16 students attending further education funded institutions was introduced in 2014 to 2015 to provide parity with those young people attending school sixth-forms. Prior to 2014 to 2015, institutions had been supporting the cost of meals for students who needed them on a discretionary basis from the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.

Allocations are based on institutions 2015 to 2016 ILR R06 data returns and their lagged student number for 2016 to 2017, such as, the number of students assessed as eligible for, and in receipt of, free meals in 2015 to 2016 at R06 combined with the number of students funded in 2016 to 2017 to provide an all-year number.

Fundable free meals students have been apportioned across the funding bands, using the same methodology as for mainstream allocations. We have applied 2 funding rates, 1 for full-time students and 1 for part-time students, equivalent to £2.41 per student per meal. Further information about free meals is available in the scheme guide.

7. Residential Bursary Fund

The Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) provides financial help towards the costs of accommodation for young people attending one of the designated institutions delivering specialist provision, where that provision requires the young person to be resident in order to participate because it is not available locally and/or because it requires students to be available at unsociable hours on a regular basis.

RBF enables young people to achieve a qualification in a specialist subject they would not be able to obtain at a non-specialist institution. RBF provides a contribution towards residential costs for those young people the institution identifies face the most significant financial barriers to participation.

RBF allocations for 2016 to 2017 have been generated based on the lower figure of either the average actual spend in 2013 to 2014 and 2014 to 2015 (using data returned by institutions in the annual October RBF data returns) or the 2015 to 2016 allocation. The methodology disregards any spend by institutions that is outside policy guidelines and has made adjustments to reflect any significant fluctuations between spend across the 2 years.

More information is available in the scheme guide.

8. Residential Student Support allocations

The Residential Student Support (RSS) scheme is intended to help support students aged 16 to 18 with the costs of living away from home to participate in a study programme where the substantial level 2 or level 3 qualification that is part of their study programme is not available locally to their home address.

RSS allocations for 2016 to 2017 have been generated only for institutions with a new student verified as eligible for funding from the scheme in 2015 to 2016. Allocations are based on information submitted by institutions on the RSS 2015 to 2016 course verification proforma.

The methodology uses the number of eligible students who received RSS support and who will be returning in 2016 to 2017 multiplied by the maximum permitted funding amount per student. An amount of funding is then added to this total to make funds available for any eligible new students in 2016 to 2017.

More information is available in the scheme guide.

9. Dance and Drama Awards

The Dance and Drama Awards (DaDA) scheme offers income assessed support for tuition fees and living costs at a number of high quality private dance and drama institutions in England. DaDA funding is intended to provide a contribution to the costs of participating for talented individuals who want to become professional actors and dancers.

Allocations are calculated based on historical trends in take up by income bands, using management information returned by institutions.

More information is available in the scheme guide.

10. Further information

For further information about the remit of EFA, please visit EFA page on GOV.UK.

If you have a query about the data or this publication, please contact us.