Guidance

Monitoring and reporting on additional hours for 2022 to 2023

Updated 27 February 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on 4 September 2024

This page has been incorporated into 16 to 19 study programmes: guide for providers.

Applies to England

Minimising the administrative burden has been our priority in developing reporting structures. Institutions should record delivery of qualification and non-qualification hours in Individualised Learner Record (ILR) or school census returns against each student in receipt of additional hours and a delivery report for the institution overall.

New

We’ve:

• published a sample of what we anticipate the end of year report for academic year 2022 to 2023 will look like
• updated the monitoring section to remind institutions that we’ll issue guidance for the end of year digital report in October 2023

Baseline data

We uploaded baseline data for all institutions to Document Exchange in June 2022. We used the academic year 2020 to 2021 data to calculate the baseline figures. Where no data is available for the academic year 2020 to 2021, we expect institutions to deliver at least the new minimum number of hours for each band.

This is how we have calculated your baseline figure

• we have used the ILR or school census as the data source
• we have not included T Level and high needs hours and students

total number of planned hours in band divided by the total number of students in the band

End-of-year report

You will provide your end-of-year report using a digital form. We will publish the form and guidance on how to complete it in October 2023.

We have published a sample of what this will look like.

You will need to access your institution’s DfE Sign-in account to submit the form.

The purpose of the end-of-year report is to monitor and ensure that all institutions deliver on average 40 additional hours more for band 5 and T Level students (and a proportionate increase for those in lower bands) in academic year 2022 to 2023 than their academic year 2020 to 2021 baseline.

We will monitor and enforce the minimum hours in each funding band through the ILR or school census. The end of year statement will not be considered in terms of delivering against these minimums.

We require a single end-of-year report which covers additional hours and coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund (if appropriate to your institution).

This guidance explains the format for the report and what information you will need to provide.

We will ask you to make a declaration of compliance in the report, confirming that you have delivered the increased hours as outlined in our 16 to 19 funding guidance.

You do not need to submit an end-of-year report for additional hours if

• you had no historical data for the academic year 2020 to 2021
• we did not share baseline data in June 2022. For example, if all your students in academic year 2020 to 2021 had high needs, you will not receive a baseline.

Even if you do not need to submit an end-of-year report for additional hours, you will still need to complete the coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 – 19 tuition fund elements of the end-of-year report (if appropriate to your institution).

Actions we take after receiving your report

We will compare the hours you report through your ILR or school census in the academic year 2022 to 2023 with the baseline data we sent you in June 2022. This will tell us whether you have met the expectation of the policy.

Where you have recorded a student’s planned hours as less than the minimum in each band, we will fund them for the lower band in the academic year 2024 to 2025. This will result in a reduction in funding as part of the usual lagged funding process.

As funding for students with high needs is calculated differently, changes to the funding band hours will have no negative impact on the amount of funding they attract.

Information you will need to provide

Section 1

We will ask you to provide information that demonstrates you have delivered additional hours for the academic year 2022 to 2023 in accordance with the additional hours in study programmes guidance.

All institutions (except those who are exempt, as detailed above) delivering 16 to 19 study programmes must complete section 1 of the form. We will address non-compliance through post-16 regions territorial teams. Where applicable, we may:

• refer for further support from our post-16 regions territorial teams or notify the FE Commissioner
• notify the relevant Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC)/Reginal Directors so they can take it into consideration as part of their wider oversight of those schools

We will ask you to confirm:

• whether you have met the expected increase in average increase hours for each band
• the average increase in hours you have delivered per band
• if you have not met the increase, reasons why (drop down options)
• whether you used the increase in hours primarily for tutor-led activity in line with 16 to 19 study programme guidance, this should be separate to any small group provision provided through the Tuition Fund
• if you did not use the increase in hours primarily for tutor-led activity, what flexibilities you used and the rationale for doing so (free text box)
• a declaration from an authorised approver within your institution

Section 2

We will ask you to complete section 2 in the form if you opted in or were automatically opted into the (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund.

Variations

We recognise there will be variation with differences in cohorts and courses that may result in the average increase in hours not being fully reflected in ILR or school census returns, despite hours being delivered fully in accordance with the published guidance.

You will be able to provide information in the form where this applies.

T Levels

Planned hours delivered in T Levels do not count towards an institution’s average hours for baseline data or for the comparison from 2022 to 2023 planned hours.

High Needs

To ensure students with high needs up to age 25, or those aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan can benefit from the additional hours policy, we have given further flexibilities in how you deliver additional hours for these students. This is subject to the relevant local authority agreeing to any necessary change to the EHC plan and/or high needs funding required.