16 to 19 special post-16 institution allocation calculation toolkit: 2025 to 2026
Published 5 March 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-allocation-calculation-toolkit-guides/16-to-19-special-post-16-institution-allocation-calculation-toolkit-2025-to-2026
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow this guidance.
Introduction
We have published details of the funding arrangements for the academic year 2025 to 2026 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan . This includes details of any changes in 2025 to 2026.
We calculate 16 to 19 funding allocations using a combination of institution data and pre-determined values for your institution type.
The funding elements calculated from individualised learner record (ILR) data are:
- English and maths funding, instances per student
- area cost factor
- proportion of students on free meals
- condition of funding (CoF), total and non-compliant students
- care standards, eligible students
- high value course premium (HVCP)
We will include details of the remaining funding elements (a mixture of default values and averages) used in your allocation calculation in the guidance to support your funding allocation statement.
The allocation calculation toolkit (ACT) shows you the data we have used to calculate your funding elements. You can use it to check that the data is calculating the factors and other values used in your funding allocation as you expect it to. This may show you where there are errors in your data returns and therefore highlight instances where you might want to submit a business case. You should submit a business case relating to the data within the ACT after you have received and reviewed your allocation statement. The allocations timeline includes the deadline for submitting cases
This guide explains the practical detail of how we have used your data within the 16 to 19 special post-16 institution (SPI) ACT to calculate the various elements of the funding formula for your institution.
If you have any queries about the information in this guide or if you require your toolkit in a format that is compatible with screen readers or other assistive technologies, please contact us using our Customer Help Portal.
Your 16 to 19 SPI allocation calculation toolkit
To show you how we have used your data to calculate some of the funding elements used in your 2025 to 2026 allocation, we have prepared a 16 to 19 SPI ACT for you. The ACT includes 6 separate sheets.
Information – a front sheet to confirm the contents of the file.
Funding elements – a summary of the key elements calculated from your 2023 to 2024 R14 data that we will use to calculate your 2025 to 2026 funding.
Programme – student-level data that shows information such as age, funding band and CoF status, and programme information such as programme type and core aim in 2023 to 2024.
Aims – the individual learning aims from your 2023 to 2024 R14 data return, identifying for each student which learning aim is the core/programme aim.
Glossary – a technical description of each column in the Programme and Aims sheets in the workbook. You can use this sheet to identify the specific data fields we have used when looking at your data.
Comments – a tool to enable you to add notes to the data on the Aims and Programme sheets when reviewing the information shown.
If we do not have a full set of 2023 to 2024 data for your institution, then we have not produced an ACT file for you. In this case, you can still see how we make the calculations by reviewing our example ACT, which is available alongside this guidance.
What’s new in ACT
We have made some changes to ACT this year:
- Element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placements
- HVCP
Features of the 16 to 19 revenue funding methodology
What data have we used in ACT?
ILR return: 2023 to 2024 R14 data.
Why do we use 2023 to 2024 data?
Your 2023 to 2024 R14 data is the last full year set of data that you returned. We use it to understand the characteristics of your institution and its delivery.
You can find a detailed description of data sources in the glossary sheet of your ACT.
Who counts?
We fund students aged 16 to 19, students aged 19 to 25 who have an EHC plan and 19+ continuing students. We include students’ 16 to 19 funded learning aims in the calculation of funding factors for your 2025 to 2026 funding allocation when the students count as valid starts in the 2023 to 2024 dataset.
Students count as starts when they complete the appropriate qualifying period, which is based on the duration of the study programme.
Table 1: Student qualifying period
| Study programme band | Planned length in-year | Qualifying period |
|---|---|---|
| Bands 4 and above | 2 weeks or longer | 6 weeks (42 days) |
| Bands 1, 2 and 3 | 24 weeks or longer | 6 weeks (42 days) |
| Bands 1, 2 and 3 | 2 to 24 weeks | 2 weeks (14 days) |
To determine a study programme’s length, we use the earliest start date and latest planned end date of all aims within the programme, or the first and last dates of the funding year if the aims are planned over multiple years. Similarly, the length we use to determine whether the student has met the qualifying period is calculated from the earliest start date and latest actual or planned end date of all aims within a study programme.
Programmes with a planned duration of less than 2 weeks and students who are in summer schools (aged 15 or under with a start date on or after 1 June 2024) are not counted.
Revenue funding formula for 16 to 19 year olds
All institutions are funded in the same way to teach 16 to 19 year olds and high needs students up to the age of 25. We use a funding formula to calculate funding allocations for 2025 to 2026.
Figure 1: 16 to 19 funding formula
Institutions may also be eligible to receive the following funding:
- care standard funding
- high needs students funding
- students support funding, above the minimum discretionary bursary funding value of £500
An overview of 16 to 19 funding is available on GOV.UK.
Student numbers
We measure the learning your institution delivers by counting the number of students and looking at the size of their programmes.
We start by calculating your lagged student numbers to decide how many students your funding allocation for 2025 to 2026 should include. We have published the data sources and methods we will use to calculate your lagged student number.
Your ACT does not include your lagged student number; your allocation statement will confirm this number.
Student funding bands
As an SPI, your students will all be funded at band 5. However, we do calculate the funding bands of your students returned in your 2023 to 2024 data for use in your CoF calculation for 2025 to 2026. We do this using the planned hours, their age and high needs status.
Table 2: Student funding bands for allocation calculations
| Band | Annual planned hours | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 580+ hours | 16 and 17 year olds, students aged 18 and over with high needs [footnote 1] |
| 4a | 485+ hours | Students aged 18 and over who are not high needs |
| 4b | 485 to 579 hours | All 16 and 17 year olds, students aged 18 and over with high needs |
| 3 | 385 to 484 hours | All students |
| 2 | 300 to 384 hours | All students |
| 1 | Up to 299 hours | All students |
Funding bands for your students are shown on the programme sheet (column F).
English and maths funding
This funding is for institutions to use to support students across all study programmes and T Levels who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and maths.
All students subject to the CoF on programmes of 150 hours or more are eligible for additional funding where they have not yet attained a GCSE grade 9 to 4 (or equivalent) in English and/or maths.
We use data from the 2023 to 2024 ILR to calculate the average English and maths funding instances per student to be used in the calculation of your funding for 2025 to 2026.
More information on English and maths funding is available on GOV.UK.
Calculation
We look at:
- the study programme hours to determine if they are 150 or more
- the prior attainment of your students in GCSE maths and English (we take this information from the ILR EngGrade, MathGrade and condition of funding fields (English condition of funding (ECF) and maths condition of funding (MCF)) to determine if we should award instances)
Where a student is eligible for English and maths funding, we calculate for each student the number of instances where English and/or maths was not achieved before starting their study programme. A student can therefore be worth a maximum of 2 instances.
Table 3: English and maths instance example
| Example | GCSE English below A* to C/9 to 4 | GCSE maths below A* to C/9 to 4 | Student instance value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student 1 | No | No | 0 |
| Student 2 | Yes | No | 1 |
| Student 3 | No | Yes | 1 |
| Student 4 | Yes | Yes | 2 |
If a student is not eligible for the funding, we will state why in columns H to J on the programme sheet with further explanation on the glossary sheet.
We calculate the English and maths funding instances per student in the following way:
| English and maths funding instances per student | = | sum English and maths funding total instances (column J) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ | ÷ | total funded students (where column C is marked as ‘Yes’) |
The funding element sheet (cell F11) shows the calculated instances per student.
Free meals - 16 to 19
We use the 2023 to 2024 ILR to identify which students to include in the 16 to 19 free meals calculation, those that are eligible for and those that have taken free meals in the academic year. We use the proportion of students taking free meals in the 2025 to 2026 funding calculation. Students that are 14 or 15 that are eligible for free school meals elsewhere are not included.
Where there are no students eligible for and taking 16 to 19 free meals in the data for 2023 to 2024 (shown as 0% on the funding elements sheet), we will use the proportion of students who received free meals in 2022 to 2023 to calculate your 2025 to 2026 allocation. If both years’ data show zero students, then we will use 0% for your allocation calculation. We will show the final percentage used on your funding statement.
Calculation
The calculation uses the data on the programme sheet to calculate the percentage of students taking free meals.
We calculate this in the following way:
| proportion of students on free meals | = | sum of 16 to 19 free meals taken (column O) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ | ÷ | sum of students included in 16 to 19 free meals calculation (column N) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ |
You can see your proportion of students on free meals based on 2023 to 2024 R14 on the funding elements sheet (cell F15).
Maths and English condition of funding
Students who do not hold a GCSE grade 9 to 4, A* to C or equivalent qualification in these subjects must study maths and/or English as part of their study programme in each academic year. There will be an impact on your 2025 to 2026 allocation when these students are not enrolled on either maths and/or English GCSE or stepping stone qualifications (where applicable) in academic year 2023 to 2024 and are not recorded as exempt.
We have published full details of how we will apply the CoF.
The CoF table on the funding elements sheet (students not meeting CoF, column F) shows how many students you had that did not meet the CoF in 2023 to 2024 compared with the total students. We have split the data by funding band.
In 2023 to 2024 the CoF applied to 19+ continuing students, except for those in general further education (FE) colleges and independent learning providers; we have therefore excluded them from the table.
You can see which students did not meet the CoF on the programme sheet (column M = No). We have derived this from the ILR using the FAM fields ECF and MCF, EngGrade (GCSE English grade), mathGrade (GCSE maths grade) and the learning aims studied. Column K shows the student’s English status and column L shows their maths status. Where either of these columns equals ‘Doesn’t have and not studying’ or ‘Has Grade D and not studying’, the student does not meet the CoF.
Care standards: residential accommodation for young people aged under 18
Care standards funding is available to specialist colleges and other individual institutions where students are in residence because similar provision is not available locally.
To be eligible for care standards funding an institution must:
- be registered with Ofsted or the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for inspection under the care standards regulations
- have a minimum of 12 students funded under the 16 to 19 young people’s model aged under 18 in residential accommodation on campus, as recorded in the ILR
The funding rates and formula guidance has further details on care standards funding.
The programme sheet shows which students are living in institution-run residential accommodation (residential student, column D) on the ILR. Column E indicates whether the student is eligible for care standards funding based on column D and the criteria outlined above. Cell F36 on the funding elements sheet shows the total number of students eligible for care standards funding in 2025 to 2026.
Area cost allowance
Some areas of the country are more expensive to teach in, and the area cost allowance reflects this.
We normally base the area cost uplift on the delivery location of the institution’s provision. Where institutions deliver provision across local authorities with different uplifts, we will calculate the area cost factor, using a weighted average of the area cost uplift for each delivery postcode.
We review the area cost factors for institutions that return ILR data every year. This review identifies institutions that have dispersed delivery and/or an area cost factor, based on delivery postcodes, that is significantly different from the factor in the previous year.
When institutions merge, we will review their area cost uplift factors. In the first year, we will calculate the area cost uplift factor for the merged institution as the weighted average of the factors for the predecessor institutions. After that, we will use the weighted average method for geographically dispersed delivery.
There is more detail on the area cost calculation for geographically-dispersed delivery in the funding rates and formula guidance.
The area cost factor for your institution is on the funding elements sheet in table 2 (cell F12).
Element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placements
Element 2b – student costs – T Level industry placements provides bursary funding to support students from the top 60% most deprived areas based on IMD 2019 who are undertaking an industry placement as part of their T Level programme.
We use the proportion of total funded students living in the top 60% most deprived areas to calculate how many of your funded T Level students are eligible for funding.
We will only allocate bursary funding for T Level industry placements to institutions that are funded for T Level delivery in 2025 to 2026.
Calculation
The calculation of this value uses the data on the programme sheet. We calculate this in the following way:
| discretionary bursary element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placement – proportion of funded students from the 60% most deprived areas | = | count of element ii – top 60% IMD (column Q) = ‘Yes’ where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ | ÷ | total funded students (where column C is marked as ‘Yes’) |
You can see your proportion of funded students from the 60% most deprived areas on the funding elements sheet (cell F39).
High value courses premium (HVCP)
The high value courses premium (HVCP) supports providers to increase the number of students studying substantial programmes in particular subjects.
We pay the premium for full-time and part-time programmes that meet one of the following criteria:
- substantial A level programmes – those including at least 2 qualifying A levels
- substantial vocational programmes – those including a qualifying qualification of at least 360 guided learning hours, or
- T Levels in the specified subject areas
We have published a full list of the qualifications that qualify for the premium.
Table 9: Subjects and SSAs for the HVCP
| A level subjects | SSAs for vocational courses and T Levels |
|---|---|
| Biology | SSA 2.2: Mathematics and statistics |
| Chemistry | SSA 4.1: Engineering |
| Computer science | SSA 4.2: Manufacturing technologies |
| Design and technology | SSA 4.3: Transport operations and maintenance |
| Electronics | SSA 5.2: Building and construction |
| Further mathematics | SSA 6.1: ICT for practitioners |
| Mathematics | |
| Physics | |
| Statistics |
We use historic information from the latest full year’s data to determine which students are eligible for the extra funding. For the 2025 to 2026 allocations, we use data from 2023 to 2024.
More information on HVCP is available on GOV.UK.
Calculation
The aims sheet shows the study programme qualifications for each student. Column F shows if the qualification is on the qualifying qualifications list.
The calculation uses the data on the programme sheet to calculate the number of students qualifying for HVCP.
We calculate this in the following way:
| HVCP qualifying students | = | sum of qualifies for HVCP funding (column R) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ |
You can see your total qualifying students on the funding elements sheet (cell F43).
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For these purposes, the definition for an 18+ high needs student is where the ILR indicates that a local authority has paid element 3 ‘top-up’ funding for the student (learner funding and monitoring (FAM) type = HNS and learner FAM code = 1). ↩