Guidance

16 to 19 school and academy sixth form revenue funding allocation guide: 2023 to 2024

Updated 6 September 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on 4 September 2024

Read the latest information about 16 to 19 funding allocations.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This guide helps you understand how we have calculated your 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation and the factors that have been applied. The guide is for the 2023 to 2024 academic year and continues to use the 16 to 19 funding formula as the basis of your allocation.

We will base your funding allocation on lagged student numbers plus any agreed exceptions where relevant. Your allocation statement includes student numbers and other factors that affect your funding for 2023 to 2024.

2. Who this note is for

This guide is for school and academy sixth forms that submit school census data, including special academies and special free schools. Separate guides are available for further education institutions and special post-16 institutions. If your institution returns ILR data rather than census data, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note when reviewing your statement.

When we refer to academies in this document, we are referring to all types, including free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools, unless otherwise stated.

The ‘Changes for 2023 to 2024’ section shows the changes to 16 to 19 funding in academic year 2023 to 2024 at a glance, and where the change is reflected in your allocation statement.

3. Further advice and guidance

We have produced this guide to walk you through your allocation statement.

It is important that you also refer to our 16 to 19 funding guidance for 2023 to 2024. The guides will help you to understand how we have calculated your funding allocation for 2023 to 2024. We publish these guides on GOV.UK before the start of the academic year.

You should read this note alongside our detailed guidance on:

• Allocation calculation toolkit
• Funding rates and formula
• Business cases
• Financial support for students
• How the 16 to 19 national funding formula works
• How the high needs funding system works

4. Allocation changes

The allocation statement shows your current allocation based on the data available to us at this point.

We reserve the right to reduce or withdraw your allocation at any stage should issues arise through audit or other processes which:

• significantly affect the data underlying your allocation calculation (such as errors in ILR or school census returns)
• significantly affect contract compliance, or
• if we believe that by making an allocation we will be putting public funds at risk

We also reserve the right to change your allocation if there are significant policy or data changes that impact on the calculated figures.

By exception, we will consider evidenced and credible business cases from institutions where there has been a significant error in the data returned by the institution. If you wish to submit a case, please refer to our guidance on thresholds.

This process does not cover business cases for high needs place funding for institutions that are within scope of the high needs change place notification process. The high needs place change notification process is now complete, and we will not review any requests for changes.

5. How to resolve your enquires

If you have any questions that we have not covered in this or other published guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

6. Changes for 2023 to 2024

On 13 July 2023 we announced a further investment of £185 million in 2023 to 2024 financial year and £285 million in 2024 to 2025 financial year to drive forward skills delivery in the further education sector.

This funding will help colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to address key priorities as they see fit, including tackling recruitment and retention issues in high-value technical, vocational, and academic provision which are of critical importance to our economic growth and prosperity.

6.1 National funding rate

In July 2023 we announced a further increase to the national funding rate in addition to the announcement made in October 2021. We have increased the national funding rate for students aged 16 and 17 and students aged 18 and over with high needs in band 5, by a further £111 per student, to £4,753, and other funding bands will increase proportionately. We will continue to fund an extra 40 hours per student. This is a 4.6% increase compared to academic year 2022 to 2023.

	National funding rate academic year 2022 to 2023	National funding rate academic year 2023 to 2024
Band 5	£4,542	£4,753
Band 4	£3,757	£3,932
Band 3	£3,056	£3,198
Band 2	£2,426	£2,528
Band 1	£4,542 proportion of band 5	£4,753 proportion of band 5

T Level funding rates include a 10% uplift specifically for the academic year 2023 to 2024. This is to recognise the extra cost for institutions transitioning from study programmes to T Levels, and to support institutions with growing their T Level offer. All national funding rates for academic year 2024 to 2025 are still to be confirmed.

The figures shown on your allocation statement and in the table below are the annual equivalent of the two-year T Level rates for 2023 to 2024:

	From	To
Band 9	£6,534	£7,523
Band 8	£5,991	£6,897
Band 7	£5,448	£6,272
Band 6	£4,723	£5,438

6.2 Programme cost weighting

We made 2 sets of increases to 16 to 19 programme cost weightings (PCWs) for the academic year 2023 to 2024.

In January 2023 we made several changes to PCWs following the findings of the recent DfE survey report into high cost provision. These include increases to the PCW for the engineering and manufacturing, construction and digital subject areas to help institutions with the additional costs of recruiting and retaining teachers in these subject areas.

We have also changed PCWs for science and land-based study areas, A level based study programmes and the Prince’s Trust Team Programme.

In July 2023 we announced more increases to all PCWs. This funding will help colleges and other providers to address key priorities as they see fit, including tackling recruitment and retention issues in high-value technical, vocational, and academic provision which are of critical importance to our economic growth and prosperity.

6.3 Disadvantage funding

For academic year 2023 to 2024 funding allocations, we will adjust the rate for disadvantage block 2 (which reflects the additional cost of teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment) to take account of the change to GCSE results in 2020 and 2021. We will also adjust the care leavers rate.

We will increase the disadvantage block 1 rate to:

• £559 for students who are in care or who have recently left care

We will increase the disadvantage block 2 rate to:

• £559 for bands 4 and 5 students
• £341 for bands 2 and 3 students
• £758 for T Level students

6.4 T Level wave 4

In March 2023 we announced the decision to delay delivery of wave 4 T Levels.

T Levels deferred from 2023 until 2024 are:

• Hairdressing, Barbering & Beauty Therapy
• Craft & Design
• Media, Broadcast & Production

The T Level in Catering is also deferred beyond 2024 to allow time to consult with employers and sector bodies to ensure that this T Level meets all the needs of the sector.

We have amended T Level student numbers to remove wave 4 where applicable.

We recognise the resource that institutions put into preparing to deliver some T Levels that are now deferred, including engaging with employers to secure industry placements. Therefore, whilst we will remove the funding related to the deferred wave 4 T Levels, we are allowing institutions that have not withdrawn from delivery to retain the industry placement element of their funding for academic year 2023 to 2024, to support continued engagement with employers and delivery of industry placement style experiences.

This funding will be displayed as an adjustment by exception in the industry placements funding table of your statement.

6.5 Large programmes

The large programme funding rates are 10% and 20% of the national funding rate. As the national funding rate for academic year 2023 to 2024 will increase, the large programme funding rates will also increase.

6.6 Advanced maths premium

We will continue to pay the advanced maths premium in academic year 2023 to 2024 at a rate of £600. The baseline used to calculate the premium has been updated to use advanced maths enrolments recorded between academic year 2019 to 2020 and academic year 2020 to 2021.

6.7 16 to 19 Bursary fund– T Level industry placements

This year, we have introduced Element 2bii, student costs for T Level industry placements. Previously, 16 to 19 bursary funding included an element which recognised the additional costs that might be required to support students on CDF industry placements. CDF funding is being phased out (2023 to 2024 will be the last year) but will help inform 16 to 19 bursary allocations this year (as element 2bi).

In addition, we have introduced element 2bii to provide funding that might be needed to support students who are undertaking an industry placement as part of their T Level programme. We will use the proportion of total funded students living in the top 60% most deprived areas, based on IMD 2019 data, 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 who are funded for T Level delivery in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

6.8 16 to 19 Bursary fund – funding rates

The three 16 to 19 bursary funding rates (for disadvantage, travel and industry placements) have each increased by 10% compared to the rates from the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

6.9 16 to 19 Bursary fund – baseline and thresholds

We introduced a new 16 to 19 bursary funding methodology in the 2020 to 2021 academic year. Since then, for the past 3 academic years, allocations have been baselined against an institution’s 16 to 19 bursary allocation from the 2019 to 2020 academic year and couldn’t vary from that 2019 to 2020 academic year allocation by more than a set percentage.

For 2023 to 2024 academic year, this approach will change, and institutions will receive the actual, calculated amount of 16 to 19 bursary allocation. The only exception to this will be if the calculated value of an allocation is greater than £0 but less than £500, then the allocation will be increased to £500.

6.10 Free meals in further education

In August 2023, we confirmed an increase in the funding for free meals in further education from £2.41 to £2.53 per student per meal for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

We will increase the free meals in further education funding rate to:

• £376 for bands 4 and 5 students and band 1 FTEs
• £186 for bands 2 and 3 students

Your 16 to 19 bursary fund allocation is not affected by this change, though you may continue to use 16 to 19 bursary funding and free meals in further education funding as a single allocation to best meet the needs of your students, providing all students who are eligible for free meals receive the appropriate support.

6.11 Audit adjustment

If you see an audit adjustment anywhere on your statement, it will relate to a funding error identified in your 2021 to 2022 full year data return.

We will have contacted your institution with additional information about the audit adjustment through separate communications.

7. Allocation statement 2023 to 2024 – detailed notes

8. Special academies and special free schools post-16 funding

The 16 to 19 revenue funding statements for special free schools and special academies include high needs place funding and student financial support funding.

See the relevant sections below for information on how these are calculated.

9. Core programme funding

This section shows the various elements of the funding formula shown on page 1 of your 16 to 19 revenue funding statement and the resulting funding from the application of each.

Student numbers for 2023 to 2024

• as set out in the student numbers section below

National funding rate per student

• as set out in the breakdown of funding by band section below

Retention factor

• retention rate = retained students ÷ total funded students
• retention factor = (retention rate ÷ 2) + 0.5
• calculated from the autumn census 2022 (full year 2021 to 2022 data)

Where historic data is not available (often due to the institution being new and therefore not having submitted any data), we use national averages for the relevant institution type.

Programme cost weighting

The programme cost weighting used is the average for your institution, and has been weighted by the funded hours for each student. We base programme cost weighting on the sector subject area (SSA) classification for each student’s core aim. We calculate this from the autumn census 2022 (full year 2021 to 2022 data).

For T Level programmes, the PCW value is attracted by the occupational specialism recorded. Like study programmes, the PCW for T Levels is based on the sector subject area, however this is linked to the occupational specialism via a mapping to apprenticeship standards.

T Level transition programme PCW is an average of all the occupational specialism PCW values within the associated T Level route.

Where historic data is not available, we use national averages for the relevant institution type.

Disadvantage funding

• as set out in the distribution of disadvantage funding section below

Large programme funding

• as set out in the large programme uplift section below

Area cost allowance

Some areas of the country are more expensive to teach in than others, and the area cost allowance weights the allocation to reflect this. The area cost is normally based on your institution’s address, except for a small number of institutions that deliver provision in different locations where it is based on the delivery postcodes for that provision.

The values on your statement are shown to various numbers of decimal places. However, we calculate your funding using un-rounded values. This may result in some slight differences when you work through the calculation yourselves.

10. Student numbers

This section explains how we have calculated the student numbers in your 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. Some of the information set out below may not be relevant to your institution and therefore may not be shown on your statement.

If your institution returns ILR data rather than census data, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note when reviewing your statement.

Students

This figure is taken from the autumn census 2022 (2022 to 2023 data). The number of students recorded as on roll (main or current main) on census day 6 October 2022 at the institution in national curriculum years 12, 13 or 14.

For some institutions, we have used a different student number methodology.

Ratio

If shown, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note.

Exceptional variations to lagged student number

This is an increase or decrease applied to the lagged student numbers. This is where we’ve agreed an exceptional case.

Total student numbers for 2023 to 2024 / Finalised academy estimate

This is the sum of students shown in the first row and ‘exceptional variations to lagged student number’.

Student number methodology used

This is the methodology used to calculate your total student number to be funded in 2023 to 2024.

11. Student number methodology

Our funding rates and formula guidance has full details of how we calculate student numbers for different types of institutions. Our default approach is to base allocations on lagged numbers. The lagged approach applies when there is a reasonably consistent level of delivery over time and applies in most but not all circumstances.

Exceptions to the lagged approach include student numbers for new institutions, closing provision, transferred provision (including in relation to subcontracting), exceptional in-year growth, and in-year closures. In these situations, we may remove an institution from the lagged approach at any point, which may result in a change to their funding allocation.

12. Breakdown of funding by band

This section explains how we calculate funding bands in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. Further information about national funding rates is in the funding rates and formula guidance.

In this guidance, ‘full time’ means the 16 to 19 funding band 5 or T Level bands, and ‘part time’ means the funding band 4 or lower.

12.1 T Level bands

The following applies if you have T Level students. If you are not in receipt of T Level student funding, please refer to ‘mainstream bands’.

Number of students allocated in 2023 to 2024 – T Level

Student numbers for T Level bands 9 to 6 are taken from a combination of:

• the estimated student participation figures provided by institutions (from 2023 to 2024 these are just the students starting in the 2023 to 2024 academic year)

• students starting their T Level before 2023 to 2024 who are carrying on their programme into academic year 2023 to 2024. We have selected T level students from your autumn census 2022 data whose latest T Level programme aim has no actual end date and a planned end date after 31 July 2023

National funding rate

T Level students attract a higher rate of programme funding linked to the minimum delivery hours (influenced by the occupational specialism being studied), so will typically be funded in band 6, 7, 8 or 9.

Student funding

• ‘number of students allocated in 2023 to 2024’ × ‘national funding rate’

Total T Level bands

This is the sum of student funding for bands 9 to 6:

• ‘student funding’ T Level band 9 + ‘student funding’ T Level band 8 + ‘student funding’ T Level band 7 + ‘student funding’ T Level band 6

12.2 Mainstream bands

Student numbers 2021 to 2022

The student numbers for each funding band as recorded in your autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data based on the definition of the bands that applied in that year.

Band 5 students are all students with annual timetabled hours of 540 and over, except T Level students and students aged 18+ who are not high needs.

Band 4 students are split into 2 categories:

• 4a is those students who are aged 18+, not high needs and timetabled for over 450 hours per year.
• 4b is 16- and 17-year-olds and students aged 18+ with high needs who are timetabled for between 450 and 540 hours per year

Bands 1 to 3 show all 16 to 19 ESFA funded students with timetabled hours in that band.

In addition, students in band 1 (up to 279 hours) shows the total number of band 1 full time equivalents (FTEs) for the student numbers shown.

You can view the student level data behind each funding band in your allocation calculation toolkit (ACT). We have published guidance on how to use your ACT file.

Proportions used in 2023 to 2024 allocation

This is the proportions of students to be funded in each band based on the total student numbers in 2021 to 2022.

Number of students allocated in 2023 to 2024

This is the percentage proportions for bands 5 to 1 applied to the ‘total student numbers for 2023 to 2024’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

The values in this column are rounded to whole numbers, and this may result in a slight difference to the ‘total student numbers for 2023 to 2024’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• the number of band 5 students allocated in 2023 to 2024 is adjusted to remove students funded in the T Level bands

National funding rate

This is the base amount of funding for each student in the band. The funding rates for 2023 to 2024 are explained in the published guidance found on GOV.UK.

Note that, as described above, for the purpose of calculating the number of students in each funding band in the 2023 to 2024 funding allocation we have used data from your 2021 to 2022 full year data return. For that purpose, we have therefore applied the definitions of the funding bands in 2021 to 2022. Funding rates applied to the bands for allocation calculation are increased rates that reflect the new hours ranges applied in 2022 to 2023 academic year and those hours ranges continue for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Student funding

• ‘number of students allocated in 2023 to 2024’ (or the number of FTEs) × ‘national funding rate’

Total / Total mainstream bands

This is the sum of student funding for bands 5 to 1:

• ‘student funding band 5’ + ‘student funding band 4’ + ‘student funding band 3’ + ‘student funding band 2’ + ‘student funding band 1 FTEs’

Total student funding

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• ‘total mainstream bands’ + ‘total T Level bands’

13. Level 3 programme maths and English payment

This section explains how we have calculated the level 3 programme maths and English payment in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. We give extra funding to institutions to deliver maths and English to students doing substantial level 3 study programmes and T Levels.

Instances per student

This is the number of instances where a student does not hold a GCSE grade 4 or C (or above) in GCSE maths or English as their highest prior attainment and are on a 1 year or 2 year level 3 study programme taken from the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data.

• a student without a grade 4 or C (or above) in maths AND English counts as 2 instances
• a student without a grade 4 or C (or above) in one of maths OR English counts as 1 instance
• a student with grade 4 or C in both counts as 0 instances

Number of instances

• ‘instances per student’ × ‘total student numbers for 2023 to 2024’ (student numbers table)

Rate

This is the funding per student for a 1-year programme and a 2-year programme.

Funding

• ‘number of instances’ × ‘rate’

Level 3 programme maths and English payment funding total

This is the sum of level 3 programme maths and English payment:

‘level 3 programme maths and English payment – 1-year programme’ + ‘level 3 programme maths and English payment – 2-year programme’

14. Distribution of disadvantage funding

This section explains how we have calculated the disadvantage block 1 and block 2 funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information on disadvantage funding please refer to the funding rates and formula guide.

14.1 Disadvantage block 1

Economic deprivation funding

We use the student’s home postcode from the autumn census 2022 (2021 to 2022 full year data) and the IMD 2019 to calculate the block 1 factor.

The block 1 factor is an average across the whole institution, weighted by the funded hours for each student.

The uplift is applied to the programme funding total, up to and including the level 3 programme maths and English payment.

Where historic data is not available, we use local authority averages for the relevant institution type.

Care leavers

This is the number of successful 16 to 19 bursary fund claims for 2021 to 2022 for vulnerable students who were ‘in care’ or ‘care leavers’, at a rate of £559 per student.

Total block 1 funding

• ‘block 1 funding’ + ‘care leaver funding’

14.2 Disadvantage block 2

Total instances attracting funding per student

The factor is based on the number of instances when a student does not have at least a grade 4 or C in GCSE maths or English at the end of year 11:

• a student without a grade 4 or C in maths and English counts as 2 instances
• a student without a grade 4 or C in either maths or English counts as 1 instance
• a student with grade 4 or C (or above) in both counts as 0 instances

We use the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data to provide the number of instances per student.

Where historic data is not available, we use national averages for the relevant institution type.

Total funded instances

• ‘instances per student’ × ‘total student numbers 2023 to 2024’ (Student numbers table)

Students attracting the higher rate (bands 4 and 5), the lower rate (bands 2 and 3), the FTE rate and the T Level rate

This is the ‘total funded instances’ split between students attracting the higher rate (band 4 and band 5) and students attracting the lower rate (band 2 and band 3) according to the proportions in the ‘breakdown of funding by band’ table.

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• for students attracting the T Level rate, the ‘total funded instances’ is determined by multiplying the ‘instances per student’ by ‘Total T Level Bands’
• ‘number of funded instances in each band’ (higher, lower, FTE, T Level) × ‘block 2 funding rate’

Total block 2 funding / Total block 2 funding including T Levels

This is the sum of block 2 funding:

• ‘students attracting the higher rate’ + ‘students attracting the lower rate’ + ‘students attracting the FTEs Rate’
• If you have T Level students + ‘students attracting the T Level rate’

Minimum top up if applicable

If the total disadvantage funding (‘total block 1 funding’ + ‘total block 2 funding’ or ‘total block 2 funding including T Levels’) for an institution is less than £6,000, disadvantage funding will be topped up to £6,000.

Total disadvantage funding

This is the sum of disadvantage funding:

• ‘total block 1 Funding’ + ‘total block 2 funding’ or ‘total block 2 funding including T Levels’ + ‘minimum top up’

15. Large programme uplift

This section explains how we have calculated the large programme uplift factor in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please refer to the large programme uplift and the funding rates and formula guide.

Students meeting large programme uplift criteria

This is the number of students meeting the large programme uplift criteria for the 10% uplift and 20% uplift respectively. Numbers are based on the Young People’s Matched Administrative Dataset (YPMAD) for 2020 to 2021

Funding uplift per student per year

This is 10% or 20% of the national funding rate.

Total large programme uplift (2 years)

This is the total uplift for the 2 years – that is double the funding uplift per year:

• ‘students meeting large programme uplift criteria’ × ‘funding uplift per student per year’ × 2

Total large programme uplift

• ‘total large programme uplift (2 years)’ at 20% + ‘total large programme uplift (2 years)’ at 10%

16. Maths and English condition of funding adjustment

This section explains how we have calculated the maths and English condition of funding (CoF) adjustment in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please see the condition of funding interactive tool and 16 to 19 funding maths and English condition of funding guidance.

National funding rate in 2021 to 2022

The 2021 to 2022 national funding rates are used to calculate the CoF adjustment.

Total students (2021 to 2022 S05)

This is the total number of students in 2021 to 2022 as recorded in your autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data, split by each funding band. Student numbers in this table exclude T Level students and 19+ continuing students, therefore the total may differ from the student numbers shown in the ‘breakdown by funding band’ table.

National funding rate applied to total students (2021 to 2022 S05)

This is the student funding associated with the total students:

• ‘total students (2021 to 2022 S05)’ (FTEs for band 1) × ‘national funding rate in 2021 to 2022’

Students not meeting CoF (2021 to 2022 S05)

This is the number of students not meeting the CoF in 2021 to 2022 as recorded in your autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data, split by each funding band. You can identify these students in your ACT.

National funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students

This is the student funding associated with the students not meeting the COF:

• ‘students not meeting the CoF’ (FTEs for band 1) × ‘national funding rate in 2021 to 2022’

Total

This shows the sum of bands 5 to 1 for ‘total students (2021 to 2022 S05), ‘national funding rate applied to total students (2021 to 2022 S05)’, students not meeting CoF (2021 to 2022 S05) and ‘national funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students’.

5% of national rate funding for total 2021 to 2022 S05 students

This is the 5% tolerance before any adjustment will be applied:

• 5% of total ‘national funding rate applied to total students (2021 to 2022 S05)’

Funding for non-compliant students less 5% of funding

This is the resulting adjustment following the 5% tolerance:

• total ‘national funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students’ - ‘5% of national rate funding for total 2021 to 2022 S05 students’

Final CoF adjustment (at 50%)

In order to mitigate the effect of the CoF adjustments, the final adjustment is at 50%:

• 50% of ‘Funding for non-compliant students less 5% of funding’

17. Advanced maths premium

This section explains how we have calculated the advanced maths premium in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. We give institutions additional funding to increase the number of students studying for certain advanced maths qualifications. The funding will help institutions remove barriers to advanced maths study and build their capacity to deliver this provision.

Baseline students

This is the average number of students studying an eligible level 3 maths qualification in academic years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021. We used the autumn census 2020 full year 2019 to 2020 data and the autumn census 2021 full year 2020 to 2021 data to determine this number.

Eligible students

This is the number of students studying an eligible level 3 maths qualification in academic years 2022 to 2023 taken from the autumn census 2022.

Eligible minus baseline

• ‘eligible students’ – ‘baseline students’, or zero, whichever is higher

Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2023 to 2024 is £600.

Advanced maths premium funding

• ‘eligible minus baseline’ x ‘rate’

18. High value courses premium

This section explains how we have calculated the high value courses premium (HVCP) in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation. The HVCP supports institutions to increase the number of students studying substantial programmes in particular subjects.

Qualifying students

This is the number of qualifying students in your autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data.

Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2023 to 2024 is £600.

Funding

• ‘qualifying students’ × ‘rate’

19. Industry placements funding

This section explains how we have calculated industry placements funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement.

19.1 Industry placements funding: capacity and delivery funding (CDF)

The 2023 to 2024 academic year is the final year in which existing eligible institutions will receive funding. We have published arrangements for delivering industry placements through the capacity and delivery fund (CDF) in 2023 to 2024.

Number of students / Number of students minus final T Level students

This is the number of level 2 and level 3 qualifying students identified in your autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data.

The following applies if you have funded T Level students:

• the number of students is adjusted to remove the ‘number of estimated T Level students’. Where the number of T Level students is greater than the number of students, there’ll be zero students

Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2023 to 2024 is £160.

Industry placement: capacity and delivery funding (CDF)

• ‘number of students’ or ‘number of students minus final T Level students’ × ‘rate’

19.2 Industry placements funding: T Level funding

The following applies if you have T Level students:

Number of estimated T Level students

Funded T Level student numbers provided by institutions.

Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2023 to 2024 is £275.

Industry placements funding: T Level funding

• ‘number of estimated T Level students’ × ‘rate’

Industry placements funding total

• ‘industry placement: capacity and delivery funding (CDF)’ + ‘industry placements funding: T Level funding’

20. High needs students

This section explains how we have calculated high needs funding for academies in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement.

We have based allocations of high needs place funding on the outcomes of the 2023 to 2024 local authority place change notification process.

For all school sixth forms and maintained special schools, you will need to discuss and agree your 16 to 19 high needs funding directly with your local authority because this funding is allocated to local authorities in the dedicated schools grant (DSG). For further information, please refer to our High needs funding arrangements: 2023 to 2024.

High needs funding

This is the number of high needs students split by age groups 16 to 19 and 19 to 24.

Total students

• ’16 to 19 students’ + ’19 to 24 students’

Rate

For mainstream and alternative provision academies, the rate of funding per student is £6,000.

For special academies, the rate of funding per place is £10,000.

Funding

• ‘total students’ × ‘rate’

21. Student financial support funding

This section explains how we have calculated student financial support funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement.

We have published advice for institutions on the financial support young people may be able to access to help them participate in education and training.

21.1 Discretionary bursary fund

Number of funded students / Number of funded T Level students

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’ and ‘element 2a: student costs – travel’, the ‘number of funded students’ is the ‘total student numbers for 2023 to 2024’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

For ‘element 2bii: student costs – T Level industry placements’, we use your funded T Level student number.

Instances per student

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’, we use the student postcode from the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine the number of instances per student.

For ‘element 2a: student costs – travel’, we use the student postcode and delivery location postcode from the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine the number of instances per student.

The student level data used to determine the instances per student value for all elements of 16 to 19 bursary funding can be found in the Programme tab in your ACT file.

The maximum ‘Instances per student’ value is 1.00000.

Where historic institution level data is not available to complete the calculation, we use local authority averages for the relevant institution type.

Proportion of students from 60% most deprived areas

For ‘element 2bii: student costs – T Level industry placements’, we use the student postcode from the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine an institution level Instance per Student average. This average is used to gauge the proportion of students on T Level industry placements who are likely to be from the top 60% most deprived areas.

Number of instances

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’ and ‘element 2a: Student costs – travel’ the instances per student values are multiplied by the ‘number of funded students’ to determine the ‘number of instances’

• ‘instances per student’ x ‘number of funded students’

For ‘element 2bi: Student costs - CDF industry placements’, the ‘number of instances’ are determined by the number of students continuing a CDF industry placement programme into the 2023 to 2024 academic year as identified in your autumn census 2022 data return.

For ‘element 2bii: student costs – T Level industry placements’, the ‘number of instances’ is determined by are multiplying the ‘proportion of students from 60% most deprived areas’ by the ‘number of funded T Level students’

• ‘proportion of students from 60% most deprived areas’ x ‘number of funded T Level students’

Rate

This is the funding rate for each element of the discretionary bursary for 2023 to 2024. Bursary funding rates are subject to change year on year.

Funding

• ‘number of instances’ x ‘rate’

Bursary adjustment in respect of free meals

The following applies to maintained schools, academies and free schools that only deliver provision to 16 to 19 students.

We calculate each institution’s percentage share of the adjustment proportionally, using data which will inform an institution’s free meals in FE allocation in 2023 to 2024. That is the number of students eligible for and in receipt of free meals in FE in either the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return or the autumn census 2021 full year 2020 to 2021 data return if no students were flagged as supported with free meals in FE in 2021 to 2022.

The total adjustment amount is £15 million so, if there are 100,000 free meals in FE students who inform 2023 to 2024 free meals in FE allocations, and Institution A recorded 1,000 of those students in their autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return, then Institution A will be in scope for an initial adjustment of:

• 1,000 / 100,000 = 1% then
• 1% x £15 million = £150,000

Protection is then applied so that:

• no institution experiences a reduction of greater than 25% of their 16 to 19 bursary fund allocation
• no institution experiences a reduction that is greater than the reduction applied in 2022 to 2023, and
• no institution has a 16 to 19 bursary fund allocation of less than £500.

Discretionary bursary fund sub-total

This is the sum of each bursary funding element:

• ‘element 1: financial disadvantage total’ + ‘element 2a: student costs travel total’ + ‘element 2bi: student costs CDF industry placements’ + ‘element 2bii: student costs T Level industry placements’ - ‘bursary adjustment in respect of free meals’

Bursary adjustment by exception

This is an increase or decrease applied to your discretionary bursary funding. This could relate to a merger, conversion to an academy or another exceptional situation.

Discretionary bursary fund total

This is the sum of:

• ‘Discretionary bursary fund sub-total’ + ‘Bursary adjustment by exception’

• If ‘discretionary bursary fund sub-total’ is greater than £0 but less than £500 then the allocation will be uplifted to £500.

21.2 Free meals in FE funding

The following applies to maintained schools, academies and free schools that deliver provision to 16 to 19 students only.

Total students

This is the total number of 16 to 19 students recorded in either the autumn census 2022 or the autumn census 2021 data return if no students were recorded as supported with free meals in FE in the autumn census 2022 data return.

Free meals students

This is the number of students recorded as being eligible for and in receipt of free meals in FE in either the autumn census 2022 or the autumn census 2021 data return if no students were recorded as supported with free meals in FE in the autumn census 2022.

Proportion of students on free meals

• ‘free meals students’ ÷ ‘total students’

Total students in 2023 to 2024 funded for free meals

This is the total number of students that will attract free meals funding in 2023 to 2024:

• ‘proportion of students on free meals’ × ‘total student numbers for 2023 to 2024’ (student numbers table)

Free meals higher rate, lower rate and FTE rate

‘free meal students’ at higher, lower and FTE rates are determined by taking the proportions from ‘breakdown of funding by band’ table and applying the percentage proportions to the ‘total students in 2023 to 2024 funded for free meals’:

• Higher rate: ‘band 4 and upwards proportions used in 2023 to 2024 allocation’
• Lower rate: ‘band 3 proportions used in 2023 to 2024 allocation’ + ‘band 2 proportions used in 2023 to 2024 allocation’
• FTE rate: (band 1 proportions used in 2023 to 2024 allocation × total students in 2023 to 2024 funded for free meals’) × (‘band 1 FTEs student numbers for 2021 to 2022’ ÷ ‘band 1 student numbers for 2021 to 2022’)

Free meals funding

• ‘free meals students’ (higher, lower and FTEs) × ‘free meals rates’

The free meals in FE funding rates are subject to change.

Free meals sub-total

• ‘free meals higher funding’ + ‘free meals lower funding’ + ‘free meals FTE funding’

Free meals administration / Free meals administration and minimum top up

• 5% of ‘total free meals funding’

Free meals adjustment by exception

This is an increase or decrease applied to your free meals in further education funding. This could relate to a merger, conversion to an academy or another exceptional situation.

Total free meals funding

This is the sum of free meals funding:

• ‘free meals sub-total’ + ‘free meals administration’ + ‘exceptional adjustment’

Total student support funding

This is the sum of student financial support funding:

• ‘discretionary bursary fund total’ + ‘total free meals funding’

22. Start-up and post-opening grant

Those academies in receipt of a start-up grant (SUG) or post-opening grant (POG) which do not receive this funding through their pre-16 allocation will see this table. This section explains the information in this table of the 16 to 19 revenue funding statement.

Start-up grant – part A

For full sponsored academies that opened from April 2013, this is a one-off payment. For full sponsored academies that opened before April 2013, the payments will be over a number of years, and any funding applicable to the 2023 to 2024 academic year will be shown in this line.

Start-up grant – part B

SUG is paid to full sponsored academies only. Part B is a formulaic allocation that is intended to contribute to costs, such as leadership.

Post opening grant - per pupil resources

For free schools, UTCs and studio schools, this is the total of the resource element of the POG.

Post opening grant – leadership diseconomies

For free schools, UTCs and studio schools, this is the total of the diseconomies element of the POG.

Total start-up grant and post-opening grant

• ‘start-up grant part A’ + ‘start-up grant part B’ + ‘post opening grant per pupil resources’ + post opening grant leadership diseconomies’