16 to 19 special post-16 institution allocation calculation toolkit: 2023 to 2024
Updated 6 September 2023
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-allocations-supporting-documents-for-2023-to-2024/16-to-19-special-post-16-institution-allocation-calculation-toolkit-2023-to-2024
1. Introduction
We have published details of the funding arrangements for the academic year 2023 to 2024 for students aged 16 to 19 and students aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan.
This includes details of changes in 2023 to 2024 concerning:
- national funding rates
- high value courses premium
- programme cost weightings
- advanced maths premium
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 ILR data are:
- level 3 programme maths and English, instances per student for 1- and 2-year programmes
- area cost factor
- proportion of students on free meals
- condition of funding, total and non-compliant students
- care standards, eligible students
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 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 deadline for submitting cases is 28 April 2023, as published in the allocations timeline.
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, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
2. Your 16 to 19 SPI allocation calculation toolkit (ACT)
To show you how we have used your data to calculate some of the funding elements used in your 2023 to 2024 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 2021 to 2022 R14 data that we will use to calculate your 2023 to 2024 funding.
- Programme – student-level data that shows information such as age, funding band, condition of funding status, and programme information such as programme type and core aim in 2021 to 2022.
- Aims – the individual learning aims from your 2021 to 2022 R14 data return, identifying for each student which learning aim is the core/programme aim.
- Glossary – a technical description of each column in both the Aims and Programme sheets of 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 2021 to 2022 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.
3. Features of the 16 to 19 revenue funding methodology
3.1 What data have we used in ACT?
Individualised Learner Record (ILR) return: 2021 to 2022 R14 data.
3.2 Why do we use 2021 to 2022 data?
Your 2021 to 2022 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.
3.3 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 2023 to 2024 funding allocation when the students count as valid starts in the 2021 to 2022 dataset. Students count as starts when they complete the appropriate qualifying period, which is based on the duration of the study programme.
3.4 Table 1: Student qualifying period
| Study programme planned hours and planned length in-year | Qualifying period | |
|---|---|---|
| 450 hours or more | 6 weeks (42 days) | |
| Fewer than 450 hours | 24 weeks or longer | 6 weeks (42 days) |
| Fewer than 450 hours | 2 to 24 weeks | 2 weeks (14 days) |
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 2022) are not counted.
4. The 16 to 19 revenue funding formula
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 2023 to 2024.
4.1 Figure 1: 16 to 19 funding formula
Please note that it is likely that not all the funding elements are relevant to your institution. An overview of 16 to 19 funding is available on GOV.UK.
5. Student numbers
We measure the learning delivered by your institution 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 should be included in your funding for 2023 to 2024. 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.
6. 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 2021 to 2022 data for use in your Condition of Funding calculation for 2023 to 2024. We do this using the planned hours, their age and high needs status.
6.1 Table 2: Student funding bands for allocation calculations
| Band | Annual planned hours | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 540+ hours | 16- and 17-year-olds and Students aged 18 and over with high needs* |
| 4a | 450+ hours | Students aged 18 and over who are not high needs |
| 4b | 450 to 539 hours | 16- and 17-year-olds |
| 3 | 360 to 449 hours | All ages |
| 2 | 280 to 359 hours | All ages |
| 1 | Up to 279 hours | All ages |
*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).
Funding bands for your students are shown on the programme sheet (column F).
7. Level 3 programme maths and English payment
We give extra funding to providers to deliver maths and English to students doing substantial level 3 study programmes and T Levels.
We determine the number of students eligible for additional funding in the first year of a level 3 programme when they have not yet attained a GCSE grade 9 to 4 (or equivalent) in maths and/or English, and their study programme meets at least one of these criteria:
- it includes at least 2 A levels
- it includes level 3 qualification of at least 360 guided learning hours (GLH)
7.1 Table 3: Funding rates for maths and English in level 3 programmes
| Programme length | Payment per subject |
|---|---|
| 1-year programme | £375 |
| 2-year programme | £750 |
We pay an instance of funding for each subject in which a student does not hold a GCSE. This means that a student who has not achieved either English or maths will receive one instance, and those without both GCSEs will receive 2 instances.
We only pay the 2-year rate for students who are continuing at the end of the first year. Otherwise, we pay the rate for a 1-year programme.
We use historic information from the latest full year’s data to determine which students are eligible for the extra funding. For the 2023 to 2024 allocations, we use data from 2021 to 2022.
More information on maths and English study in level 3 programmes is available on GOV.UK.
7.2 Calculation
We look at:
- the level of study programme using the qualification aims taken matched to LARS
- the study programme planned length to determine if 1- or 2-year
- the prior attainment of your students attained in GCSE maths and English (we take this information from the ILR EngGrade, MathGrade and condition of funding fields (ECF and MCF)) to determine if we should award instances
Where a student is on a qualifying level 3 programme, we calculate for each student the number of instances where English and/or maths was not achieved before starting their study programme (and whether they are on a 1-year or 2-year programme). A student can therefore be worth a maximum of 2 instances.
7.3 Table 4: Level 3 programme maths and English instance example (applies to either 1- or 2-year)
| Example | GCSE English below A*-C/9-4 | GCSE maths below A*-C/9-4 | 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 payment, we will state why in columns AK and AN on the programme sheet with further explanation on the glossary sheet.
We calculate for each student the number of instances where English and/or maths was not achieved by year 11. A student can therefore be worth a maximum of 2 instances.
We calculate the level 3 programme maths and English payment instances per student for 1-year programme instances per student in the following way:
| level 3 programme maths and English payment - 1-year programme instances per student | = | sum of 1-year programme 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.
We calculate the level 3 programme maths and English payment instances per student for 2-year programme instances per student in the following way:
| level 3 programme maths and English payment - 2-year programme instances per student | = | sum of 1-year programme total instances (column M) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ | ÷ | total funded students (where column C is marked as ‘Yes’) |
The funding element sheet (cell F12) shows the calculated instances per student.
8. 16 to 19 Free Meals
We use the 2021 to 2022 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 2023 to 2024 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 2021 to 2022 (shown as 0% on the funding elements sheet), we will use the proportion of students who received free meals in 2020 to 2021 to calculate your 2023 to 2024 allocation. If both years’ data show 0 students, then we will use 0% for your allocation calculation. We will show the final percentage used on your funding statement.
8.1 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 R) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ | ÷ | sum of students included in 16 to 19 free meals calculation (column Q) where funded student (column C) is marked as ‘Yes’ |
You can see your proportion of students on free meals based on 2021 to 2022 R14 on the funding elements sheet (cell F16).
9. Maths and English condition of funding (CoF)
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 2023 to 2024 allocation when these students are not enrolled on either maths and/or English GCSE or stepping stone qualifications (where applicable) in academic year 2021 to 2022, and are not recorded as exempt.
We have published full details of how we will apply the condition of funding.
The Condition of Funding (CoF) table on the funding elements sheet (students not meeting CoF, column F) shows how many students you had that did not meet the condition of funding in 2021 to 2022 compared to the total students. We have split the data by funding band.
The Condition of Funding (CoF) table does not include any students who are 19+ continuers who were previously funded through the adult budget (19+ continuers not in sixth form colleges) or T Level students as they are not currently in scope for the condition of funding.
You can see which students did not meet the CoF on the programme sheet (column P = No). We have derived this from the ILR using the FAM fields ECF (English condition of funding) and MCF (maths condition of funding), EngGrade (GCSE English grade), mathGrade (GCSE maths grade) and the learning aims studied. Column N shows the student’s English status and column O 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.
10. 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 F29 on the funding elements sheet shows the total number of students eligible for care standards funding in 2023 to 2024.
11. 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 F13).