Guidance

16 to 19 school and academy sixth form allocation calculation toolkit: 2024 to 2025

Updated 13 March 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

We have published details of the funding arrangements for the academic year 2024 to 2025 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 2024 to 2025 concerning:

• national funding rates
• English and maths funding
• advanced maths premium
• core maths premium

We calculate 16 to 19 funding allocations using data that you returned previously. In this case, we are using primarily 2022 to 2023 data to calculate funding elements affecting your allocation for 2024 to 2025.

The allocation calculation toolkit (ACT) shows you the data we have used to calculate your funding elements and lagged student number. You can use it to check that the factors and other values used in your funding allocation are calculated as you expect it to. This may highlight errors in your data returns and, therefore, instances where you might want to submit a business case. You should submit a business case only after you have received and reviewed your allocation statement. The deadline for submitting cases is 30 April 2024, as published in the allocations timeline.

This guide explains the practical detail of how we have used your data within the 16 to 19 school and academy sixth form ACT to calculate the various elements of the funding formula for your institution. When we refer to schools and academies in this guide, it includes schools, academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges.

For academies that return individualised learner record (ILR) data, we use the further education (FE) ACT template, therefore these institutions should use the corresponding guidance.

If you have questions after reading our guidance or if you require your toolkit in a format that is compatible with screen readers or other assistive technologies, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

2. Your 16 to 19 school and academy allocation calculation toolkit

To show you how we have used your data to calculate the funding elements used in your 2024 to 2025 allocation, we have prepared a 16 to 19 school or academy ACT for you. The ACT includes 10 separate sheets:

Information – a front sheet to confirm the contents of the file.

Funding elements – a summary of the key elements calculated from your 2022 to 2023 census data that we will use to calculate your 2024 to 2025 funding.

Programme – student-level data that shows information such as age, funding band and condition of funding (CoF) status, and programme information such as programme type and core aim in 2022 to 2023.

Aims – the individual learning aims from your 2022 to 2023 census data return, identifying for each student which learning aim is the core aim.

Lagged students – student level data that shows information such as age and programme start and end dates reflecting the students on the autumn 2023 census in learning in 2023 to 2024.

FM students – student level data that shows the free meals students used in the allocation calculations if applicable to your organisation.

T Level lookup – lookup table for T Levels to add the occupational specialism to the programme sheet and use in the funding band calculation.

PCW lookup – lookup table to add the programme cost weighting (PCW) factor value to programme sheet.

Glossary – a technical description of each column in the programme, aims, lagged students, FM students, T Level lookup and PCW lookup 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 programme, aims, lagged students and FM students sheets when reviewing the information shown.

If we do not have a full set of 2022 to 2023 data for your institution, we will not produce an ACT file for you. In this case, you can still see how we make the calculations by reviewing the example ACT which is available alongside this guidance.

3. What’s new in ACT

We have made some changes to ACT this year:

• removed the disadvantage block 1: economic deprivation instances per student data. This was previously used in the calculation of the 16 to 19 tuition fund; this funding finishes in 2023 to 2024

• removed data relating to the capacity delivery fund (CDF) industry placements for eligible students and bursary student costs element 2bi. CDF funding finishes in 2023 to 2024
• renamed the ‘bursary student costs element 2bii T Level industry placements’ to ‘element 2b’ to reflect that this element is no longer split between CDF and T Level industry placements
• replaced the data, relating to level 3 programme maths and English funding with data for the new English and maths funding to support the new funding policy
• added T Level funding bands to the CoF table to reflect that T Level students are subject to the CoF from 2022 to 2023. They are therefore included in the CoF calculations for 2024 to 2025 allocations
• updated our calculations to reflect the additional hours in study programmes for 2022 to 2023 when calculating a student’s funding band and related weighting multiplier value

4. Features of the 16 to 19 revenue funding methodology

4.1 What data have we used in ACT?

Data from the school census return, made in autumn 2023, for 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024.

4.2 Why do we use 2022 to 2023 data?

Your 2022 to 2023 census 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.

4.3 Why do we use 2023 to 2024 data?

Your 2023 to 2024 data is the latest set of enrolment data. We use this to calculate the lagged student volume for your institution where applicable.

You can find a detailed description of data sources in the glossary sheet of your ACT.

4.4 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 2024 to 2025 funding allocation when the students count as a start for funding purposes in the 2022 to 2023 dataset.

Students count as a start for funding purposes when they complete the appropriate qualifying period, which is based on the duration of the study programme.

4.5 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 2023) are not counted.

5. Core aim and study programme type

In the school census, you must identify a core aim when students are doing a vocational programme, or a mixed programme that has a vocational core. When students are doing an academic programme, including a mixed programme that does not have a vocational core, you do not flag any of the aims as the core aim. We use this information to:

• determine whether the programme is academic, vocational, traineeship, T Level or T Level transition
• calculate PCW
• calculate the high value courses premium
• calculate retention

In some instances, multiple core aims for a student are identified across the academic year; where this occurs, we use the most recent instance for calculation purposes.

We have identified issues with institutions either flagging a core aim for an academic programme or not flagging a core aim for a vocational programme.

When institutions select a core aim that is one of the following types, we will count the study programme as academic:

• A level (excluding General Studies or Critical Thinking)
• GCSE
• International Baccalaureate
• Pre-U Diploma
• Free Standing Maths Qualification (FSMQ)
• Access to Higher Education

When institutions do not select a core aim for students who we believe are undertaking a vocational study programme, we will attempt to identify a core aim rather than treating them as doing an academic programme. This will avoid a negative effect on the retention and PCW factors, which would result in a reduced allocation.

When we have identified a vocational student who is missing a core aim, we have selected a core aim by first excluding general studies and critical thinking learning aims, and then applying the following hierarchy to the possible core aims to determine a single aim for each student:

• highest guided learning hours
• highest retention status
• highest PCW factor
• minimum aim sequence number (ESFA assigns a unique ID for each learning aim within a student’s programme called the aim sequence number)

The aims sheet within your ACT shows the aim type as returned in the census (column K). Column L shows the adjusted aim type, which is used to determine the core aim for use on the programme sheet.

6. 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. Funding allocations for 2024 to 2025 are calculated using a funding formula.

Figure 1: 16 to 19 funding formula

16 to 19 funding formula

6.1 Core programme funding

To calculate core programme funding, we take the student numbers and multiply them by:

• funding rate per student (dependent on funding band)
• retention factor
• programme cost weighting

We then add:

• English and maths funding
• disadvantage funding
• large programme funding

and multiply the total by:

• area cost

6.2 Total programme funding

To calculate total programme funding, we take the total core programme funding and:

• subtract the condition of funding adjustment, then add
• advanced maths premium
• core maths premium
• high value courses premium
• T Levels industry placement funding

6.3 Total funding

We add the following elements, where appropriate, to the total funding:

• care standards funding
• high needs students funding
• student support funding, above the minimum discretionary bursary funding of £500

6.4 Further information

An overview of 16 to 19 funding is available on GOV.UK.

This guidance document only includes detailed chapters for the elements of the funding formula above that have corresponding data in your ACT file. Further details on the areas not covered are available below:

• large programme funding
• advanced maths premium funding
• core maths premium funding
• high needs student funding

7. 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 2024 to 2025. We have published the data sources and methods we will use to calculate your lagged student number.

Your lagged student number is shown on the funding elements sheet in the student numbers table (cell F9). The lagged students sheet shows which students are counted for the lagged number.

We include students in the lagged student number when:

• their enrolment status is either main or current (M or C)
• they are in national curriculum years 12, 13 or 14 or they are in national curriculum year 11 and were 16 or over at the 31 August
• they remain on their programme long enough to qualify for funding

Your allocation statement will confirm your final student number.

8. Student funding bands

We fund at different rates depending on the size and type of the programme your students are studying, and in some cases their age and high needs status.

8.1 Table 2: Student funding bands for allocation calculations

Band	Annual planned hours	Category
5	580+ hours	16 and 17 year olds and Students aged 18 and over with high needs*
4a	485+ hours	Students aged 18 and over who are not high needs
4b	485 to 579 hours	16 and 17 year olds
3	385 to 484 hours	All ages
2	300 to 384 hours	All ages
1	Up to 299 hours	All ages

*For these purposes, the definition for an 18+ high needs student is where the census indicates that a local authority has paid element 3 ‘top-up’ funding for the student, through recording ‘true’ for the top up funding indicator. There is a column on the programme sheet ‘High Needs Student’ (column F) that shows which students are classified as high needs students.

Your ACT contains a table showing the distribution of students by funding bands based on your 2022 to 2023 data. Note that the allocation of proportions of students to funding bands is based on the annual planned hours that applied during 2022 to 2023 as shown in table 2. We use data from the programme sheet (column Q shows the funding band) to calculate these volumes.

We calculate T Level students’ bands by first looking at their T Level occupational specialism code returned in the census. We then compare the band based on the occupational specialism with the total planned hours, and where the planned hours are below the minimum hours for the occupational specialism band, the lower corresponding band will be assigned. If no occupational specialism is returned, then they will default to band 5 unless their planned hours are lower than the minimum where the lower corresponding band will be assigned.

T Level students in the 2022 to 2023 data that started in 2021 to 2022 had their planned hours recorded for the full T Level before the additional hours in study programmes for 2022 to 2023 was introduced. When calculating their funding band from 2022 to 2023 data an additional 40 hours have been applied to students with recorded hours in band 5 or above to ensure that they continue to be allocated to the correct funding band in their second year.

T Level students who are shown on the programme sheet as bands 6 to 9 (column Q) will be counted in band 5 on the funding elements sheet for the purpose of calculating the funding band proportions as T Level bands are then applied later in the allocation process as set out below.

We will apply the proportions calculated from these volumes (also shown in table 2 on the funding elements sheet) to your lagged student numbers for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

For institutions delivering T Levels in 2024 to 2025, we will remove the number of T Level students to be funded (continuing from 2023 to 2024 plus planned new starts in 2024 to 2025) from the calculated band 5 students and fund them at the appropriate T Level band.

9. Retention factor

When calculating the retention factor, we first calculate a retention rate at student level. We use different criteria to calculate the rate, depending on the programme:

• vocational programmes: students must have completed or be continuing to study their core aim
• academic programmes: students must have completed or be continuing to study at least one of their academic aims
• traineeship programmes: students must have either completed or be continuing to study their programme aim or have withdrawn with a positive progression into full-time employment or education recorded
• T Level programmes: students must have completed or be continuing to study their core aim

Students on a 2-year programme who complete the first year will count as retained in that academic year. We define completing the first year as still being in learning on the last Friday of June, that is 30 June 2023 in this case.

9.1 Table 3: Retention criteria

Student’s completion status	Percentage of annual funding earned
Student leaves before qualifying period	0%
Student leaves and is not recorded as completed	50%
Student retained and is recorded as completed	100%

We use these values to convert your retention rate to a retention factor. This is because we recognise that there is a cost to your institution, and an inherent value to educating young people, even if they do not complete their course.

10. Calculation

We use your retention factor based on 2022 to 2023 data to calculate your 2024 to 2025 funding. You can see which of your students were retained on their study programme in the column ‘retention’ (column W) on the programme sheet.

overall retention rate

=

sum of students flagged ‘Yes’ in retention (column W) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

sum of students marked ‘Yes’ in funded student (column G)

We then convert your retention rate to a retention factor.

retention factor

=

(

retention rate

÷

2

)

+

0.5

You can see the result of this calculation on the funding elements sheet in table 2 (cell F24).

11. Programme cost weighting

This part of the funding formula reflects the fact that some courses are more expensive to teach than others. We use sector subject areas (SSAs) and T Level occupational specialism codes to determine weightings.

We determine whether to apply a weighting, and if so, what the value should be, using the core aim for vocational programmes.

Academic programmes are base weighted except where the programme contains 2 or more A level qualifications on the list published on GOV.UK. Where this is the case, we give a weighting of 10%.

There are 6 weightings that provide an extra 13%, 26%, 39%, 52%, 65% or 97.5% above the base rate.

T Level transition programme PCWs are an average of the PCWs assigned to the T Level occupational specialisms within the associated route. This averaging can, in some instances, result in a PCW value that sits outside the range set out above.

Columns X to Z on the programme sheet show the PCW for each of your students.

11.1 Calculation

You can see your overall PCW on the funding elements sheet in cell F25 on the funding factors and instances per student table.

The calculation of the overall PCW uses data on the programme sheet to weight the factors for individual students based on their programme size:

• we determine the funding band (column Q) using the total planned hours in the funding year (column P), the age of the student (column B) and whether the student is a high needs student (column F), for T Level occupational specialism (column I)
• for students in funding bands 9 to 2, we derive a weighting value using set hours for each band and we record this as the weighting multiplier in column S
• for students in funding band 1, we use the total hours (column P) as the weighting multiplier (column S)

11.2 Table 4a: Weighting values for allocation calculations – study programmes

Funding band	Annual planned hours	Weighting value used for calculation
5	580+ hours	640
4a	485+ hours	533
4b	485 to 579 hours	Mid-point 533
3	385 to 484 hours	Mid-point 435
2	300 to 384 hours	Mid-point 343
1	Up to 299 hours	Total hours

11.3 Table 4b: Weighting values for allocation calculations – T Levels

Funding band	Minimum planned hours for the programme	Average planned hours for the programme	Weighting value used for calculation
9	1,730 hours	1,830 hours	915
8	1,580 hours	1,680 hours	840
7	1,380 hours	1,530 hours	765
6	1,180 hours	1,330 hours	665

We calculate a weighted student-level PCW factor.

weighted cost weighting factor

=

weighting multiplier (column S)

×

cost weighting factor value (column Z)

We then use the weighted student-level PCW factors to calculate the overall PCW factor for your institution.

PCW factor

=

sum of weighted cost weighting factor (column Z) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

sum of weighting multiplier (column S) for all students who meet the funding eligibility criteria (funded student = ‘Yes’ in column G)

12. Disadvantage funding

Disadvantage funding has 2 elements: one based on the home postcode of your students, the other based on prior attainment of your students in English and maths GCSE at age 16.

Your disadvantage factors are on the funding elements sheet in table 3:

• block 1: economic deprivation
• block 2: prior attainment in GCSE English and maths

12.1 Block 1: economic deprivation

We determine whether to allocate disadvantage funding based on where your students live. To do this we look up their home postcode in the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019.

The IMD is an official government index that uses education, crime, health, employment and income statistics to tell us how deprived areas are. We assign an uplift to those students who live in the 27% most deprived areas of the country.

Column AA in the programme sheet shows the disadvantage uplift factor for each student. If a student is not eligible for block 1 disadvantage funding, this column shows 1.00000.

12.2 Calculation

You can see your overall economic deprivation factor on the funding elements sheet (cell F26).

The calculation of the overall economic deprivation factor uses the data on the programme sheet to weight the factors for individual students based on their programme size:

• we determine the funding band (column Q) using the total planned hours in the funding year (column P), the age of the student (column B) and whether the student is a high needs student (column F). For T Level programmes, we also use the T Level occupational specialism (column I)
• for students in funding bands 9 to 2, we derive a weighting value (see table 4) using set hours for each band and record this as the weighting multiplier in column S
• for students in funding band 1, we use the total hours (column P) as the weighting multiplier (column S)

We calculate a weighted student-level disadvantage uplift.

weighted disadvantage uplift (column AB)

=

weighting multiplier (column S)

×

student’s disadvantage uplift factor (column AA)

We then use the weighted student-level disadvantage uplift to calculate the overall block 1 disadvantage factor for your institution.

block 1 disadvantage/ economic deprivation factor

=

sum of weighted disadvantage uplift (column AB) minus sum of weighting multiplier (column S) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

sum of the weighting multiplier (column S) for all students who meet the funding eligibility criteria, (funded student = ‘Yes’ in column G)

12.3 Block 2: prior attainment

Disadvantage block 2 provides funds to support students with additional needs including moderate learning difficulties and disabilities. We base disadvantage block 2 funding on low prior attainment in maths and English.

We use data from the 2022 to 2023 census to calculate the average block 2 instances per student to be used in the calculation of your funding.

12.4 Calculation

We look at the grades your students attained in GCSE English and maths by the end of year 11. We take this information from the census fields EnglishGCSEPriorAttainmentYearGroup and MathsGCSEPriorAttainmentYearGroup. 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.

12.5 Table 5: Block 2 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

We calculate the disadvantage block 2 instances per student in the following way:

disadvantage block 2 instances per student

=

sum of total instances (column AE) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

total funded students (where column G is marked as ‘Yes’)

The funding factors and instances per student table on the funding element sheet (cell F27) shows the calculated instances per student.

13. English and maths funding

English and maths funding is a new element for the 2024 to 2025 academic year; it replaces the level 3 maths and English payment.

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 2022 to 2023 census to calculate the average English and maths funding instances per student to be used in the calculation of your funding for 2024 to 2025.

More information on English and maths funding is available on GOV.UK.

13.1 Calculation

We look at:

• the study programme or T Level planned 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 census using English GCSE highest prior attainment and maths GCSE highest prior attainment to determine if we should award instances)
• the data used for the 2023 to 2024 allocation, the funding available via the level 3 maths and English payment will cease at the end of academic year 2023 to 2024, but there will be some students who have already attracted funding for academic year 2024 to 2025. So, for 2024 to 2025 only, students who attracted 1 or more instances in the calculation of the level 3 2-year programme maths and English instance per student used in the funding allocation calculations in academic year 2023 to 2024 will not attract any instances under this policy for 2024 to 2025 funding allocations

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.

13.2 Table 6: 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 AF to AH 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 AH) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

total funded students (where column G is marked as ‘Yes’)

The funding element sheet (cell F28) shows the calculated instances per student.

14. Discretionary bursary funding

We calculate 16 to 19 discretionary bursary allocations to reflect financial disadvantage and student needs across the county.

14.1 Element 1: financial disadvantage

We determine whether to allocate discretionary bursary financial disadvantage funding by looking at where your students live. To do this we look up their home postcode in the IMD 2019 as we do for disadvantage block 1 funding. We assign an instance value to those students who live in the 27% most deprived areas of the country.

14.2 Table 7: Financial disadvantage instance values

IMD deprivation of home postcode	Instance value
Top 9% most deprived (<=9%)	1.0
Next 9% most deprived (>9% to <=18%)	0.8
Next 9% most deprived (>18% to <=27%)	0.6

Column D in the programme sheet shows if the student is living in the top 27% most deprived areas and column AL shows the instance value for each student. If a student is not in the top 27% and does not qualify for discretionary bursary financial disadvantage funding or if the postcode is unknown this column will show ‘Not in top 27%’.

14.3 Calculation

This uses the data on the programme sheet to calculate an average number of instances per funded student.

We calculate this in the following way:

discretionary bursary element 1: financial disadvantage instances per student

=

sum of financial disadvantage instances (column AL) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

total funded students (where column G is marked as ‘Yes’)

You can see your instances per student on the funding elements sheet (cell F29).

14.4 Element 2a: student costs – travel

Element 2a – student costs – travel provides funding to support students from the top 60% most deprived areas (based on IMD 2019) with their travel costs. We do not include residential students (where column E in the programme sheet = ‘Yes’).

Column D in the programme sheet shows if the student is from the top 60% most deprived areas. We show how we have calculated the instance value for each student in columns AM to AP.

If a student is not eligible for discretionary bursary funding to support travel, we will state why in the columns.

The maximum total instance value for a student is 1 (column AP on the programme sheet). We base the instance value on two parts:

• rurality, where we class a student’s current postcode (column C) as a rural area we give an instance value of 0.5 (column AM)
• the distance travelled between the student’s postcode for travel (column C) and the delivery location of their learning (column V, this will be your institution postcode), the table below shows the instance value given (column AN) based on the straight-line distance between the two postcodes:

14.5 Table 8: Distance travelled instance values

Distance travelled	Instance value
>= 20km	0.500
>= 10km and < 20km	0.333
>= 3km and < 10km	0.167
< 3km	0.000

If the student is resident in and learning in London, they are able to take up the Transport for London (TfL) offer; where this is the case, we will halve their instance value based on the above. Column AO on the programme sheet indicates where this is the case.

Column AP shows the student’s total instance value for travel.

14.6 Calculation

The calculation uses the data on the programme sheet to calculate an average number of instances per funded student.

We calculate this in the following way:

discretionary bursary element 2a: student costs – travel instances per student

=

sum of travel costs total instances (column AP) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

total funded students (where column G is marked as ‘Yes’)

You can see your instances per student on the funding elements sheet (cell F30).

14.7 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 the 2024 to 2025.

14.8 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 2b – top 60% IMD (column AQ) = ‘Yes’ where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

total funded students (where column G is marked as ‘Yes’)

You can see your proportion of funded students from the 60% most deprived areas on the funding elements sheet (cell F55).

15. 16 to 19 free meals in FE

Free meals in FE funding is only available to 16 to 19 only academies, 16 to 19 only free schools and 16 to 19 only maintained schools.

We use the 2022 to 2023 census data as returned in autumn 2022 to identify which students to include in the 16 to 19 free meals in FE calculation. This means we include students that are on roll and eligible for free meals in FE in 2022 to 2023. Within that return, we use the proportion of students eligible for 16 to 19 free meals in FE in 2022 to 2023 to inform the 2024 to 2025 allocation calculation.

Where an institution is in scope for 16 to 19 free meals in FE funding but there are no students eligible for free meals in FE in 2022 to 2023 (shown as 0% on the funding elements sheet), we will use the proportion of students who were eligible for free meals in FE in 2021 to 2022 academic year to calculate your 2024 to 2025 allocation. If both years’ data show zero students, then we will use 0% for your allocation calculation, which will result in a £0 allocation. We will show the percentage used to calculate your allocation on your funding statement.

15.1 Calculation

The calculation uses the data on the FM students 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 C) where funded student (column B) is marked as ‘Yes’

÷

sum of funded students (column B) is marked as ‘Yes’

If your institution is in scope to receive 16 to 19 free meals in FE funding you can see the proportion of your students eligible for free meals in FE based on 2022 to 2023 census on the funding elements sheet (cell F34). If your institution is not in scope for free meals in FE funding, the cell will be populated with N/A.

16. 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 2024 to 2025 allocation when these students are not enrolled on either maths and/or English GCSE or stepping stone qualifications (where applicable) in academic year 2022 to 2023 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 2022 to 2023 compared with the total students. We have split the data by funding band.

The CoF applied to T Level students for the first time in 2022 to 2023; they are included in the table against the appropriate funding band.

You can see which students did not meet the CoF on the programme sheet (student meets condition of funding, column AK = No). We have derived this from the English/maths GCSE highest prior attainment, funding exemption and QAN details. Column AI shows the student’s English status and column AJ 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.

17. High value courses premium

The high value courses premium (HVCP) supports providers to increase the number of students studying substantial programmes in particular subjects.

The premium is £600 per eligible student.

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.

17.1 Table 9: Subjects and SSAs for 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 2024 to 2025 allocations, we used data from 2022 to 2023.

More information on HVCP is available on GOV.UK.

17.2 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 AR) where funded student (column G) is marked as ‘Yes’

You can see your total qualifying students on the funding elements sheet (cell F59).

18. Area cost allowance

Some areas of the country are more expensive to teach in and the area cost allowance reflects this.

For schools and academies, we calculate area cost from the institution’s postcode.

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 the funding factors and instances per student table (cell F31).