Guidance

2024 to 2025 academic year: 16 to 19 funding: maths and English condition of funding

Published 27 November 2024

Applies to England

Context

Gaining level 2 skills in both maths and English helps students realise their potential and gives them the opportunity to progress in life, learning and work. The maths and English condition of funding ensures that 16 to 19 year olds on study programmes without GCSE maths and English Grade 4 or above get support to improve their English and maths skills and make progress towards level 2.

The maths and English condition of funding is a study requirement, focused on supporting students to continue studying and improving their skills. We trust teachers and institutions to use the flexibilities available in this guidance to support each student in the most appropriate way. If a student wishes to re-take their level 2 English and/or maths exam, they should do so when they and their institution think they are ready.     

Changes for 2024 to 2025

We have amended the condition of funding as follows.

Minimum teaching hours and mode of delivery

From the 2024 to 2025 academic year, institutions are expected to make their best efforts to deliver a minimum number of teaching hours in English and maths for students required to continue studying these. For full-time students, this equates to 3 hours per week for English and 4 hours for maths, and pro rata for part-time students. This study should be stand-alone, whole-class, in-person teaching, with any additional support, such as small group tuition or online support, supplementary to these minimum classroom hours.

These minimum classroom teaching hours reflect the established practice noted across institutions pre-pandemic. The additional hour per week for maths is recommended to help students build the skills needed for success in this subject.

For academic year 2024 to 2025, the minimum hours are an expectation, and we will not be measuring compliance against these. This is to reflect that, despite best efforts, not all institutions may be able to meet this from as early as September 2024. 

For more detailed information on the minimum teaching hours for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, please refer to the guidance available here.

Reduction of the tolerance

The tolerance for 2024 to 2025 remains at 5%.

As planned, we are implementing a reduction of the tolerance from 5% to 2.5% of providers’ 16 to 19 cohort in the 2025 to 2026 academic year. We no longer plan to implement the full removal of the tolerance for the academic year 2026 to 2027 that we announced previously. Instead, we will continue to keep this under review and engage the sector on the impact of our changes before committing to any future change.

The department previously announced a full removal of the tolerance. However, we will engage with the sector on the impacts of reducing it to 2.5% in the 2025 to 2026 academic year before confirming the position for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

We apply funding reductions at half the national funding rate for every instance in which every student, above the tolerance without a GCSE grade 9 to 4 in maths and/or English, does not enrol on an approved qualification in these subjects and their planned hours for English and/or maths are below the minimum teaching hours.

We are implementing a reduction of the tolerance from 5% to 2.5% in the 2025 to 2026 academic year, to allow as many students as possible to get the support they need to improve their English and maths skills and progress towards level 2. This will impact funding allocations in the 2027 to 2028 academic year.

Condition of funding interactive tool

We recommend that you use our condition of funding interactive tool with this guidance. This interactive tool presents the maths and English condition of funding in a step-by-step, user-friendly way.

Summary

Students must study maths and/or English as part of their programme in each academic year and for a minimum number of hours. This applies to students:

• aged 16 to 18 (and 19 to 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan) who do not hold a GCSE grade 9 to 4 (a standard pass grade) or equivalent qualification in these subjects
• doing a programme of 150 hours or more, which started on or after 1 August 2014

This condition of funding also forms part of institutions’ contracts with Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). We will remove funding from future allocations for students who do not meet this condition. The other elements of the funding formula are not affected.

The qualifications that meet the condition of funding are GCSEs, Functional Skills level 2 and other ‘stepping stone’ qualifications.

Students with a grade 2 or below in maths or English can study towards a pass in Functional Skills level 2 or they can still study towards a GCSE grade 9 to 4. Once they have achieved this, there is no requirement to undertake further maths or English qualifications to meet the condition of funding. A student does not need to continue studying these qualifications with their current institution if these students have already achieved either with a previous institution. It is expected that a student studying an English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) qualification will progress onto an English and/or maths qualification approved to meet the condition of funding.

Part-time students with a grade 3 can study any qualification approved to meet the condition of funding as a stepping stone towards achieving a GCSE grade 9 to 4.

English and maths progress measures

When we previously published these measures, they showed how much progress students who did not achieve a grade 4 or above in English or maths GCSE at key stage 4 made between their key stage 4 GCSE result and any retakes they did in English or maths GCSE or equivalent at 16 to 18.

We are not currently able to produce these progress measures, as for most students we would have to use key stage 4 prior attainment data from summer 2020 or summer 2021, which we have committed not to use in performance measures. There is further information in the 16 to 18 accountability measures technical guidance.

We will return to producing the English and maths progress measure as soon as possible, which will be for the cohort of students completing 16 to 18 study in the 2024 to 2025 academic year at the earliest.

Qualifications approved for teaching to 16 to 19 year olds who meet the condition of funding

To meet the condition of funding, a student must study an approved qualification. These are GCSEs, Functional Skills level 2 and certain other qualifications, known as ‘stepping stone’ qualifications. Full-time students who have a GCSE grade 3 or grade D must study a maths and/or English GCSE.

Stepping stone qualifications include:

• Functional Skills at level 1 and below
• ESOL qualifications
• other qualifications nominated by institutions and approved by the Department for Education

Qualifications that meet the condition have a validity record in the learning aim reference service (LARS) in either the category ‘EFACONFUNDMATHS’ or ‘EFACONFUNDENGLISH’. Institutions must check the status of qualifications using find a learning aim before enrolling students to ensure that the qualification is approved and valid at the time of enrolment.

Qualifying periods

Students must pass a qualifying period for each maths and English qualification before it counts. The qualifying period is:

• 6 weeks for a qualification with a planned length of 24 weeks or more
• 2 weeks for a qualification with a planned length of less than 24 weeks

Students meet the condition of funding when they are studying for a qualification and are meeting the minimum hours. It is up to institutions to decide when they are ready to sit the exam.

Students withdrawing from their study programme

A student still meets the condition of funding if they have studied the qualification for the qualifying period, even if they do not complete it.

If a student’s core aim was maths and/or English and the student withdraws from their whole programme, then we reduce funding through the retention factor. We explain this and core aims in programmes in the funding rates and formula guidance.

Notes on individual qualification types

International GCSEs no longer meet the condition of funding; however, they do continue to count as equivalent to GCSEs for the purposes of recognising prior attainment. Holding the International Certificate in Christian Education (ICCE) exempts a student from further study in maths and English. When students have achieved an ICCE, institutions can record an exemption for holding an overseas equivalent qualification.

What students can and must study

Tables 1 and 2 show a summary of what qualifications students must study, with table 2 showing a breakdown of GCSE English language and GCSE English literature.

For the purposes of the condition, full-time and part-time hours are:

• full-time: 580 hours or more for 16 to 17 year olds, or 485 hours or more for those aged 18 and older
• part-time: between 150 and 579 hours for 16 to 17 year olds, and between 150 and 484 hours for those 18 and older

Table 1: What a student must study to meet the condition of funding

Student	Programme	What a student must study to meet the condition of funding
All students	Short programmes (less than 150 hours)	Condition of funding does not apply
GCSE grade 3 or overseas qualification at the equivalent grade	Full-time	GCSE
GCSE grade 3 or overseas qualification at the equivalent grade	Part-time	Any qualification approved to meet the condition
GCSE grade 2 or below or overseas qualification at the equivalent grade or no GCSE	Full-time or part-time	Any qualification approved to meet the condition. Functional Skills level 2 pass and GCSE 9 to 4 will meet the condition with no requirement to undertake further maths/English qualifications
Overseas qualification GCSE grade 9 to 4	Full-time or part-time	Exemption applies
EHC plan AND institution assessment that confirms they are not able to study either GCSE or stepping stone qualifications	Full-time or part-time	Exemption applies
EHC plan with NO assessment	Full-time or part-time	Any qualification approved to meet the condition; the student is not exempt from the condition

Table 2: What a student can and must study

English language GCSE grade held	English literature GCSE grade held	What a student can and must study
9 to 4	9 to 4	Condition of funding met for English, no requirement to continue studying subject
9 to 4	3 or below or no grade	Condition of funding met for English, no requirement to continue studying subject
3 or below or no grade	9 to 4	Condition of funding met for English, no requirement to continue study of subject
3	3	GCSE English language
3	2 or below or no grade	GCSE English language
2 or below or no grade	3	Any qualification approved to meet the condition. Functional Skills level 2 pass and GCSE English language 9 to 4 will meet the condition with no requirement to undertake further English qualifications
2 or below or no grade	2 or below or no grade	Any qualification approved to meet the condition. Functional Skills level 2 pass and GCSE 9 to 4 will meet the condition with no requirement to undertake further English qualifications

Level 3 qualifications

Institutions can teach a range of level 3 maths and English qualifications such as A and AS levels, core maths and the International Baccalaureate (IB) as an alternative to GCSE when it is appropriate for the student.

Prior attainment

Students meet the condition of funding when they have achieved GCSE grade 9 to 4 in maths, and in English language, English literature, or English language and literature. From 2017, the GCSE grading scheme was changed to 9 to 1 from A* to E. This resulted in grade 9 to 4 replacing A* to C and grade 3 and below into a grade E or below.

We treat some qualifications in maths, English language and English literature as equivalent to GCSE grade 9 to 4. This means that students who have studied in England or elsewhere who hold the following qualifications do not have to study maths and/or English to meet the condition of funding:

• international GCSEs, regulated or unregulated, or equivalent level 1/level 2 certificates grade 9 to 4
• GCSEs grade A* to C, obtained in Wales, including maths numeracy
• GCSEs grade A* to C, obtained in Northern Ireland
• Scottish Intermediate 2 certificates grade A to C
• Scottish National 5 certificates grade A to C
• Scottish Higher grade A to C
• Scottish Advanced Higher grade A to C
• Scottish National Certificate Unit (SCQF Level 6) only Communication at pass grade
• international O levels grade A* to C
• A and AS levels at any pass grade
• full IB level 3 Diploma (LARS reference 50034157)
• IB Middle Years Programme Certificates in maths and/or English at grade 3 or above
• IB Certificate Level 3 Certificates in maths and/or English A at grade 3 and above
• core maths qualifications at level 3

International GCSEs for the purpose of recognising prior attainment

International GCSEs, regulated or unregulated, or equivalent level 1/level 2 certificates, in maths and English all count as equivalent to GCSEs for the purposes of recognising prior attainment in the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding.

Students who hold these qualifications in maths and English at GCSE grade 9 to 4 will not have to continue their study of these subjects.

Overseas qualifications

Students who have achieved an overseas qualification that is equivalent to a GCSE in maths and/or GCSE English language are exempt from the condition of funding.

Guidance on student circumstances

19+ continuing students

All 19+ continuing students are funded through the standard ESFA 16 to 19 allocations process. From academic year 2024 to 2025, the maths and English condition of funding will apply to all 19+ continuing students. The first impact on 16 to 19 funding allocations will be in academic year 2026 to 2027.

Home educated students

A student who has previously been home educated and wishes to continue their education at a further education (FE) institution must comply with the condition of funding.

Students who speak limited English studying maths qualifications

A student who speaks limited English will still need to have maths in their programme, at a suitable level. Institutions could phase this into the programme as their ability in English improves. For example, a student could study an ESOL qualification in the first term and enrol on a maths qualification in the second term. However, over the course of a year, the minimum hours will still need to be met per subject.

Students on short study programmes

To ensure that those who want to study short courses are not discouraged from doing so, there is flexibility for those on small part-time programmes of less than 150 planned hours. Students on these programmes do not have to study maths and English qualifications approved for the condition of funding. However, we expect institutions to include some maths and English content in programmes taken by such students to facilitate their learning.

Students achieving a GCSE or equivalent outside of their study programme

If a student achieves a GCSE grade 9 to 4 or a qualification deemed as equivalent by other means, then they will have met the condition of funding for the remainder of their programme. This also applies to students with prior attainment of GCSE grade 2 who pass Functional Skills level 2. Institutions must make sure that they update their data return with GCSE achievement grades or Functional Skills code in the funding and monitoring (FAM) field, as appropriate, to tell us that the student has met the condition of funding.

Students on apprenticeship programmes

Students on apprenticeship programmes are not subject to the maths and English condition of funding. However, there are separate requirements in place to ensure that all apprentices have achieved a good level of literacy and numeracy by the end of their apprenticeship to support their immediate and future career choices.

Students on T Levels

The condition of funding applies to all students starting T Levels from academic year 2022 to 2023 in the same way as it does to students on 16 to 19 study programmes. It does not apply to students who started T Levels in the academic years 2020 to 2021 or 2021 to 2022. However, we expect these students who have yet to achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above in maths and/or English to continue to work towards a level 2 in these subjects.

Students on supported internships

Students on supported internships are not automatically exempt from the condition of funding. Some students on internships may meet the criteria to be exempt from the condition. Students on supported internships with an exemption should still be studying maths and English at an appropriate level, even when they are not able to work towards a stepping stone qualification or GCSE.

Exemptions

There are 2 exemptions to the condition of funding:

• students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and an EHC plan, who are assessed as not able to study towards either GCSE or stepping stone qualifications
• students with overseas qualifications that are established as equivalent to GCSE grade 4 or above

Students with SEND

When a student with SEND does not hold a GCSE grade 9 to 4 or equivalent qualification in maths and/or English, it is important they have every opportunity as others do to study towards a level 2 English and/or maths qualification. There is a wide range of approved qualifications under the condition of funding that should enable this in most cases and institutions should make every effort to enable students with SEND to study towards these valuable qualifications. Students with SEND who have achieved a GCSE grade 3 or equivalent qualification in maths and/or English should be capable of improving their GCSE grade with the right teaching and support.

When a student is not able to study towards a GCSE, institutions should support them in studying towards a Functional Skills or a stepping stone qualification. There are a range of qualifications available for students from entry level upwards. Institutions can enrol a student on a course for up to 3 years, or longer if the student is in learning to age 25. This range of qualifications gives institutions scope to offer the student opportunities to progress to the appropriate level in maths and English.

There are a small number of SEND students with an EHC plan who are not able to study towards any qualifications. These students can be exempt from studying qualifications, but institutions should still include appropriate literacy and numeracy in their programme at an appropriate level.

Institutions must consider all exemptions on a case-by-case basis. There is no blanket exemption for whole institutions.

Assessments for exemptions must be authorised by an appropriate professional in the institution, such as the head of SEND or student support. The assessment should be structured and documented. We do not expect to give further detailed advice on the format or on who should carry out the assessment. This is for institutions to decide. We will monitor exemptions from the data that institutions submit rather than on an individual basis.

Institutions should keep evidence that justifies their decision that a student is exempt. This information must be available to auditors appointed to test the use of ESFA funding and to Ofsted inspectors.

We expect institutions to use the flexibilities available to tailor programmes to enable each student to improve in maths and/or English to the best of their ability. Institutions should recognise and record students’ progress and achievement.

Students with overseas qualifications exemption

Students who have studied in a country that does not provide GCSEs are potentially exempt from the condition of funding where the overseas qualifications they hold are equivalent to GCSE grade 4 or above.

Institutions must get confirmation from the UK National Information Centre (ENIC) that the qualification is equivalent to GCSE grade 9 to 4. ENIC is responsible for providing information and opinion on academic, vocational and professional qualifications from across the world.

As well as confirmation from ENIC that an overseas qualification is equivalent to GCSE grade 4 or above, institutions also must ensure that the student possesses the necessary competence in maths and English to achieve their programme. If the student needs additional teaching or support to function on their programme, institutions must include it in the programme. This kind of activity is eligible for funding and institutions should include it in the planned hours.

Students who have achieved the ICCE do not have to study maths and English, as the ICCE is equivalent to a standard pass in maths and English. When students have achieved an ICCE, institutions can record an exemption for holding an overseas equivalent qualification. They do not have to get the equivalence certified by ENIC.

Recording and monitoring of exemptions and prior attainment

Institutions must record exemptions in their data returns so that we do not withdraw funding. It is also good practice for institutions to note exemptions in their own records.

There is no need to inform ESFA that a student is out of scope for the maths and English condition of funding because they are studying for less than 150 hours in the academic year.

ILR returns use FAM codes to show when a student qualifies for one of 2 exemptions. The same FAM field shows when the student meets the condition of funding by holding a UK qualification or by studying maths/English at another institution.

School census returns use a set of letter codes to record the same information.

Table 3: ILR FAM and school census code

	ILR FAM code	School census code
Learner is exempt from GCSE maths/English condition of funding due to a learning difficulty	ECF (English condition of funding)/MCF (maths condition of funding) 1	L (the same code is used in the English and maths fields)
Learner is exempt from the condition of funding as they hold an equivalent overseas qualification	ECF/MCF 2	O
Learner has met the condition of funding as they hold an equivalent UK qualification	ECF/MCF 3	U
Learner has met the condition of funding by undertaking/completing a valid maths/English GCSE or equivalent qualification at another institution through collaboration with the home institution	ECF/MCF 4	No code available

Collaboration between institutions to ensure students are meeting the maths and English condition of funding

When institutions collaborate to deliver maths and/or English, one institution must be responsible for claiming funding for a student’s whole programme, and making sure that they meet the condition of funding. Institutions must avoid enrolling and claiming funding for part of a student’s programme.

However, in a small number of cases, students study for maths and/or English with another institution. In these circumstances, the home institution must make sure that students meet the condition of funding.

For institutions that return the ILR

To avoid being penalised for students not meeting the condition of funding, institutions must use the FAM code ECF/MCF 4. Institutions must only use this code when students are studying maths and/or English qualifications at another institution.

For institutions that return the school census

The school census does not have the capacity to show that students are studying maths and/or English qualifications at another institution. Therefore, schools must submit a business case for an adjustment to their funding after they have received their allocation statement.

The business case must include this information:

• the number of students who have studied or retaken a maths and/or English qualification at another institution (we do not need individual student data such as unique pupil numbers (UPNs) and names)
• the name of the other institution(s) where they have studied
• the maths and/or English qualifications studied
• a statement that collaboration has taken place with brief details
• accounting officer confirmation that the information is correct

Demonstrating progression

Institutions must be able to demonstrate progression for students enrolled on maths and/or English qualifications. In most cases, we expect that it will be appropriate for students to study for a qualification at a higher level than they have already attained, rather than just improving their grade at the same level as their previous achievement. For example, a student with prior attainment of a GCSE grade 1 to 3 has already achieved a level 1 qualification so should be enrolled on a Functional Skills level 2 or a GCSE. Equally, it is expected that a student will only study an ESOL qualification for a limited period in their first year of study before enrolling on a non-ESOL English qualification.

When a student is studying for a qualification at the same level as a previous achievement, institutions must have evidence of why the qualification is the best choice for the student.

Audit and inspection

Institutions will be subject to a risk-based compliance audit to ensure that the data submitted for maths and English participation and prior attainment, and evidence for exemptions, is sound. Ofsted inspections will establish that students are on the most suitable study programme and that any exemptions from studying maths and English are appropriate.

Auditors appointed to test the use of ESFA funding will check when institutions claim a student is exempt to ensure the exemption reason is valid. Institutions must ensure that they keep adequate evidence when they apply either of the 2 exemptions. We will monitor how institutions use exemptions.

Applying a tolerance to allocations

The tolerance for academic year 2024 to 2025 will remain at 5% of total students (calculated by value) for students who do not meet the condition of funding. We will apply funding reductions for non-compliance with the condition of funding to institutions where more than 5% of students (calculated by value) without a GCSE grade 9 to 4 in maths and/or English did not enrol on an approved qualifications in these subjects. The funding reductions for these institutions will be at half the national funding rate above the tolerance.

Funding deduction calculation example

We will apply funding reductions to institutions above a tolerance of 5% of total students (calculated by value) for students who do not meet the condition of funding. We will remove funding for these institutions for each student above the tolerance level at half the national funding rate.

We calculate the 5% tolerance by determining the value of the non-compliant students and expressing this as a percentage of the total value of all students. The value for a student is the national rate for their funding band.

The below example shows the calculation of the funding reduction for the academic year 2024 to 2025, which is based on data for 2022 to 2023. For students who are non-compliant above the tolerance, we will remove funding at a reduced rate of 50% of the 2022 to 2023 national funding rate for the band. We will only remove funding above the 5% tolerance.

Stage 1

To calculate the value of non-compliance (E), we multiplied the number of non-compliant students from end year 2022 to 2023 data (C) by the appropriate national funding rate (A) according to their total planned hours. We calculated values for students in the 0 to 279 band as a proportion of the full-time national rate based on their total planned hours divided by 640.

Stage 2

To calculate the total value of 2022 to 2023 students (D), we multiplied the total number of students in each band (B) by the appropriate national funding rate (A). We used the data from the final return of the ILR or the autumn census for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

Table 5

In table 5, the value of non-compliant students (E) is £768,223; the value of all students (D) is £9,393,907. This is non-compliance of 8.18%.

	A	B	C	D (B x A)	E (C x A)
Funding band	National rate for 2022 to 2023	2022 to 2023 total students per band	2022 to 2023 non-compliant students	National rate per student: value of all students	National rate per student value of non-compliant students
Full-time students (at least 580 hours)	£4,542	1,207	94	£5,482,194	£426,948
Full-time students 485+	£3,757	88	27	£330,616	£101,439
Part-time students (485 to 579 hours)	£3,757	765	45	£2,874,105	£169,065
Part-time students (385 to 484 hours)	£3,056	124	21	£378,944	£64,176
Part-time students (300 to 384 hours)	£2,416	60	1	£144,960	£2,416
Part-time (up to 299 hours)	£4,542	132	3	N/A	N/A
Part-time (up to 299 hours) – FTE	£4,542	40.31	0.92	£183,088	£4,178.64
		2,376	191	£9,393,907	£768,223

Stage 3

We calculated 5% of the total value for all students at the national funding rate (D) to calculate the financial value of the tolerance (F). The tolerance is then discounted from (E) the condition of funding reduction to calculate the in-scope reduction (G). We calculate the final reduction (H) taking 50% of (G) of the in-scope reduction.

Table 6

F	G	H
5% of 2022 to 2023 national rate per student funding (D x 5%)	Non-compliant students total less 5% (E - F)	Final condition of funding removal at 50% (G x 50%)
(£9,393,907 x 5%) = £469,695	(£768,886 - £469,772) = £298,527	(£298,527 x 50%) = £149,263

In this example, the tolerance (F) is £469,695, the reduction in-scope (G) is £298,527, and the final reduction is £149,263. If the value of non-compliant students in this example was less than £469,695, the institution would have no withdrawal of funding.

Other useful information

Resources

We have published an interactive tool for the school census to help users to understand how the condition of funding works within the census. It provides specific examples of how to check qualifications that do not meet the condition of funding and the impact this will have when institutions include non-compliant or out-of-date qualifications.

When schools and academies return the autumn census, which includes the post-16 module, 2 reports on the condition of funding are available through COLLECT (one for the current funding year and one for the previous year). We have published guidance on the reports.

The Funding Information System (FIS) will help FE institutions validate their ILR data. The reports available through FIS give the maths and English status of every student, showing whether they have achieved at least a GCSE grade 4 (or grade C) in each subject and whether they are currently studying for a valid qualification in the subject. The reports also show those students recorded as exempt from the condition of funding.

Workforce support

We recognise the importance of continuing professional development (CPD) and welcome college and school leaders’ support to ensure that English and maths teachers have the time for, and draw on, high-quality CPD.

The department continues to provide some fully funded CPD for English and maths retakes teachers via procured providers. For participating institutions, this is intended to supplement, not replace, what college and school leaders routinely draw on and provide themselves. This includes specific support for maths retakes through the maths hub programme.

Contact us

If you have any questions on the maths and English condition of funding, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.