Adult education and skills funding
Information on adult education and skills funding for allocations, funding rates, calculations and performance management.
Introduction
This collection provides information on funding allocations, rules and rates and performance management for adult education and skills funding:
- adult skills fund
- adult education budget
- apprenticeships
- Skills Bootcamps
- advanced learner loans and the bursary
See the related information section for links to ESFA funding agreements and contracts and 16 to 19 funding information.
Advanced learner loans
Advanced learner loans funding and performance management rules apply to all providers of education and training that hold a loans facility and loans bursary fund agreement. This agreement allows providers to receive loans payments from the Student Loans Company (SLC) on behalf of learners and loans bursary payments.
Adult skills fund
The purpose of the Adult skills fund (ASF) is to support adult learners in non-devolved areas to gain skills that will lead to meaningful, sustained and relevant employment, or enable them to progress to further learning which will deliver that outcome. It replaced the AEB in July 2023 following the skills for jobs consultation.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships technical funding information for apprenticeship standards starting on or after 1 August 2020.
Earnings adjustment statement
Guidance for education providers on how to claim funding that you cannot report in the individualised learner record (ILR).
Skills Bootcamps
Information on the Skills Bootcamp funding system.
Financial assurance: monitoring post-16 funding
Information on how we monitor the data that providers return as part of the assurance work that reviews how the funding system and funding rules operate.
Funding allocations
Information on how we allocate funding for the adult skills fund (previously adult education budget), advanced learner loans, traineeships and non-procured apprenticeships, including the current allocation timeline.
Funding allocations data for the past 5 years. You can still find older data on our other page.
Funding calculations
The ‘mainstream funding calculations rule-base for adult skills’ guidance is aimed at software suppliers and people developing internal software.
Funding claims
Information on submitting funding claims returns for:
- 16 to 19 funding
- adult skills funding
- adult education budget
- discretionary learner support and advanced learner loans bursary
- advanced learner loans
- community learning
Related information
Other useful information
Updates to this page
Published 25 February 2014Last updated 3 March 2025 + show all updates
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We have updated the collection page to bring all the information for adult education and skills funding into one place
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We have added the link for the 16 to 18 traineeship market entry form.
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AEB performance management requests page added to the 'performance management' section.
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We have updated our collection page to make information easier to find for customers
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Added link to the apprenticeship grant for employers allocation adjustment request form.
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SFA growth request form added - allows providers to request an increase to financial year contract value for periods 1 to 8 (August 2014 to March 2015).
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The 2014 to 2015 funding year contract values have now been published.
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First published.