Transparency data

2024 to 2025 devolution postcode dataset guidance

Updated 21 November 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction and purpose

We will use postcodes in the adult skills budget (ASF) to determine the funding body who funds the learner. This information describes how we will use learner postcodes to determine which funding body, us or a devolved authority, has accountability for funding the learner.

For more information about devolution please refer to the AEB devolution guide.

Read this information alongside:

• ESFA funded ASF funding and performance management rules
• ESFA funded ASF funding rates and formula
• each devolved authorities’ funding rules
• each devolved authorities’ funding rates and formula
• individualised learner records (ILR) specification
• ONS Local Authority District to Combined Authority Lookup
• ONS Postcode Directory

2. Understanding our terminology

The term ‘we’ refers to the Education and Skills Funding Agency. When we refer to ‘you’ or ‘providers’, this includes colleges, Higher Education Institutions, training organisations, local authorities and employers that receive funding from us and from devolved authorities to deliver education and training.

Where relevant, specified combined authorities and the Greater London Authority will be referred to as ‘devolved authorities’ or ‘devolved authority area’.

3.  Changes from 2023 to 2024

We have added information for the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority for the 2024 to 2025 ILR.

4.  The purpose of postcode data in devolution

We, or a devolved authority, may fund learners eligible for ASF based on the postcode which the learner is resident at when they start their learning. This is based on their ‘learning start date postcode’. Funding will come from the devolved authority that the postcode is in, or we will fund them if the learner’s postcode shows that they do not reside in a devolved area.

For further information on learner eligibility, you should refer to the relevant funding body’s funding rules.

The data that accompanies this guidance lists every postcode in Great Britain and the corresponding authority that is responsible for funding an ASF learner resident at the postcode. We have published this to help you identify which funding body, us or the devolved authority, is responsible for funding a learner you are looking to enrol so that you can check whether you have a contract to be paid for your learning delivery.

5.  How we will use the data

We will use the ‘Source of funding’ (SOF) in the ILR to determine which funding body is responsible for funding a learner, assuming they meet other eligibility rules.

We will then use the ‘Learning start date postcode’ in the ILR, which records the residence of the learner at the date they started learning, to validate the source of funding to ensure the correct SOF matches the expected postcode. We will use the postcodes in this data set to support this validation process.

6.  How you can use the data

You can check the area that a postcode falls within. To earn funding for a learner, they must reside in an area in which you have a contract to provide training.

You can identify which funding body is responsible for funding the learner, subject to eligibility requirements. To return a valid ILR record for a learner, their combination of SOF and learning start date postcode must match a combination found in the dataset. Incompatible combinations of SOF and postcode at learning start date will result in validation errors and no funding.

7.  The structure of the datasets

The structure of the dataset is shown in table 1. Please refer to section 8 for the definitions of each column.

7.1  Table 1: The structure of the devolution postcode dataset

Postcode	Area	Source of funding	Effective from	Effective to
L2 3SW	LCRCA	111	01/08/2019
M60 2LA	GMCA	110	01/08/2019
CV1 2WT	WMCA	112	01/08/2019
PE28 4XA	CPCA	115	01/08/2019
TS17 6QY	TVCA	114	01/08/2019
EC3A 8BF	London	116	01/08/2019
BS1 6XN	WECA	113	01/08/2019
NE27 0QQ	NTCA	117	01/08/2020	31/07/2024
NE27 0QQ	NEMCA	120	01/08/2024
S1 2BQ	SCRCA	118	01/08/2021
LS1 1DN	WYCA	119	01/08/2021
PO30 1UD	England Non-devolved	105	01/08/2019
CF99 1NA	Wales		01/08/2019
EH99 1SP	Scotland		01/08/2019

8.  The field definitions for the column headings in the dataset

8.1  Postcode

This field will contain the postcode, these are not abbreviated and are given in full.

The postcode should be used with the ‘Effective from’ and ‘Effective to’ dates to determine which area and source of funding apply for learners starting their learning on a given date.

As an exception, some postcodes may appear more than once in this table for the same date range or an overlapping date range. This may happen if the mapping for a postcode moves from one area to another. If this happens, the postcode would be valid in both areas for an overlapping period, and a learner could be valid for funding by either responsible funding body. There might also be cases in future where a postcode straddles a border and 2 funding bodies both agree to fund the learners that are resident in that postcode.

8.2  Area

This field indicates which area a postcode falls within. All distinct areas in the dataset are shown in the previous table in ‘the structure of the dataset’ section.

Devolved authority areas can be identified by their abbreviation. The table below maps each abbreviation to a devolved authority.

Remaining areas outside of devolved regions are indicated as ‘Wales’, ‘Scotland’ or ‘England Non-Devolved’.

8.3  Table 2: Mapping responsible authorities to area codes

Responsible authority	Area
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority	LCRCA
Greater Manchester Combined Authority	GMCA
West Midlands Combined Authority	WMCA
Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority	CPCA
Tees Valley Combined Authority	TVCA
Greater London Authority	London
West of England Combined Authority	WECA
North East Mayoral Combined Authority	NEMCA
Sheffield City Region Combined Authority	SCRCA
West Yorkshire Combined Authority	WYCA
ESFA	England Non-devolved
Wales	Wales
Scotland	Scotland

8.4  Source of funding

This field corresponds to a valid SOF to record in the ILR.

We will fund postcodes eligible for funding by SOF 105 (Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) - Adult), which is used for the area ‘England Non-Devolved’.

Each active funding body has its own SOF in table 2. If we become aware of a new devolved authority that will start funding in a future year, we will add codes for the new authority, initially with SOF 105 records that are effective in the current year. This is so providers can identify which postcodes are likely to come into scope for funding by that authority.

We fund learners from Scotland and Wales only by exceptional agreement, so their SOF is blank.

8.5 Effective From

This field is the earliest date that the postcode is valid for learning start dates with the corresponding area and SOF.

8.6  Effective To

This field is the latest date that the postcode is valid for learning start dates with the corresponding area and SOF. This is left blank where we do not currently know an end date for that funding.

9.  The datasets we publish

We publish 5 files (in total) to help you determine which funding body is eligible to fund a learner through ASF.

9.1  Complete ASF postcode dataset

This is the most significant as it is the master file containing every postcode, area and funding body combination in the dataset. This file is intended for you to import into database systems as it is too large to be opened conventionally using spreadsheet software without using a data import function.

9.2  Spreadsheet friendly [LETTER 1] – [LETTER 2] ASF postcode dataset

This series of files contains every postcode, area and funding body combination in the dataset. This file is intended for you to search using spreadsheet software. These files have been split by the first letter of the postcode to help you find all instances of a postcode and how it is funded in one place.

In previous years, these files have only contained non-devolved and non-funded postcodes. However, this year we have added in devolved postcodes to make it easier for you to find every instance of funding related to a postcode from a single search.

9.3  Devolved ASF postcode dataset

This file contains a subset of the data, relating only to devolved authorities. This file may contain postcodes that are also valid for funding by ESFA in a non-devolved area, but the rows shown will only represent the devolved funded instances of those postcodes. As funding of devolved areas changes over time, some postcodes may, for example, be ESFA funded for one period of time but funded by one of the devolved authorities for a different period. In this scenario, only the period(s) of devolved funding for that postcode will be included in this file.

10.  How we produce the datasets

We use the publicly available Office for National Statistics (ONS) postcode directory to assess whether postcodes are fundable. This ONS dataset links postcodes to local authorities.

We use the publicly available ONS Local Authority to Combined Authority Lookup to map local authorities to devolved authorities and determine which postcodes are funded by which devolved region.

We then map local authorities to British countries to determine which postcodes we fund (English non-devolved postcodes), or which we do not typically fund (Welsh and Scottish postcodes) which we do not mark with a source of funding.

There are some special postcodes and non-geographic postcodes which are excluded from our data set or marked without a source of funding.

The ONS publishes this dataset quarterly, and we will update our devolution postcode dataset following ONS publication. The first devolution postcode dataset for each funding year is based on the ONS postcode directory from the May dataset prior to the start of the year.

11.  Exceptions

If a postcode is missing from this dataset, or unknown, then you should follow the guidance in the provider support manual around postcode validation for mandatory fields.

In exceptional circumstances where you believe there is a legitimate case for a learner resident at the postcode to be funded by a funding body not shown in this dataset, you can explore authorisation from the relevant funding body to fund that learner.

If the funding body authorises funding of that learner, you can use a Learning Delivery Funding and Monitoring (LDFAM) code in the ILR to record that authorisation, this will override the validation rules that match SOF against postcodes. The type and code are DAM 001. However, you must have the authorisation by the relevant funding bodies (i.e. authorisation from SOF you wish to use, and authorisation from SOF that is responsible for funding the postcode) to use this DAM code.

We and the devolved authorities will monitor all use of DAM 001 for compliance, and you must retain evidence of the agreement from the appropriate funding body for use of DAM 001.

In some cases, a postcode does not have a local authority mapping in the ONS dataset, usually when the postcode is newly created. Where a postcode does not have a local authority assigned, we will not include it in our dataset. We will include the postcode in in our dataset when it is subsequently mapped by the ONS dataset. However, if a learner living in such a postcode wishes to enrol, the relevant funding body may agree to authorise their funding through a method listed above.

12.  Support

We remain responsible for handling enquiries and complaints from providers, other stakeholders and learners resident in non-devolved areas and/or in respect of provision which ESFA is funding or has commissioned.

Enquiries and complaints from providers, other stakeholders and from learners that resident in devolved areas will be handled by the respective devolved authorities.