Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance 2022 to 2023

Updated 22 May 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on 4 September 2024

The deadline has passed for this year’s fund.

Applies to England

1. Purpose

The purpose of this guidance is to set out the expectations for and conditions under which the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will support students via the 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation in the academic year 2022 to 2023.

This should be read alongside the 16 to 19 education: funding guidance, of which this guide is a part of.

2. What’s new

We’ve updated section 7 about controls and accountability requirements to include detail of mid-year and end-of-year financial reporting requirements in the academic year 2022 to 2023. We’ve also updated section 7 to include an in-year funding update resulting in a potential 12.5% increase of allocations available to a restricted number of institutions.

3. Overview

The coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund is specifically allocated funding for all 16 to 19 institutions who receive annual funding allocations from ESFA for the provision of 16 to 19 education, to mitigate the disruption to learning due to COVID-19.

The funding is available to all 16 to 19 institutions. This fund is targeted at students in most need, offering small group tuition to recover lost learning.

We introduced additional hours for 2022 to 2023, which is in addition to the tuition fund. Additional hours will support all students to help ensure gaps in learning caused by disruption to education are bridged and is aimed at uplifting hours to bring us closer to high performing international comparator countries.

4. Changes for 2022 to 2023

Changes to how institutions opt into the fund will streamline the process, whilst reporting requirements have been simplified by removing the need for a narrative, published statement of intent, and replaced with mid and end-of-year financial reports.

There are no changes to the way funding is allocated. Please refer to section 7 for further information about allocations.

4.1 Additional flexibilities

Students who have not achieved a grade 6 in GCSE English and/or maths at age 16 will be eligible to receive tuition support.

Students who meet the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund eligibility criteria will be eligible to receive tuition support, even where they do not meet the current eligibility criteria of living in the 27% most economically deprived areas of the country (based on the index of multiple deprivation). Students with high prior attainment who are eligible for the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund can receive tuition support, if it is needed for them to reach their full potential.

See section 4.5 for a full list of eligible students.

4.2 Opt in process to the fund

Institutions in receipt of the academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition fund will automatically have their allocation renewed (auto renewal) with the option to opt out using the digital form if they wish to.

Institutions delivering tuition support funded from their academic year 2020 to 2021 allocation but who are not in receipt of tuition funding for academic year 2021 to 2022 are not eligible for auto renewal.

4.3 Requirements and accountability

Institutions will no longer be required to publish a statement of intent on how they intend to deliver the fund. Institutions will now be required to submit financial mid-year report and end-of-year reports.

We will ask you to submit your end-of-year report on the same form we use to collect information on delivering additional hours in study programmes.

This is to reduce the administrative burden on institutions. If your institution is not required to submit an end-of-year report for additional hours, you will still be required to complete the COVID-19 16 to 19 tuition fund elements of the end-of-year report.

For further details about each report please refer to section 7.

4.4 Institution eligibility

All institutions that receive annual funding allocations from ESFA for the provision of 16 to 19 education are eligible.

4.5 Student eligibility

All students must be on a 16 to 19 study programme or T Level. The funding should be used to support the tuition activity above and beyond what is already set out in the planned educational activity of the programme. The following students are eligible for tuition via the 16 to 19 tuition fund:

• students that have not achieved a grade 6 in GCSE English and/or GCSE maths at age 16 and would need catch-up support
• students from the 27% most economically deprived areas of the country (based on the index of multiple deprivation) and would need catch-up support
• students that are economically disadvantaged who meet the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund eligibility criteria and would need catch-up support to reach their full potential will be eligible, even where their prior attainment is high
• students aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health, and care (EHC) plan are also eligible for support, subject to meeting the eligibility for the fund

4.6 Prioritising eligible students for tuition support

When identifying who needs support through the tuition fund based on low prior attainment, institutions should prioritise tuition for those students who have not achieved a grade 4 in GCSE maths and/or English in the first instance.

4.7 Activities supported by the fund

The fund supports students that meet eligibility requirements in:

• small groups and one to one tuition
• tuition in English, maths/other academic subjects
• tuition in non-academic subjects, such as exam preparation
• tuition in vocational courses

Institutions must consider what will be most effective for their eligible students, considering students’ needs and local circumstances.

4.8 Additional activities supported by the fund for special education needs and disabilities (SEND) students and students aged 19 to 24 with an EHC plan

In addition to general activities supported by the fund, for eligible SEND students and those with EHC plans aged 19 to 24, the fund can also be used to provide pastoral support including mental health and wellbeing.

Institutions should have regard to the needs of SEND students, particularly where they have experienced additional disruption to learning because of their specific needs and disabilities.

Institutions may choose to use this funding to support eligible learners with SEND to catch up on vocational and academic skills, and skills and learning that are important for their preparation for adulthood.

4.9 Small group tuition

The funding should be used to support tuition costs only; that is the actual staff costs of delivering catch-up tuition, or the costs of contracting/commissioning a third party. This could include essential record keeping complying with the fund requirements. It should not include costs such as diagnostic tools, room hire, equipment, laptops, transport, or stationery.

This does not apply to eligible SEND students and those with EHC plans aged 19 to 24 because of the additional activities supported by the fund.

Group sizes

Small groups are:

• up to 5 students
• in exceptional circumstances, this may be extended to up to 7 students

Group sizes over 7 will not be eligible for support from this fund.

Examples of exceptional circumstances include:

• where workshop space is at a premium
• if the absence of a member of staff requires the merger of 2 existing groups on a temporary basis
• where a specialist staff member has limited availability

Institutions should be mindful of the quality of provision when extending group size. You can refer to the quality of provision section.

Delivery

More than one group can be held in the same space.

In these circumstances:

• the groups must be clearly defined
• each group must have their own tutor
• the space must be conducive to multiple small group activity

Resourcing (staffing)

Institutions can decide how to resource the delivery of small group tuition supported through the fund. This may include a mix of both teaching and learning support staff, as appropriate.

Institutions must ensure that anyone delivering small group tuition has the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience, and has received appropriate training where necessary.

Resourcing could be through paying for more hours from existing staff, hiring new staff, or buying in a service from a third-party provider. Where a third-party is used for all or part of delivery, ESFA subcontracting rules do not apply.

5. Responsibilities

5.1 Quality of provision

Institutions should have regard for the quality of their tutoring provision. Evidence suggests that small group tuition works better with the smallest groups, and when the tuition is focused on students’ specific needs and is linked to classroom learning. Training and tutor support are also likely to increase the effectiveness of small group tutoring, providing the best possible outcomes for students.

Good examples of how the tuition fund has been used include institutions utilising a mixture of small group and one-to-one tuition focused on students they have identified as having significant gaps in their learning. In addition, some institutions have used the fund to hire specific subject specialist staff to provide targeted support in areas such as maths and English, and vocational areas.

The Education Endowment Foundation has published a toolkit which institutions may find useful.

The toolkit provides extra information on small group tuition, including links to related resources.

5.2 Support from a third-party provider (buying in a service)

Institutions remain responsible at all times for:

• the quality of provision
• student health and wellbeing
• managing the funding, allocated in line with the conditions of funding and controls and accountability requirements
• record keeping
• providing ESFA and DfE with management information as required

6. Funding

6.1 Funding conditions

Institutions that opt into the tuition fund through the digital form or do not opt out, where this will result in auto renewal, agree to the terms and conditions of the 16 to 19 tuition funding as set out in this guidance and the 16 to 19 education: funding guidance.

The opt-out process for 2022 to 2023 using the digital form closed on 27 May 2022.

6.2 Eligible spend

Funding should be used as set out in this guidance for eligible students only and prioritised as detailed in the prioritising eligible students section.

Funding should be used to support tuition costs and for additional activities (as set out in activities supported by the fund) for SEND students and those with EHC plans aged 19 to 24.

The fund is to be used for actual staff costs to deliver catch up tuition or the costs of contracting/commissioning a third-party. This could include essential record keeping to comply with the requirements of the fund and should not include costs such as diagnostic tools, room hire, equipment, laptops, transport, or stationery.

Expenditure for additional activities for SEND students and those with EHC plans must have a well-defined rationale with clear evidence of need that is justifiable and relevant to the additional disruption experienced by the student.

6.3 Record keeping

Record in the individualised learner records (ILR) and the schools census students who have received tuition support activities funded through the 16 to 19 tuition fund.

The code to identify tuition fund activities in the ILR can be found via the National learner monitoring: attribute field guidance.

There is also the Provider Support Manual for 2022 to 2023 which includes guidance for completing the ILR.

You can also refer to the learner funding and monitoring (FAM) section of our guidance on how to complete the school census.

Record the use of the funding, including:

• whether a third-party is being used for delivery
• reference to the individual students that receive the support
• the needs of those students
• the number of hours of tuition delivered

Ensure you retain the necessary evidence of the tuition provided and additional cost. Institutions will need this information to complete the end-of-year report.

You must deliver the extra tuition and spend the associated funding in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

Failure to meet these conditions may incur recovery of ineligible spend. The 16 to 19 tuition fund is subject to normal assurance arrangements for 16 to 19 education and training.

7. Controls and accountability requirements

We have a responsibility to make sure that public funds are managed properly, in line with your grant funding agreement. These requirements form part of the conditions of funding.

Institutions will be required to demonstrate that all funding has been administered in accordance with grant funding agreements, including:

• funding has supported additional small group tuition for students aged 16 to 19 (or students aged 19 to 24 with an EHC plan) in English, maths, or other courses where learning has been disrupted
• the retention of original documents relating to the delivery of tuition support and the disbursement of all tuition funding including student enrolment and attendance records and learning agreement - institutions will be required to produce original documents as part of the assurance process

Provide ESFA and DfE with management information as required. This may include submitting a mid-year report on spend and a forecast for end-of-year spend.

7.1 Mid-year report

Institutions are required to complete a mid-year report in January 2023. This is for monitoring purposes only, and not an exercise in which we will seek to reduce your in-year tuition fund allocation.

The mid-year report will ask for:

• tuition fund year to date spend, and
• forecast tuition fund spend for the remainder of the year

We will publish a digital form and guidance for you to submit your mid-year report ahead of January 2023. We will contact you to confirm when the form is live.

We will show your 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation for the academic year 2022 to 2023 in the form.

7.2 End-of-year report

Institutions will be required to submit an end-of-year financial report in October 2023 which will include a declaration of expenditure for the academic year 2022 to 2023 and confirm that expenditure meets the conditions of funding and is accurate.

You are expected to:

• ensure expenditure is incurred and covered in line with this guidance by 31 July 2023
• ensure the prompt return to ESFA of unspent allocated funds - more information about the recovery process will be released separately in June 2023
• comply and co-operate with assurance activities - DfE has the right to request evidence/documents to support expenditure and activities of tuition fund allocations
• identify the 16 to 19 tuition fund as a separate budget line in your institution’s audited accounts

The end-of-year financial report will include:

• a declaration of tuition fund expenditure and how it has been spent for the academic year 2022 to 2023

• confirmation that expenditure meets the conditions of funding and is accurate

We will publish a digital form and guidance for your end-of-year report. We will show your 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation for academic year 2022 to 2023 and the information you returned in your mid-year report.

We will contact you to confirm when the form is live.

ESFA will recover funds where spend is found not to be in line with the conditions of the funding or where auditors identify funding errors in any circumstances where the institution is not able to demonstrate at audit how their students or tuition meet the eligibility criteria of the tuition fund.

7.3 Ofsted

Ofsted may take account of small group tuition funded by the 16 to 19 tuition fund through interim visits and through full inspection.

7.4 Local authorities

Local authorities are responsible for the assurance of tuition funding for local authority-controlled providers and maintained schools with sixth forms.

We reserve the right to delay or withhold payments if data is inaccurate or incomplete. In the event of any variances, we reserve the right to ask you for explanations of these and to seek further information. Insufficient evidence and/or ineligible spend may be recovered.

7.5 Auto renewal

Auto renewal is available only to those institutions in receipt of academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition funding. These institutions have the option to ‘do nothing’ and will receive confirmation from ESFA they are eligible for auto renewal and will automatically receive their 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation for academic year 2022 to 2023.

Institutions delivering tuition support funded from their academic year 2020 to 2021 allocation but who are not in receipt of tuition funding for academic year 2021 to 2022 are not eligible for auto renewal.

Auto renewal institutions will continue to have access to an individualised form which will contain details of their indicative allocation.

Autorenewal institutions wishing to opt out from receiving their 2022 to 2023 allocation that have not already done so can opt out in the October digital form window. See section 7.8 for further details.

7.6 Opting into the fund for 2022 to 2023

Institutions not in receipt of an academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation that wish to receive 16 to 19 tuition funding in academic year 2022 to 2023 should opt in using the form which will contain your academic year 2022 to 2023 allocation offer.

To use this facility, you will need access to your institution’s DfE Sign-in account.

If your DfE Sign-in account is associated with more than one organisation, you must select the individual school or college from the list presented on the ‘Select your organisation’ page. This will then provide you with access to the digital form.

If the individual organisation is not displayed, you would need to find out who within your organisation has approver permissions for DfE Sign-in and they can add or remove a user.

If you cannot find who has approver access, your CEO/CFO or business manager can raise an incident via DfE Sign-in.

7.7 Opting out of the fund for 2022 to 2023

All institutions, including those eligible for auto renewal, that do not wish to receive their allocation should opt out using the form.

7.8 Opt in/out window

There are two windows of opportunity for institutions to opt into the fund and accept their allocation offer or to opt out and decline their allocation offer.

Window 1

Closed on Monday, 9 May 2022

Window 2

Opens 8am, Monday, 3 October 2022 and will close at 11:59pm on Friday, 21 October 2022.

The second window is open to all eligible institutions to opt into the fund and accept their allocation offer or to opt out and decline their allocation offer.

Institutions that made a submission in the 9 May window are able to make a new submission that will supersede the submission made in May 2022.

We strongly encourage all eligible institutions to start this process as early as possible. In the event of unforeseen difficulties, this will allow sufficient time for these to be addressed and avoid institutions missing the closing date.

Your institution does not need to submit this digital form if your institution:

• opted in to receive 16 to 19 tuition funding for academic year 2022 to 2023 using the digital form during the first window in May 2022 and do not wish to change your response

or

• was eligible to automatically have your allocation renewed, have not opted out, and want your opt-in to be automatically renewed for academic year 2022 to 2023.

Who needs to submit the digital form

Your institution will need to submit the digital form if your institution:

• was not in receipt of academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition funding and

• wish to opt in or out of receiving it in 2022 to 2023 or

• wish to change the response you gave during the first digital form window in May

• was in receipt of academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition funding and

• wish to opt out of receiving it in 2022 to 2023 and did not do so during the first digital form window in May

• was in receipt of academic year 2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition funding, opted out of receiving it in 2022 to 2023 during the first digital form window in May, and now wish to change that response

Further guidance

You can access the guidance and the claim form at:

How to complete the 16 to 19 tuition fund: 2022 to 2023 form - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You can read more information regarding the tuition fund and conditions of funding: Coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance 2022 to 2023

We will only contact institutions eligible for 16 to 19 tuition funding in 2022 to 2023. If you receive a letter about the second and final window to opt in or opt out of the coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund for academic year 2022 to 2023, you should submit a digital form if applicable based on the above bullet points.

There will be no further opportunity to opt in or out of receiving 16 to 19 tuition funding for 2022 to 2023 after the second digital form window closes on 21 October 2022.

Further information

If you have any questions about the contents of this email, please contact us via the ESFA help centre.

Outstanding 16 to 19 allocations

It is possible that a minority of institutions will not have had their 16 to 19 allocation confirmed prior to the first opt in window, meaning they were unable to receive a 16 to 19 tuition fund offer in window 1. To accommodate this, a second window is scheduled for October 2022 as detailed above.

In the rare event that an institution has not had their 16 to 19 allocation confirmed in time for the October window, ESFA will work with institutions on an individual basis should they wish to take up their allocation, once the amount is confirmed.

Changes to allocations

For some institutions the level of the 16 to 19 tuition fund shown in the form may have changed since the May window. This would be where a successful business case that adjusts any of the elements in their 16 to 19 allocation used to calculate the tuition fund changes.

These are:

• funded students
• funding band proportions - DB1 or DB2.

In these instances, the final tuition fund value will be adjusted to reflect the change. The final tuition funding will be confirmed in a revised 16 to 19 allocation statement, once processed.

If you do not agree with the changed allocation, you should contact us via the ESFA help centre no later than 21 October 2022 and we will investigate.

7.9 Notification

ESFA will announce in the ESFA Update when the tuition fund allocations have been processed. This will be after institutions have received a confirmed 16 to 19 allocation.

• May 2022 window - Closed on Monday, 9 May 2022

• October 2022 window - no later than week commencing 21 November 2022

7.10 Payments

Payment of the 16 to 19 tuition fund will be made through your 16 to 19 funding allocation. Institutions will receive payment as follows:

• May 2022 window - payments will commence from the start of the 2022 to 2023 academic year
• October 2022 window - payments will commence no earlier than December 2022

7.11 Allocations for 2022 to 2023

The tuition fund allocation will be shown in the form. This value will align to the 16 to 19 allocation shared with institutions ahead of the digital form going live.

For institutions that auto renew or opt in to receive the fund, their final allocation will reflect any changes made as a result of a successful 16 to 19 business case affecting funded students, DB1 or DB2. The final allocation value will be communicated via a revised 16 to 19 allocation statement.

Allocations will continue to be based on the 2 proxy measures set out below:

• students with low prior attainment, meaning those who did not have a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and/or maths at age 16
• students from the 27% most economically deprived areas of the country based on the index of multiple deprivation

However, institutions will have the ability to also use allocations for students eligible for the new flexibilities as detailed section 4.1.

To calculate the number of instances per student from the 27% most economically deprived areas, we have counted the number of students funded in academic year 2020 to 2021 with a DB1 uplift, and divided it by the total number of funded students in academic year 2020 to 2021.

Institutions will be able to see this data in their 2022 to 2023 allocation and calculation toolkit (ACT) file. The ‘Programme’ sheet shows the disadvantage uplift factor for each student in the ‘uplift factor’ column.

If a student is not eligible for block 1 disadvantage funding, the ‘Uplift Factor’ column shows 1.0000 and the ‘Disadvantage Instance’ column shows a 0. Students identified as ‘funded’ are marked with a ‘Yes’ in the ‘Funded Student’ column. The final calculated DB1 instances per student is shown in the ‘Funding Elements’ sheet of the ACT file.

To calculate the total 2022 to 2023 instances for tuition funding, the instances per student from an institution’s ACT file, are multiplied by the number of 2022 to 2023 funded students as notified to institutions in their 2022 to 2023 16 to 19 funding statement.

The higher, lower and FTE instances are calculated using 2022 to 2023 funding band proportions also shown in the 16 to 19 funding statement. Where an institution delivers T Levels, T Level instances have been included with the higher rate instances.

For institutions without 2020 to 2021 academic year data, we have used an average for the local authority area in which the institution is based, using local authority level instances per student for institutions funded in 2022 to 2023 academic year.

For those with no local authority average data, a national average for each institution category has been used. Whilst the DB1 uplift factor varies depending on the range of deprivation, for the purposes of tuition funding we have not included any variation.

The calculation of the DB2 element of 16 to 19 tuition funding is based on the figures in an institution’s 2022 to 2023 16 to 19 funding statement and the English and maths instances data in the ‘programme’ sheet of the ACT file.

7.12 - In-year additional funding for 2022 to 2023

We are allocating some additional funding to institutions who forecast in their in-year spend report that they will spend all their 16 to 19 tuition funding for academic year 2022 to 2023. We have contacted all institutions that this applies to.

For these institutions, we will pay up to an extra 12.5% of their original 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation for academic year 2022 to 2023 once they have confirmed final spend for the academic year in their end-of-year report. This additional funding must be spent by the end of the academic year 2022 to 2023. The conditions of funding remain the same as those for the original full year 16 to 19 tuition fund allocation. This also applies to the controls and accountability requirements.

8. Rates

Institutions will receive £100 per instance for students in bands 4, 5 and above and £60 for students in the lower bands. An individual student may attract more than 1 instance dependent upon their circumstances in accordance with the measures used to calculate the allocation.

The tables below provide an example of how we will calculate the 16 to 19 tuition fund.

The figures below are for illustration only.

Disadvantage block 1 - economic disadvantage

Total 2022 to 2023 instances attracting funding	208.44	Tuition funding rates	Tuition funding (instances multiply rate)
Instances at the higher rate (where an institution delivers T Levels, T Level instances have been included with the higher rate instances)	206.29	£100	£20,629
Instances at the lower rate	2.15	£60	£129
Instances at the FTE rate
Student instances	0.00
FTE instances	0.00	£100	£0
Total disadvantage block 1 tuition funding			£20,758

Disadvantage block 2 - prior attainment

Total 2022 to 2023 instances attracting funding (based on the disadvantage block 2 figures from your 2022 to 2023 allocation statement	112.16	Tuition funding rates	Tuition funding (instances multiply rate)
Instances at the higher rate (where an institution delivers T Levels, T Level instances have been included with the higher rate instances)	111.01	£100	£11,101
Instances at the lower rate	1.16	£60	£70
Instances at the FTE rate
Student instances	0.00
FTE instances	0.00	£100	£0
Total disadvantage block 2 tuition funding			£11,171

8.1 2022 to 2023 tuition fund summary

Disadvantage block 1 and 2 - total 2021 to 2022 instances attracting funding

320.60

2021 to 2022 16 to 19 tuition funding

£31,929

Note 1: Calculation of the DB1 instances per student data is shown in the 2022 to 2023 Allocation Calculation Toolkit file. Where 2020 to 2021 data is not available, an average for the institution type will be used.

Note 2: The DB2 data is based on figures from your 2022 to 2023 allocation statement.

9. Contact us

If you have further questions after reading this guidance, please contact us using our online form.