Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19) DfE 2021 qualifications funding: form guidance

Updated 18 January 2022

This guidance was withdrawn on 7 April 2021

This page has been withdrawn as the deadline to submit a claim has passed.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

These instructions are for:

• school and college senior leaders
• heads of exam centres offering GCSEs, A/AS level or vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) exams or functional skills qualifications (FSQs) assessments
• exams officers and other staff involved in exam delivery

This guidance is to help you claim financial support through the 2021 qualifications funding claim service online form. This form allows you to claim for any or all these grants:

• private candidate support grant
• priority appeals
• autumn 2021 exam series.

Eligibility for each grant is detailed in the guidance links above.

2. Eligibility to claim

The following providers are eligible to make claims using the online form:

• state-funded schools
• further education, sixth form and tertiary colleges
• independent training providers
• apprenticeship training providers
• independent schools
• adult and community learning providers
• private exam centres

Claims must be made at school, academy, college or provider level and must be submitted by individual establishments

3. When to claim

Claims should be submitted after all costs have been incurred. Cancellation charges are ineligible unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated. For example, where local restrictions prevent candidates from taking exams at a venue where payment has already been made and cannot be refunded, but not in circumstances such as the centre deciding to hold exams on its own premises.

The deadlines for submitting claims are outlined below:

Claim type	Deadline
Private candidates	10 January 2022
Priority appeals	10 January 2022
Autumn 2021 exam costs undertaken between 1 October 2021 and 25 February 2022	4 March 2022
Autumn 2021 exam costs undertaken between 28 February 2022 and 31 March 2022	6 April 2022

Claims can be amended or deleted up until the deadlines by state funded schools, further education, sixth form and tertiary colleges only. It will not be possible to grant any extensions to the deadlines.

For any amendments submitted after a deadline or for private centres, you need to complete an ESFA enquiry form with the details.

4. Accessing the claim form

Select the link to the claim form.

4.1 Before you start

Before you start the claims process, please ensure that you:

• read this guidance on how to make a claim
• have a UKPRN number and a DfE sign-in account (as appropriate)
• are an eligible establishment
• have your vocational and technical or functional skills qualification numbers
• have registered your bank details with DfE at least 15 working days before the claim form closes if you do not already receive your funding through ESFA
• have completed the spreadsheet templates to upload for private candidates or priority appeal claims - the templates can be found on the GOV.UK coronavirus (COVID-19) qualifications funding page
• have evidence of your costs available to upload for autumn 2021 exam series, and private candidate appeals costs charged by awarding organisations if applicable

Select the link to the claim form.

Once you have moved on from the initial page by selecting ‘start now’ you will then be asked to select your organisation. Please select the type that best describes your organisation.

To access the claim form, you will need to enter your 8-digit UK provider registration number (UKPRN).

If you do not have a UKPRN

If you do not know the UKPRN for your school or college, you can find it on the get information about schools database on GOV.UK.

If you do not have a UKPRN, you can register as a UK learning provider. If your school or college is not already set up with a DfE sign-in or UKPRN, you should set this up in advance of making a claim, so that payment is not delayed.

For state funded schools, further education, sixth form and tertiary colleges you will then log in to your DfE Sign-in account

1) When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (this is just for authentication).

2) Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form.

3) The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you logged in. This will show the name, address and Unique Reference Number (URN) or UKPRN of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who logged into DfE Sign-in.

4) If these details are correct, then all you need do is to select ‘Continue’ to step to the next page.

5) If you believe they are incorrect, complete the ESFA online enquiries form and we will investigate.

6) Complete the form as instructed in the following sections.

7) To access the form for another organisation, sign out and follow steps 1 to 4 again.

Your account must be connected to the organisation you are completing the claim form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in, it is only used for authentication purposes.

If you are a state-funded school or a further education, sixth-form or tertiary college and do not have a DfE Sign-in account

You will need to create one.

To do this:

1) Select the ‘create account’ button from the DfE Sign-in page.

2) Enter your name and email address (it is best to use your work email address or one that is clearly associated with your organisation).

3) We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

4) Create a memorable password of 12 characters or more (we recommend joining 3 or more familiar words).

5) Sign in using your new credentials, and request access to the organisation for which you would like to submit a claim.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under already have a DfE account to complete the form.

You might have noticed the term ‘approver’ during account creation. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as an administrator or manager.

For security reasons, you will need the approval of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

If you need further assistance

If you are having problems using the DfE Sign-in service, follow DfE Sign-in Help. You will be able to request further assistance if required. When raising a support request, please select ‘other’.

If you believe you are eligible to claim but have problems accessing the form, please get in touch with us, selecting the ‘DfE exam support service’ button.

For all other organisation types

• You will be asked to confirm your UKPRN and then ‘search for organisation’
• Confirmation of your organisation name and UKPRN will be presented
• If your UKPRN is not found, please either register for a UKPRN or if you think there is a problem contact us, selecting the DfE exam support service button.
• You will then be asked if you have a vendor number (a letter followed by 7-digit number)
• If you do not, select ‘No’ and you will receive a notice that advises you that you can still proceed with your claim, but that you must register your bank details in order to receive your claims payment.

You will then be asked to enter your name and contact details including contact telephone number and email address.

5. Completing the form

There is no save facility on the form, so please have all the information and evidence ready before starting a claim.

If your claim form is opened for an extended period, you may lose any information entered and will need to log in again.

You will be presented with several pages which will ask you to complete information related to qualifications funding and the associated costs you are claiming for. You will then be prompted to complete the required declarations and tell you what will happen once you have submitted the form.

Selecting ‘continue’ on each page will take you through the form.

5.1 Introduction Page

This page confirms which type of claim you have selected and gives you an overview of your claim.

Each claim type will present an introduction page confirming the claim deadlines applicable.

5.2 Your details

This is a read-only page that is available to state funded schools, further education, sixth form and tertiary colleges when you log in to your DfE Sign-in account. This page confirms your detail including your setting.

5.3 Your claims

You must select one of the claim types from the list provided or you will be unable to proceed further with your claim form.

5.4 Private candidate claim

Enter the number of candidate entries you are claiming for.

Depending on if you wish to claim for appeals, you can also enter the total number of appeals and how much the appeal costs you are claiming for are.

You cannot proceed with your form without entering number of candidate entries.

Eligibility

Subject to verification of the evidence provided you are eligible to claim ‘{[total number of candidate entries] x [£200]} + [appeal costs if any]’. The system will complete the calculation for you.

Example 1: If you are claiming for 20 candidates but have no appeal costs; {20 x 200} + 0 = £4000 Example 2: If you are claiming for 10 candidates and have also entered appeal costs of £75: {10 x 200} + {75} = 2000 + 75 = £2075

Supporting evidence

You must upload supporting evidence. Ensure you have used the spreadsheet template, which can be found on the GOV.UK coronavirus (COVID-19) qualifications funding page. Failure to do so will delay your claim.

You must also provide evidence to support any awarding organisation private candidate appeal charges you are claiming for. This evidence will need to be awarding organisation invoices, or emails from awarding organisations confirming the costs you are claiming.

Files cannot be more than 30mb and the file type must be one of pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ods, jpg, jpeg, tif, tiff or png.

You must upload a file to continue.

5.5 Priority appeals

Enter the number of priority appeals you are claiming for.

You cannot proceed with your form without entering the number of priority appeals.

Eligibility

Subject to verification of the evidence provided you are eligible to claim ‘[total number of priority appeals] x [£75]’ i.e. if you enter 10 appeals, you will be entitled to claim £750 [10 x 75].

Supporting evidence

You must upload supporting evidence. Ensure you have used the spreadsheet template, which can be found on the GOV.UK coronavirus (COVID-19) qualifications funding page. Failure to do so may delay your claim.

File cannot be more than 30mb and file type must be one of xlsx, xls or ods.

You must upload a file to continue.

5.6 Autumn 2021 exam types

Select the exam type for Autumn 2021 that you wish to claim funding for.

Autumn 2021: VTQs & FSQs

You will only see this page if you have selected VTQs and FSQs at the autumn 2021 exam type page.

This section will give you a brief introduction of vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs), functional skill qualifications (FTQs) and other general qualifications. You need the qualification number of any VTQ or FSQs exams to check that they are in scope for funding.

How many VTQ or FSQ Exams were held?

You can select between 1 and 20 exams from the drop-down and can also select qualification number from the drop-down list. You must input qualification number for the exam to proceed with claim form.

Autumn 2021: Exam fees

This section gives you a brief introduction of exam fees and explains eligible and ineligible costs.

If you select ‘yes’ as an answer to claim for exam fees, you will be asked to provide information regarding rebates for 2021 exam series, total number of eligible exam entries and total value of all eligible exam entries for October 2021 to March 2022.

We will only fund autumn exams fee amounts which exceed any rebates or credit notes you receive for summer 2021. Additionally, for VTQs, you should only claim for funding for costs which exceed your usual autumn/spring exam costs (and which are not covered by any 2021 rebates you receive).

Eligibility

Subject to verification of the evidence provided, you are eligible to claim ‘[total value of all eligible exam entries] – [rebates]’ You will only be asked to provide a statement if you have selected ‘yes’ to previous question.

Autumn 2021: invigilation costs

You can claim back the deficit of invigilation costs for the period October 2021 to March 2022 (plus any costs you paid for invigilation over summer 2021) that exceed your usual invigilation costs (likely for the academic year 2018 to 2019).

These should not include training courses as these can be claimed for separately (see invigilator training costs). Costs can include time invigilators spend receiving training on venue-specific information.

If you select ‘yes’ as an answer to claim for invigilation costs, you will be asked about your total invigilation costs from a previous year (likely to be for year 2018 to 2019) and a breakdown of invigilation payments for this year.

You should enter all payments excluding VAT, unless you are unable to reclaim through other means. If your claim includes VAT, you will be asked to make an additional declaration before submitting this claim.

Eligibility

Subject to verification of the evidence provided you are eligible to claim ‘[total invigilation costs for the period October 2021 to March 2022] + [ Total invigilation costs for summer 2021] - [Total costs for invigilation in typical year]’. You will only be asked to provide a statement if you have selected ‘yes’ to previous question.

Autumn 2021: Invigilator training costs

This funding is available to provide financial support to schools and colleges to train new invigilators to support the delivery of exams of the autumn 2021 exam series.

If you select ‘yes’ as an answer to claim for the costs, you will be asked about total invigilation training costs from October 2021 to March 2022.

You should enter all payments excluding VAT, unless you are unable to reclaim through other means. If your claim includes VAT, you would be asked to make an additional declaration before submitting this claim.

Autumn 2021: Venue costs

This funding is available to provide financial support to schools and colleges to find alternative sites to run the autumn exams where it is not possible to run them on their own sites (or collaboratively) without disruption to study.

If you select ‘yes’ as an answer to claim for venue costs, you will be asked about number of venues used that incurred a cost including venue name, postcode, largest number of candidates and number of days venue used, with the dates they were used on.

You need to enter total cost of all venues that you wish to claim. You should enter all payments excluding VAT unless you are unable to reclaim through other means.

If your claim includes VAT, you would be asked to make an additional declaration before submitting this claim.

Supportive evidence

You can upload up to 4 files to support your claim. If you need to provide additional evidence, please see the user guidance.

The file cannot be more than 30mb and file type must be one or more of pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ods, jpg, jpeg, tif, tiff or png.

You must upload at least one file to continue.

5.7 Summary and declarations

You will then be asked to check your answers before submitting your claims, followed by confirmation of your claim values.

If you would like to change any answers, use the ‘change’ link that appears to the relevant data entry.

Based on the answers selected on your claim form, we ask you to make several declarations.

You will not be able to submit your claim without completing these declarations and to do that, you need to tick each box.

Once you have completed this page, you will be able to select ‘accept and send’ to submit your claims.

You will see a message confirming that your claims have been submitted.

5.8 Confirmation

The final page confirms your claim has been submitted successfully. You will receive a unique reference number against your submission, followed by an explanation of what happens next.

You will also receive an email which includes your claim reference number, and a copy of your claim form in pdf format.

We will then review your claim and may contact you if additional information is required.

5.9 Return journey

As an exam support claimant that has accessed the service via DfE Sign In, you can see a summary of your previous claims and have the option to

• amend an existing claim
• delete an existing claim

You can only amend or delete a claim if the relevant claim window is still open for submissions.

Amend claim page

Depending on which claim journey you wish to amend, you will repeat the relevant funding journey i.e. private candidates, priority appeals, or autumn 2021 exams with existing claim data pre-populated for you to amend as necessary.

You will receive a new unique submission number for an amended claim.

Claims can be amended up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions to the deadline.

For any amendments made past the deadline, and for users that do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you need to complete ESFA enquiry form.

Delete claim page

Depending on which claim journey you wish to delete, you will be able to delete an existing claim after you have submitted it so that you can remove a claim that is not required.

You will be prompted to make the following mandatory declaration:

• I understand that the details in my claim will be deleted and cannot be retrieved.

You will not be able to delete your claim without completing this declaration and to do that you need to tick the box.

Claims can be deleted up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions to the deadline.

For any amendments past the deadline, and for users that do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you need to complete the ESFA enquiry form.

6. Enquiries

If you’ve read this guidance and have any questions about the coronavirus (COVID-19) 2021 qualifications fund or how to complete the online form, please use the ESFA enquiry form.

When completing the enquiry form, select ‘coronavirus (COVID-19) 2021 qualifications fund’ as your query type.

6.1 What happens next 

The information you have entered will be checked and validated against your funding allocation.

Spot checks on receipted records will be carried out.