Correspondence

ESFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 22 February 2018

Published 22 February 2018

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Action: publication of section 251 budget guidance and tables for 2018 to 2019

We’ve published the section 251 budget 2018 to 2019 guidance and tables for local authorities. The deadline for submission of this data collection is 30 April 2018 via the COLLECT system.

2. Reminder: deadline to submit expression of interest to deliver T levels in the 2020 to 2021 academic year approaching

We would like to remind institutions the deadline for submitting an expression of interest to deliver T levels in the 2020 to 2021 academic year is noon on 28 February 2018.

Institutions must meet the set criteria to express an interest. Further details are available on GOV.UK. Institutions that have saved a plan to complete at a later date, must ensure that they submit their plan by the deadline.

3. Information: T level panel recruitment

The Department for Education will begin recruiting for the next phase of T level panels at the end of March 2018. Ahead of launching the recruitment, the Department would like to raise awareness of its plans and request your help in making practitioners and other professionals aware.

T level panels are responsible for developing the outline content for new T levels and are made up of employers, professional bodies and providers. There are already T level panels in place across 6 routes: Digital; Education and Childcare; Construction; Health and Science; Legal, Financial and Accounting; and Engineering and Manufacturing. These panels are working hard to create outline content for those T levels to be delivered in 2020 and 2021.

At the end of March recruitment will open for the panels for the 5 remaining T level routes, which will be delivered from 2022: Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care; Business and Administration; Hair and Beauty; Creative and Design; and Catering and Hospitality. We are looking for people with direct experience of occupations in those areas and would appreciate your help in raising awareness amongst your networks of this activity ahead of the recruitment launch. We are keen to ensure we have a diverse balance of industry professionals, be that experienced practitioners, managers/trainers of practitioners, or members of professional bodies or trade associations, with a breadth of experience and knowledge, and covering a range of roles.

Please contact employer.panels@education.gov.uk for further information.

4. Information: 16 to 19 revenue funding for 2018 to 2019

We have published a presentation on the 16 to 19 funding allocations process for 2018 to 2019. This provides further information on this year’s allocation process following our annual letter to the sector in January.

We’re starting to upload 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statements for schools and academies to ESFA Information Exchange. We expect the allocations for most of these institutions to be available by the end of February and the remainder to be available by the end of March.

You can find your files in ESFA Information Exchange in the Document Exchange ‘Revenue Funding’ folder, under ‘AY 2018-19 (2018/19)’.To access Document Exchange log into ESFA Information Exchange and choose the Document Exchange tab at the top of the page.

As in previous years, we have based funding allocations for 2018 to 2019 on your 2017 to 2018 lagged student numbers. Your allocation statement includes a breakdown of our calculation. We’ve published detailed guidance to help you understand your allocation statement. Please use your allocation calculation toolkit and guidance to understand the data we have used.

We will consider business cases where there is a significant error in the data you have returned. The deadline for business cases is 27 April 2018. We will apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether we will consider your case. Please review the thresholds published in the supporting information before submitting your business case.

If you have any queries please contact us using our online enquiry form.

5. Information: gender pay gap reporting

The statutory deadline for publishing gender pay gap data is fast approaching. Schools, academy trusts and further education colleges with 250 or more employees should publish their figures by no later than 30 March 2018.

You should publish your calculations on the government’s online gender pay gap reporting service, as well as on your own website. Please register as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to publish your data yet.

You can register now for a gender pay gap reporting webinar hosted by the Government Equalities Office on 6 March 2018 between 1pm and 2pm. All employers in the education sector who would like further advice on the reporting requirements and actions to close the gender pay gap are welcome to attend.

6. Information: year 7 catch up premium 2017 to 2018

The year 7 catch-up premium gives state-funded schools, including special schools and alternative provision settings, additional funding to support year 7 pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in reading or maths at the end of key stage 2. We’ve published the year 7 catch up premium allocations and conditions of grant for the 2017 to 2018 financial year.

7. Information: schools fraud alert

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) has seen an increase in recent weeks in the volume fraud reports where schools are the targeted victim. This has resulted in substantial financial losses for several schools that have fallen victim to this type of fraud.

A school is targeted by a fraudster who purports to be the headteacher / principal. The fraudster contacts a member of staff with responsibility for authorising financial transfers and requests for a one off, often urgent, bank transfer. The amounts requested have been between £8,000 and £10,000. Contact is by email and from a spoofed / similar email address to the one the headteacher / principal would use.

NFIB advises that:

• you ensure that you have robust processes in place to verify and corroborate all requests to change any supplier or payment details - get in touch with the supplier (or internal colleague) directly, using contact details you know to be correct, to confirm that a request you have received is legitimate

• all employees should be aware of these procedures and encouraged to challenge requests they think may be suspicious, particularly urgent sounding requests from senior employees

• sensitive information you post publicly, or dispose of incorrectly, can be used by fraudsters to perpetrate fraud against you - the more information they have about you, the more convincingly they can purport to be one of your legitimate suppliers or employees

• always shred confidential documents before throwing them away

• e-mail addresses can be spoofed to appear as though an email is from someone you know - if an email is unexpected or unusual, then don’t click on the links or open the attachments

• staff should not be allowed to check emails or use the internet with administrator accounts

If you have been affected by this, or any other type of fraud, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk.

8. Information: Charity Commission consultation

The Charity Commission has launched a consultation about new guidance to help charities manage their relationships with connected non-charitable organisations. The consultation will run until 15 May 2018.