Correspondence

ESFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 28 September 2017

Published 29 September 2017

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.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. Information: 16 to 19 work placement funding

On Thursday, 6 July, Education Secretary Justine Greening confirmed a £50 million investment from April 2018 to fund high-quality work placements, a key component of every T-Level, to help prepare young people for skilled work.

All 16 to 19 students following a new technical education route will be entitled to a substantial work placement to arm them with the technical skills that they need to give them the best possible chance for entering skilled employment.

This funding will be available to institutions currently delivering the technical programmes at level 2 and 3, with an Ofsted grade of “Requires Improvement” or better. We have published guidance covering:

• details of institution eligibility, the process for distributing the funding and guidance for completing an implementation plan
• principles for work placements

We will be writing to eligible institutions directly with further details and a link to complete an online implementation plan.

We are also arranging a webinar on 1 November 2017, which will aim to clarify any queries you may have relating to eligibility, funding and implementation plans. Details of this will be included in the direct communication to eligible institutions and in a future ESFA e-bulletin.

2. Reminder: 16 to 19 grant return and use of funds statement and Dedicated Schools Grant Chief Finance Officer’s statement

Local authorities are required to upload the following documents to the ESFA’s Information Exchange by 31 October 2017.

• 16 to 19 grant return and use of funds statement for 2016 to 2017
• DSG assurance statement and notes for 2016 to 2017

Please upload the returns using the guidance on 16 to 19 grant return and DSG assurance statement.

All files should be uploaded to the ESFA Information Exchange in the document exchange ‘Finance and Payments’ folder, under ‘AY 2016-17’.

To access Document Exchange log into ESFA Information Exchange and choose the Document Exchange tab at the top of the page. For support and guidance about ESFA Information Exchange, please visit our support page.

3. Information: high needs funding operational guide for 2018 to 2019 and updated schools funding operational guidance for 2018 to 2019

We’ve published the high needs operational guidance setting out arrangements for high needs funding in 2018 to 2019. This includes a summary of key dates, deadlines and what you need to do for 2018 to 2019.

We’ll publish more detail about the process for local authorities to request changes to place numbers in ESFA funded institutions shortly.

We’ve updated the schools operational guidance for 2018 to 2019 to reflect the government’s response to the second stage schools national funding formula consultation and high needs national funding formula consultation.

We’ve also published the national funding formula technical notes. Tables showing the step by step calculations for the schools block will be made available to each local authority and school via the COLLECT system next week.

4. Information: schools forum guidance

We’ve updated the schools forum operational and good practice guide to help local authorities, school leaders and governing bodies understand their schools forum obligations and duties.

We’ve also updated the schools forums powers and responsibilities which provides a summary of the powers and responsibilities of schools forums.

5. Information: Condition Data Collection

As the Condition Data Collection (CDC) programme progresses, we are working to ensure all responsible bodies will be able to access their schools’ condition data through the online CDC Portal.

If you are a responsible body and do not yet have access to the CDC Portal, please email CDC.PortalSupport@education.gov.uk with the name of the person who will be responsible for the account and their contact details. We will then get in touch with this person directly to set up your responsible body’s account.

6. Information: section 251 budget and benchmarking data for 2017 to 2018

We’ve published the section 251 (s251) budget data for 2017 to 2018 and the s251 benchmarking tables, explanatory note and additional information for 2017 to 2018 on GOV.UK.

Local authorities can use the information to compare planned expenditure against national averages and statistical neighbours.

We published the s251 budget 2017 to 2018 Statistical First Release (SFR) data on Wednesday, 21 September.

7. Information: customer engagement survey about 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations

Thank you to all those who have participated in our survey about how you receive and use our products that support the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations. Your input has been very valuable.

You still have an opportunity to provide your input. This won’t take more than 15 minutes of your time to complete and we appreciate all responses.

The survey will close on Friday, 29 September.