Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 1 March 2023

Published 1 March 2023

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-1-march-2023/esfa-update-local-authorities-1-march-2023

1. Information: PE and sport premium allocations for 2022 to 2023

We have published the updated PE and sport premium allocations for 2022 to 2023 to include new and eligible providers who will receive their first allocation.

2. Information: Homes for Ukraine education and childcare funding

To date, local authorities have received payments towards the Homes for Ukraine education and childcare funding for quarters 1 and 2 for the 2022 to2023 financial year. Quarter 3 payments were made on 28 February 2023 and account for any over- or under-payment from quarters 1 and 2.

The quarter 3 allocations are based upon data returned by your local authority for arrivals between 1 September and 30 November 2022. You can find the amount of funding allocated per child for each quarter of 2022 to 2023 and the conditions of grant on GOV.UK.

Funding must only be used for the provision of education and childcare for children ages 2 to 18 who have entered via the Homes for Ukraine visa route.

3. Information: 16 to 19 additional hours in study programmes

We increased funding for academic year 2022 to 2023 for the introduction of an additional 40 hours for band 5 study programmes, T Levels, and for a proportionate increase in hours for other study programmes from the start of academic year 2022 to 2023.

This investment is part of the government’s commitment to a long-term education recovery. This, alongside other education recovery programmes such as the 16 to 19 tuition fund, will help ensure gaps in learning caused by disruption to education can be filled.

This week, we published guidance on 16 to 19 additional hours in study programmes for academic year 2023 to 2024. We also published a sample of what we anticipate the end of year report for academic year 2022 to 2023 will look like and updated the monitoring section to remind institutions that we’ll issue guidance for the end of year digital report in October 2023.

The policy remains the same however we have removed the requirement for an end of year report to reduce burdens on institutions.

If you have any questions after reading the guidance, please contact our customer service team.

4. Information: earnings uplifts in FE adult education budget (AEB) for non-devolved areas in academic years 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024

To support FE providers of adult skills in the current economic landscape, we are increasing provider earnings within AEB for academic years 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024, in non-devolved areas. This will give providers an increase in funding before we introduce the new funding rates that will apply to the ESFA skills fund for the academic year 2024 to 2025.

In addition, we are increasing the AEB over-delivery threshold, as we did last year. The new level of 110% will apply permanently going forward, meaning providers can deliver up to 110% of their allocation giving providers confidence to increase the volume of training and invest in high value skills provision.

In academic years 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 we will apply a 2.2% increase to the final earnings for all AEB formula-funded provision (excluding associated learner and learning support). In addition, we will apply a 20% boost on top of earnings for all AEB formula-funded provision in 6 sector subject areas: Engineering, Manufacturing Technologies, Transport Operations and Maintenance, Building and Construction, ICT for Practitioners, and Mathematics and Statistics.

These funding boosts will apply to both grant and contract funded providers. We will apply it automatically to your total earnings at the end of each of the 2 academic years . You will not see the increases in your earnings each month through the current system.

We will provide further details on the operation of the earnings boosts and allocation thresholds in the AEB funding rates and formula guidance.

5. Information: my experience of buying transport using Get help buying for schools

In our latest blog post, Emma Foulkes, Chief Finance Officer for the Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Academy Trust in the North West, shares her experience of using the Get help buying for schools service to buy transport for one of the schools in the trust and how it could help you with your buying too.

6. Information: join these webinars on approved frameworks and see how you could save money for your school

Are you responsible for buying good and services or your school? The Schools Commercial Team (SCT) within the Department for Education is leading on the Buying for Schools programme; delivering services to support schools to buy goods and services.

The team are hosting free webinars on how using our approved frameworks could save you time and help your school get value for money. Click on the links to find out more and book your place:

Back to top