Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 11 March 2020

Published 11 March 2020

This correspondence was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Read the latest editions of ESFA Update for up to date news and information.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-11-march-2020/esfa-update-further-education-11-march-2020

Staff, parents and young people with questions about COVID-19 related to education can contact the helpline as follows:

The opening hours are 8am to 6pm (Monday to Friday).

The latest guidance for education settings is available on GOV.UK.

2. Action: gender pay gap reporting 2020

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 Monday 30 March 2020.

If you have 250 or more employees, you need to

3. Reminder: recording of residential provision for FE colleges and special post-16 providers

We wrote to FE colleges and some special post-16 institutions (SPIs) at the end of January 2020 about the collection of residential accommodation information. We would like to remind providers the deadline for responses is Friday 3 April 2020. Returns should be sent to Enquiries.EFA@education.gov.uk.

It is important that we have accurate data to support Ofsted in meeting its responsibilities. Ofsted is required to inspect residential provision in colleges and some SPIs for all student residents under the age of 18 or under the age of 25 for those with an education health and care (EHC) plan and rely on our data collection to ensure that they schedule inspections appropriately.

All FE colleges and SPIs should continue to self-report information on Get information about schools (GIAS) and complete the appropriate fields on the ILR. It is also important to note that this data collection does not replace the information you supply to GIAS or the ILR but is in addition to it.

4.1 Training provider contract extensions

Extensions have been issued to training providers with existing procured apprenticeship training contracts to cover the new financial year. The extensions have been issued via Manage your education and skills funding service. Extensions will fund carry over costs for existing apprentices as well as new apprenticeship starts, however, to align with our intention for all starts to be through the apprenticeship service from 1 November 2020, the funding for new starts using the extended contracts will only be available up to and including 31 October 2020.

It is important that training providers must have signed the contract extensions by 31 March 2020.

4.2 New ESFA apprenticeship agreement with training providers

Starting this week, from 9 March 2020, we will issue training providers with termination notices for their current ESFA apprenticeship agreement for training providers. During this week we are also issuing new provider apprenticeship agreements. Providers will receive these new agreements via the Manage your education and skills funding service.

To ensure we minimise the potential for any disruption to payments being made to providers for training they have delivered for existing apprenticeships we are encouraging all training providers to accept the new agreement by 6 April 2020.

5. Information: further education data security

We have reviewed the requirements for data security in the Education and Skills Funding Agreements and will update them to support a progression route to the more robust controls.

For the 2020 to 2021 funding year, the requirement will be to meet the requirements for Cyber Essentials, with progression to Cyber Essentials Plus from the 2021 to 2022 funding year. The requirement for preparatory work towards ISO27001 is removed and does not need to be considered now.

If you have any questions about our contract, please contact us using our online enquiry form. If you need support with data security there are many consultancies available and your sector association may be able to sign post you.

6. Information: 16 to 19 rates and formula guidance

We have published the 16 to 19 funding rates and formula guidance for academic year 2020 to 2021 on GOV.UK.

We have made the following additions and updates:

  • we have revised the section ‘Scope of the 16 to 19 funding model’
  • the programme cost weighting section and annex A have been updated with the new weightings for high-cost subjects

There are new sections on:

  • level 3 programme maths and English payment
  • the high value courses premium (HVCP)
  • T Level industry placements
  • the condition of funding adjustment
  • T Levels

Where the funding formula varies for T Levels, the differences are covered in the relevant sections.

7. Information: final qualification achievement rates (QAR) 2018 to 2019

We will publish your final QAR 2018 to 2019 data on Thursday 26 March. All the data will be available through the View Your Education Data portal.

The QAR webpage provide details about this data release and accessing the dashboard. To access the data, please ensure you have the correct IDAMS user access. Please see the IDAMS user guides for creating access or checking your user permissions.

We will publish the National Achievement Rate Tables for 2018 to 2019 on Thursday 26 March at 9:30am.

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

8. Information: updated on provider roadshows

ESFA will host the second series of provider roadshows in March for main providers on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP). Please register now to avoid disappointment!

Emails to register have been sent out to all main providers on RoATP. If you have not received an email to register, please contact us at apprenticeship.providers@education.gov.uk.

Our spring 2020 provider roadshows build on feedback from our last events. The insight and information we collected has informed our to help make sure we bring you, our providers, on our change journey with us.

The roadshows are being held around the country throughout March as follows:

  • Tuesday 24 March, Midlands - The Citrus Hotel, Coventry (full)
  • Thursday 26 March, South - Farnborough College of Technology
  • Tuesday 31 March, South West - Taunton Conference Centre at Taunton RFC (few places left)

Please note that registration will be on a first-come-first-served basis. We hope very much to see you in a few weeks!

9. Information: round 3 of Taking Teaching Further

Taking Teaching Further (TTF) is a programme delivered by the Education and Training Foundation which helps FE providers recruit and retrain experienced industry professionals. These professionals can bring industry knowledge and experience into FE teaching roles across any of the 15 technical teaching routes.

The third round of TTF launched on Monday 9 March 2020 and makes funding available for the initial teacher education (ITE). The ITE covers the Level 5 teaching qualification and early career support, including reduced classroom time in the first year of teaching.

Further information is available on the Education and Training Foundation website.

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