Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 12 February 2020

Published 12 February 2020

This correspondence was withdrawn on 29 December 2021

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

1. Reminder: mid-year funding claims for 2019 to 2020

The mid-year funding claim window opened at 9am on Monday 10 February 2020.

You must submit a mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Thursday 13 February 2020. The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data. Failure to submit the form will be a breach of your agreement

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:

• adult education budget (AEB) (Adult Skills and Community Learning) – grant-funded
• Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB) – grant-funded
• Learner Support for AEB Procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile

Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding service.

For colleges due to submit the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC) at the end of February, please ensure figures in the mid-year claim are used to inform the financial planning you are currently undertaking.

If you have any queries about this please contact your territorial manager.

2. Information: update to funding regulations for post-16 provision

We have made a minor update to the funding regulations for post-16 provision for academic year 2019 to 2020. The changes clarify advice in paragraphs 31, 64, 67 and 53. We have also added an additional Q&A scenario to annex C. All changes are listed in the ‘What’s new?’ section.

We have also made a minor update to the ILR funding returns guide for 2019 to 2020. This clarifies advice in paragraph 48.

3. Information: qualification achievement rates (QAR) 2018 to 2019 – provisional data update

Thank you to those who provided feedback on the provisional 2018 to 2019 QAR data; the query window has now closed. If you have not reviewed your data, your provisional QARs are still available in the ‘QAR reports’ section of the Data Returns page dashboard through the View Your Education Data portal.

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 now begin our final testing, before we publish the final 2018 to 2019 QARs in the National Achievement Rate Tables in late March.

4. Information: the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC)

We are hosting a Q&A webinar on Thursday 20 February 2019, between 12 and 1pm, to answer your queries regarding population of the new model.

To sign up to attend the webinar, please email financial.model@education.gov.uk.

5. Information: expression of interest to deliver T Levels in 2022 to 2023

We have made a clarification in the financial health section of the expression of interest to deliver T Levels in 2022 to 2023 on GOV.UK. This reflects the financial ratings in the college oversight: support and intervention document published in April 2019 and the college financial handbook 2019 version 2.

Should colleges be in any doubt how this applies to them they should submit an ESFA enquiry form.

6. Information: update on access to the apprenticeship service for smaller employers

Recently we announced that we are giving smaller employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy full access to the apprenticeship service. We marked the start of this transition by providing additional funding to allow up to 15,000 more starts in January – March 2020. We also published updated versions of the funding rules and a new reservations policy statement.

We wrote to all existing providers about how the changes will affect contracting arrangements. This includes details of changes to provider and employer agreements.

Employers are still be able to access training via existing procured non-levy contracts, and we have confirmed that we will extend these contracts beyond March 2020 to help facilitate a managed transition during the year. Before the end of February we will be publishing more information with details of the steps providers need to take as well as key dates and deadlines.

7. Your feedback: we want your views on ESFA’s Education and Skills agreements

We would like your views on the new contract framework that was implemented for the 2019 to 2020 Education and Skills agreements to inform development of the 2020 to 2021 agreement.

You can find more information and copies of the agreements on GOV.UK.

We would be grateful if you could take a few moments to complete this brief survey regarding your experience of the new agreements.

You can also take part in a Q&A session regarding the contract framework on FE Connect. The session will run from until Friday 14 February, please see FE Connect for details.

8. Information: FE teacher training bursaries and grants for 2020 to 2021 academic year

The Department for Education (DfE) recently announced new financial incentives. Bursaries and grants will be available to cover both pre-service and in-service FE teacher training for the 2020 to 2021 academic year, in priority subjects, for skilled non-graduates as well as graduates.

The pre-service bursaries are a tax-free cash incentive paid to individual trainees while completing a Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training (DET), or higher-level DET-compliant qualification.

Subject	Bursary rate
Computing, engineering (and/or manufacturing), maths, and science (including biology, chemistry, or physics)	£26,000
SEND	£15,000
English	£12,000

The in-service grants will be paid to a trainee’s employer (for example a FE college) to help provide the trainee with a specified teaching qualification (Level 5 or above), remission from teaching time, and additional support (such as mentoring).

Subject	Bursary rate
SEND	£18,200
English	£18,200
Maths	£18,200

More information, including around eligibility and applications, is available from the bursaries and grants manuals.