Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 12 May 2021

Published 12 May 2021

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2022

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

Applies to England

1. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Reminder: deadline to access support to deliver T Levels in 2023 to 2024 academic year approaching

Are you planning to deliver T Levels for the first time in 2023 to 2024 academic year?

Please register before 30 July 2021 to access support to help you prepare. This includes:

• support for implementation planning so that you are ready to deliver T Levels
• any support made available for the development of T Level Transition Programmes
• conversations with the T Level support team
• regular updates on the latest T Level news
• guidance on capital funding when this is available
• engagement in the development of the qualifications
• access to up-front funding for additional T Level delivery hours and industry placements
• access to networks of providers delivering T Levels and preparing to deliver T Levels
• access to the full range of T Level professional development resources and support

Providers not registered before this deadline will not receive this extra support to help them prepare to deliver T Levels for the first time in 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Please see the registration guidance for more information.

3. Reminder: year-end forecast funding claim for 2020 to 2021

The year-end forecast funding claim window will open at 9am on Tuesday 8 June 2021. We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, and time and resources are under strain. However, we will require you to submit an accurate year-end claim as this will enable us to inform you of your indicative reconciliation figure prior to final claim submission in October 2021.

Please submit your year-end funding claim by 4pm on Friday 11 June 2021.The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data.

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

• grant funded – ESFA adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and COVID-19 skills offer)
• learner support for ESFA AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
• 19 to 24 traineeships 2020 procurement - learner support – paid-on-profile
• grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)
• 16 to 19 education

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

If you have any queries, you can get help with ESFA services.

4. Reminder: business case deadline for adult allocation is 14 May 2021

Allocation statements for adult funding for 2021 to 2022 have been issued.

If you believe that your data was incorrect and there is an error in your allocation, you can raise a business case by completing the business case template and send it to us using our online enquiry form.

The deadline for submitting your business case is 14 May 2021. Where cases have been received with full information before the deadline we aim to communicate outcomes in June 2021. Complex cases can take longer to investigate, where this is the case we aim to communicate outcomes for these cases before 1 August 2021. If successful, changes will be reflected in contracts from the start of the funding year.

5. Information: Secretary of State approved list of independent special schools in England and Wales and special post-16 institutions

The Secretary of State approved list of independent special schools in England and Wales and special post-16 institutions that parents and young people can express as a preference for when their EHCP is being agreed can be found on GOV.UK.

The annual application process opened on 7 May 2021. Guidance and supporting information is available on GOV.UK.

Enquiries about this process should be made to HNSSoS.EFA@education.gov.uk.

6. Information: summer schools webinar and extended sign-up window

The summer schools team is running an information session to tell you more about the 2021 summer schools programme and to answer any questions, on Wednesday 12 May at 4pm for one hour. Schools can join the webinar here.

Some schools have asked if they can still sign up to the programme and we are therefore keeping sign-up open. The form will remain in place until Friday 28 May.

Schools can access their funding allocation before signing up for the programme to indicate they intend to run a summer school. The process takes no more than a couple of minutes. 

Further information is available in our guidance on summer schools. Please contact the team at Learning.RECOVERY@education.gov.uk if you have any questions. 

7. Information: ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding and performance management rules 2021 to 2022 and ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding rates and formula 2021 to 2022

We have published version 1 of the AEB funding rules and the main changes are below:

• devolution of adult education functions’ section updated to reflect two new orders and the end of the transitional period for providers which met the criteria to be funded nationally for two years (2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021)
• ‘Who we fund’ section has been updated to reflect the current position regarding ‘continuing learners’
• ‘Residency eligibility’ section has been updated for EU and EEA learners
• contracting section has been removed. The Register of Training Organisations is being formally decommissioned on 31 July 2021 and the subcontracting rules will be published separately in the spring term in our post-16 education subcontracting: using funding to offer education and training guidance
• the government contribution table has been simplified and information is now presented by the different age groups (19-23 and 24+)
• references to the ‘High value courses for school and college leavers: a one-year skills offer for 18 and 19 year olds’ have been updated to clarify that the offer will not be available for new learner starts from 1 August 2021

We have also published version 1 of the AEB funding rates and formula and the main changes are below:

• we have changed the disadvantage uplift factors in 2021 to 2022 compared to 2020 to 2021 as we will be using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019, rather than the older 2015 IMD
• there can be no new starts in 2021 to 2022 on the high value courses for school and college leavers: a one-year offer for 18 and 19-year-olds policy. However, we will continue funding these courses that started in the 2020 to 2021 funding year and are continuing into 2021 to 2022.
• the new AEB procured contracts start from 1 August 2021. You must have completed all delivery on the old AEB procured contracts by 31 July 2021 as we will not fund any delivery in 2021 to 2022 under these contracts.

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

8. Information: new Advanced Learner Loans funding letter templates

We have updated the learning and funding information letters for 2021 to 2022. You must issue these to learners, including for offenders in custody, who are considering funding their qualification with a loan.

We have also published guidance on how to complete the letters.

9. Information: latest on teacher recruitment from overseas

9.1 Recruiting teachers from overseas under the new immigration system

European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals who were living in the UK by 31 December 2020 – including teachers – can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme in order to continue living, working and studying in the UK. The deadline is 30 June 2021.

Overseas nationals arriving in the UK from 1 January 2021 come under the new points-based immigration system. Teachers arriving from this date, including those from the EEA and Switzerland, need to apply for a visa. Schools may need to become visa sponsors if they want to recruit teachers who are not UK or Irish nationals.

Find out more by:

• reading guidance for schools about recruiting teachers from overseas
• signing up for a DfE/Home Office webinar for schools about the points-based immigration system – this will be held on Thursday 13 May and there are still some places available

9.2 Supporting overseas teachers

If you are from a state-funded school that is recruiting an overseas maths, physics or modern foreign languages teacher, the Department for Education is trialling a new virtual acclimatisation service to give them the knowledge and skills they need to flourish in English classrooms, including their responsibilities and requirements to be COVID-19 compliant.

We will provide teachers with virtual, phone and email pre-arrival support, a two-day virtual acclimatisation training event, phone and email support throughout their first term and a further training and networking event with other international teachers once they have started in school. These events are designed to accommodate all teachers’ current or forthcoming quarantine requirements. Schools are asked to appoint an in-school mentor, who can also access virtual training to support your international teachers.

If you are interested in signing up for this service, or for further information, please email international.teacherrecruitment@education.gov.uk. This is a trial service so places this year will be limited.