ESFA Update: further education 14 November 2018
Published 14 November 2018
Applies to England
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1. Action: colleges to submit their audited financial statements and associated documentation by 31 December 2018
As set out in the 2017 to 2018 college accounts direction, further education and sixth-form colleges must submit their audited financial statements, finance record and associated documents to ESFA by Monday 31 December 2018. Returns must be submitted via email to PRA.Financialhealth@education.gov.uk.
Data from submitted finance records is used to support the college financial benchmarking tool. It would help improve data accuracy within the tool if colleges completed all financial entries in their finance record to the nearest thousand pounds (£000), and disclose their principal’s salary excluding employer national insurance contributions.
ESFA has developed a regularity self-assessment questionnaire to support corporations in completing their statement of regularity, propriety and compliance, which must be shared with their external auditor to inform the regularity assurance engagement. External auditors should ensure the corporation’s self-assessment is supported by sufficient and relevant evidence.
2. Action: subcontractor declaration for 2018 to 2019 adult delivery, including apprenticeships and traineeships
As requested in last week’s Update (7 November 2018), organisations delivering ESFA funded adult programmes, including all apprenticeships and traineeships, must declare their subcontracting arrangements, including if it is a nil-return, by Friday 23 November 2018. This is the first collection for the 2018 to 2019 year.
You are not able to make any further declarations for the 2017 to 2018 year.
The process for collecting subcontractor declarations is through the Manage your education and skills funding service.
You will need one of the following roles to complete and submit a declaration:
- contract authoriser
- contract manager
- data returns and claims authoriser
If you are unsure of your user roles and permissions, you can check on the service.
If you have any questions, please contact us via email SDE.servicedesk@education.gov.uk.
3. Information: ESFA post-16 intervention and accountability
Ofsted has updated its Further education and skills inspection handbook in a number of areas, including the monitoring visits to new, directly funded apprenticeship providers.
We have updated our information on intervention and accountability to reflect this and to confirm the ESFA position.
4. Information: data returns for special post-16 institutions
The deadline for the R04 individualised learner record (ILR) return is Thursday 6 December 2018. It is important to get your data right as we use it to calculate your 2019 to 2020 funding allocation.
To help you complete your returns, we have published a short video for special post-16 institutions about funding arrangements and the need to submit accurate and timely ILR data to ESFA.
Funding and data returns 2018 to 2019: special post 16 institutions
5. Information: T Levels professional development
DfE has awarded a contract to the Education and Training Foundation to lead on the development of T Level Professional Development (TLPD). TLPD will help teachers and leaders prepare for the change and successfully deliver T Levels.
Teaching professionals will be offered the opportunity to participate in the new TLPD to help them to develop their skills and knowledge so they are ready to deliver T Levels (the technical equivalent to A Levels) from 2020. We expect training to be available from spring 2019.