Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 15 July 2020

Published 15 July 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 29 December 2021

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

There is also guidance on the apprenticeship service about COVID-19.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Action: extra funding for free school meals in further education (FE)

Due to the unprecedented nature of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we are providing extra funding to enable FE institutions to continue to provide meals for the 2020 summer holiday. The funding is for students who were eligible and claiming for free meals in FE in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. Providers will receive £73 per student/instance. This is the free meals rate of £2.41 x 5 meals each week over the 6 week summer holiday period.

Institutions need to confirm arrangements and support with eligible students before the end of the summer term. We will update the free meals in FE guide to confirm further information and payment details. We will pay the first part of free meals allocations for the 2020 to 2021 academic year to institutions in August in line with the usual payment schedule.

This does not apply to 16 to 19 schools and academies who are able to access the free school meals national voucher scheme.

3. Action: Condition Data Collection (CDC) – accessing condition reports for your schools

The CDC programme collected condition, contextual and building management data for every state-maintained school and college in England, which will help inform how we target future capital investment to where it is needed most.

The school condition reports produced can help highlight condition issues which need attention or further investigation. We have extended the deadline for you to download your school condition report(s) from the CDC portal to Wednesday 12 August. If you require further information, please submit your enquiry using our enquiry form, including the name and URN of your school(s).

Guidance on managing your estate effectively is available on GOV.UK.

4. Reminder: deadline for claiming exceptional costs associated with coronavirus (COVID-19)

You have until 21 July 2020 to submit an application form to claim exceptional costs associated with COVID-19.

There will be no opportunity to request an extension to the deadline.

5. Reminder: closing date for 16 to 19 Bursary Fund COVID-19 business cases

ESFA recognised that some 16 to 19 students from disadvantaged households may not have been able to access their required online learning in the 2019 to 2020 academic year because they lacked a suitable device such as a laptop and/or internet access.

To support providers who may not have had sufficient bursary funds available, either because they are fully committed or fully spent- we have been operating a business case process, as set out in the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide.

The closing date for business cases is 31 July 2020. We will not consider any business cases submitted after that date.

6. Information: publication of the 2019 to 2020 section 251 outturn guidance

We have published the section 251 outturn guidance and accompanying data tables. Use this information to help you complete your data return for 2019 to 2020.

The data collection is expected to go live later today. The deadline to upload your data to COLLECT is Friday 28 August.

7. Information: universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) allocations for 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021

We have published the final UIFSM allocations for 2019 to 2020 and the provisional allocations for academic year 2020 to 2021.

Please note that the allocations for 2020 to 2021 are based on an increased per meal rate of £2.34.

We are sorry for the delay in publishing these details. We thought it was important not to delay payment even though the publication of the allocations was unavoidably delayed.

8. Information: See Hear Respond service in response to COVID-19

See Hear Respond is a service provided across England by Barnardo’s and other national and local community-based organisations in response to COVID-19.

The programme has been created to help children and young people in England who are experiencing harm and increased adversity during this period by providing support to those who are not being seen by social care or other key agencies.

Working with its partners Barnardo’s aims to reduce the likelihood of harm and ensure other support and protective networks are in place using:

• online digital support, including advice and information, online counselling and a telephone helpline
• face to face interventions, such as support for groups at risk outside the home and one to one support
• reintegration into education, including assessments and the delivery of support pathways back to education

See Hear Respond accept referrals from any source either through the Freephone number 0800 151 7015 and via the online referral hub.