Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 16 June 2021

Published 16 June 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2022

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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. Action: post-16 monitoring reports dashboard surveys 

We have published a short survey to understand how providers interact with the monitoring reports dashboard on View Your Education Data. We are interested in discovering what is useful, what we can improve, and how we can support you further and promote engagement. You can access the survey through the landing page of the dashboard. 

We also have a separate survey for providers who have not yet accessed the dashboard. We will contact these providers through territorial leads and encourage you to take a first look at the dashboard and think about how it could help you. 

Please take a moment to answer the appropriate survey by the 30 June 2021. We will use your feedback to further enhance our service offering in the 2021 to 2022 funding year. 

3. Action: ESFA’s financial data collection process

The ESFA is currently reviewing its financial data collection process with ITPs. 

3.1 What the research involves 

The user research team would like to interview ITPs to learn about your experiences of financial data collation and submission, as well as your broader engagement with the ESFA.  

From this research we hope to gain insight into the process to ensure it’s workable and delivers value:

• interviews times are available throughout June. 
• each interview will be conducted over Microsoft Teams and last 45 minutes to an hour.
• all responses will be anonymised before being fed back to the ESFA.

Please register your interest.

4. Reminder: applications to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) close on 30 June

There are only a few weeks left before the deadline for EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applications, which ends on 30 June 2021.

The Home Office appreciates your continued support in reminding parents and families to check to see whether they are eligible and to make an application, particularly on behalf of children who are not covered by a parent’s application or status.

More EUSS resources are available to use across your own communications channels to encourage eligible parents to apply on behalf of themselves and their children. A list of organisations providing additional EUSS guidance and information is also available. 

It is important to note that EU citizens submitting an application by the 30 June deadline will have their existing rights protected until the application is decided.

From 1 July 2021, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme will need to evidence their rights in the UK with their digital immigration status, rather than their passport or ID card.

The Home Office has published a new guide for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens on viewing and proving their immigration status (eVisa). The guide explains how people can view and prove their immigration status, update their details, what they should expect when crossing the UK border and how to get help accessing their immigration status.

Applications to the EUSS are free and can be made online on GOV.UK. Successful applicants get either settled status or pre-settled status.

For questions about applications, call 0300 123 7379 or +44 (0) 20 3080 0010 from outside the UK (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm and Saturday to Sunday, 9.30am to 4.30pm). Find out about call charges.

5. Information: list of declared subcontractors

The first publication of the 2020 to 2021 list of declared subcontractors has been published on GOV.UK. It is based on information from declarations submitted by provider. 

The list of declared subcontractors shows subcontractors with contracts worth at least £100,000 in total, with one or more ESFA-funded providers of post-16 education and training services, including AEB, Traineeships, Apprenticeships, ESF and 16 to 19 Programmes. The list also includes the individual values of these subcontracts.  

Providers are reminded of their requirement to submit their subcontractor declarations via MYESF for their final time for the 2020 to 2021 period. More information on this was provided in in ESFA Update on 9 June. 

For further information, please refer to the list of declared subcontractors page on GOV.UK .

6. Information: let employers know – apply now for the incentive payment for hiring a new apprentice 

Applications for the increased incentive payment for hiring a new apprentice are now open.  

Please support the employers you work with by reminding them of this and sharing the below information, to make sure they don’t miss out.

Incentive payment for apprentices who joined organisations from 1 April 2021:

• Employers with apprentices who have an employment start date between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 and who also have a practical period (training) start date between 1 April 2021 and 30 November 2021 may be eligible for an incentive payment 
• Employers will receive £3,000 for new apprentices of any age 
• Employers must apply for these apprentices by the end of 30 November 2021 
• Employers can visit our guidance page for more detail

In addition to existing apprentices, any new hires employers make between now and 30 September 2021 may also be eligible for an incentive payment. 

6.1 How to apply  

Employers can apply for the incentive payment through the ‘Finances’ section in their apprenticeship service account. For a walk-through of the application process, employers can watch our support video. 

support video

7. Information: reviewing PDSAT reports user guide

We have published a user guide for reviewing provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT) for the 2020 to 2021 funding year on the PDSAT section of GOV.UK. 

The user guide assists providers of ESFA-funded education and training in carrying out their routine data cleansing and submitting accurate ILR data returns to the ESFA. Therefore, we encourage providers to use PDSAT to regularly check ILR data and, thus, minimise the risk of overclaiming funds from the ESFA and subsequent repayment of funds.  The guide is also used by the ESFA and accountancy firms in the delivery of funding audits. 

For further information, please use the ESFA online form. 

8. Information: launch of the Higher Technical Education Provider Growth Fund

As part of the Higher Technical Education reforms, we have launched the Provider Growth Fund, an £18 million investment that will ensure more people can gain high level skills in sectors of the economy the country needs to thrive. Higher Technical Education is the key to providing the skills employers are demanding and leads to well paid jobs in a variety of sectors.   

The Growth Fund will support further and higher education providers to grow and expand high quality Higher Technical Education and enable providers to deliver new approved Digital Higher Technical Qualifications from September 2022, followed by Digital, Construction, and Health and Science routes from September 2023. We have worked with several providers who have helped us design this funding package, and we would like to thank them for their valuable input.  

This is such an exciting time in technical education as the reforms we have been working on are starting to gather pace and make a real difference to learners and employers. 

The closing date to apply is Friday 9 July. Further information on how providers can apply, can be found at Higher Technical Education Growth Fund. Please do socialise with any provider networks you have. 

9. Information: further education (FE) workforce data collection 

In March, we announced a new FE Workforce data collection tool to encourage providers to make a return to: 

• provide a better understanding of the implications of government policy reforms and their impact on the composition of staff and their specialisms, for example the impact of the introduction of T Levels 
• provide a greater understanding of pay in the sector, such as the impact of pay on staff recruitment, gender pay gap, underfunding in the sector compared with other education sectors 
• reveal skills gaps in the sector and model skills gaps and their impacts.

The FE workforce data collection for the 2020 to 2021 academic year will open on 12 July 2021 and will close on 24 September 2021. We will collect information about your further education staff once a year.  

The collection for 2020 to 2021 is voluntary, but it will be required from the 2021 to 2022 academic year. You are encouraged to send your data this year to get used to the service and give us feedback. 

The collection will be available on the submit learner data service and will offer two options for returning data. These will be: 

• an online form which will allow direct entry on staff data 
• uploading an XML file 

We will also be providing a desktop application which providers can use to generate and XML file for upload should they wish to use this option and cannot generate the file from their existing MIS. 

The specification was published on GOV.UK in March.  

We have recently published the validation rules which will apply to FE workforce staff data, and XML schema file a sample XML file to the same site. 

You should complete a return if you receive funding through one or more of the following funding models, unless you are a school or academy which returns the school workforce census or an HE provider which returns the HESA staff record: 

• 16 to 19 (excluding apprenticeships) 
• adult skills  
• apprenticeships (from 1 May 2017) including levy funding 
• Community Learning 
• European Social Funding (ESF) 
• other adult 
• other 16 to 19 

Further information including guidance on using each of the return options will be published prior the collection going live. 

10. Information: subcontracting funding rules for ESFA funded post-16 funding (excluding apprenticeships)

We have published the subcontracting funding rules for AEB, ESF and 16 to 19 funding for funding year 2021 to 2022. The single set of subcontracting funding rules: sub-contracting funding rules for ESFA funded post-16 funding (excluding apprenticeships) are available on GOV.UK.  

For funding year 2021 to 2022 the Education and Skills (EDSK) funding agreements and contracts for services will also be updated and include a separate schedule that is specific to subcontracting. 

For apprenticeships, ahead of the 2021 to 2022 funding year, the agency will be publishing updated funding rules which will include the relevant subcontracting requirements. The apprenticeship agreements will be updated to reflect this.

11. Information: monitoring level 3 prior attainment 

As part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, a targeted level 3 adult offer was developed to support adults without an existing full level 3 qualification. Individuals can enrol on qualifications within this offer from 1 April 2021. 

We have updated financial assurance: monitoring the funding rules for post-16 funding for 2020 to 2021 to reflect this new policy. From R10, our FRM17 report Level 3 Prior Attainment will now also review the prior attainment of learners studying level 3 qualifications within this new offer to ensure eligibility. Please review the post-16 monitoring reports dashboard to ensure that your funding and data are correct. 

12. Information: how parents and educators can take part in the Protect Duty consultation

There are only a few weeks left to take part in the ‘Protect Duty’ consultation.

First launched on 26 February and due to close on 2 July 2021, the consultation seeks views on how publicly accessible locations - including education settings - can improve their security and organisation preparedness.

The consultation will seek views on:

• who would a Duty apply to?
• what would a proposed Duty require stakeholders to do?
• how should compliance work?
• how would Government support those affected by a Duty?

It’s important to get a wide range of views from across the education sector to inform the development of the Duty, anyone who is linked to education or has an interest in education can take part in the consultation. When you’ve completed the form, please remember to click the ‘submit’ button, otherwise your response will not be received.