Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 17 February 2021

Published 17 February 2021

This correspondence was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-17-february-2021/esfa-update-further-education-17-february-2021

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. Reminder: guidance around vulnerable students

We would like to remind further education providers of the guidance around vulnerable students and those who should be prioritised for face to face attendance, including those at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training).

Please continue to follow the guidance and if you have any questions about which students should be attending, please raise these with your ESFA TT lead.

3. Information: Find a further education service

Get help with Education and Skills Funding Agency services is a help centre hosted by ESFA.

You can search help articles or discussions between training providers about further education and skills topics, for self-serve support.

From your feedback, we know that it can be difficult to find our services and to know how to access them, so we have added a new feature called Find a further education service. This allows you to view key services together and quickly find guidance on how to access them.

We hope to add additional information over the coming months.

If you have any issues or want to know more about the service, please contact customer.experience@education.gov.uk.

4. Information: further education (FE) teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant

We recently confirmed that the FE teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant would continue for the 2021 to 2022 academic year. We have now published more information on how the grant for that year will be calculated.

Institutions that receive 16 to 19 ESFA funding will receive confirmation of the payment amounts alongside their 16 to 19 funding allocation for academic year 2021 to 2022. We will communicate funding amounts for other eligible institutions by email.

5. Information: webinars on changes to inspection of apprenticeship training at levels 6 and 7

From April 2021, Ofsted will assume responsibility for the inspection of apprenticeship training at levels 6 and 7, thereby becoming the single body for the inspection of apprenticeship training at all levels. This follows the Education Secretary’s announcement of this change in September 2020.  

Following initial webinars held in December 2020, ESFA will be hosting further information and engagement events in partnership with Ofsted and the Office for Students for apprenticeship training providers, regarding Ofsted’s inspection of level 6 and 7 apprenticeship training. Training providers can register for these events using the links below:

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