Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 18 December 2019

Published 18 December 2019

This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 December 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Find the latest information from ESFA in the latest ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Information: how to express an interest to deliver T Levels in 2022 to 2023 academic year, including the transition programme

As published in the T Level action plan, the Department for Education (DfE) is looking to identify the next tranche of providers to deliver T Levels from 2022 to 2023 academic year.

To complete the expression of interest all providers will have to be registered with DfE sign-in prior to the expression of interest becoming live.

The expression of interest goes live early in January. All institutions wishing to express an interest will be required to complete and submit an expression of interest to ESFA by midnight on Friday 28 February 2020.

2. Information: update on apprenticeship levy transfers

Following Keith Smith’s announcement at October’s AELP conference that we will extend the use of levy transfers to cover the full cost of training for those apprenticeships that would normally be eligible for full government funding, we can confirm this will commence from 2 January 2020.

This extension applies to 16 to 18 year olds and eligible 19 to 24 year olds, and where the receiving employer has fewer than 50 employees.

We have taken on board feedback from both employers and providers who had advised us that this restriction had been a barrier for those levy paying employers who wanted to support smaller employers in providing apprenticeship opportunities for younger people.

The apprenticeship funding rules will be updated and issued shortly to reflect this.

3. Information: new Apprenticeship Service webinars in January 2020

The Apprenticeship Service is holding 3 webinars in January aimed at employers, providers and end-point assessment organisations.

These webinars are hosted by subject matter experts to help service users to understand more about end-point assessments and the assessment service. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask experts questions in a live Q&A and take part in interactive polls.

We are hosting the following webinars for:

• employers, providers and end-point assessment organisations: a guide to the apprenticeship assessment service, Wednesday 8 January 2020, 1pm to 2pm
• employers: what you need to know about end-point assessment, Thursday 9 January 2020, 11.30am to 12.30pm
• training providers: preparation and responsibilities for end-point assessment, Thursday 9 January 2020, 1.30pm to 2.30pm

You can sign up now.

You can watch all Apprenticeship Service webinar recordings on YouTube.

You can also follow @ESFAdigital on Twitter.

4. Information: updated provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT)

We have released an updated version of the provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT).

This version includes an update to the sampler, enabling users to select audit samples and output a set of audit working papers for the 2019 to 2020 funding year.

PDSAT is available to colleges and independent training providers to assist with their routine individualised learner record (ILR) data-checking procedures for their ILR data returns and with preparation for funding assurance reviews.

For further information, please use the ESFA online form.

5. Information: R04 funding monitoring reports published

We have published the R04 funding monitoring reports on Submit Learner Data. The funding monitoring reports user guide 2019 to 2020 explains how to access the reports and any actions you must take to ensure data is correct. The reports highlight specific data errors for the adult education budget, Advance Learner Loans, apprenticeships and 16 to 19 provision.

We have also published a known issues log, which tracks issues that are affecting the suite of reports, and the dates we expect to resolve these. You should refer to the user guide and the known issues log when reviewing your reports.