Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 18 July 2018

Published 18 July 2018

This correspondence was withdrawn on 20 February 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Find the latest information from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the latest ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Information: information required by the academies accounts return in addition to financial statements

To help trusts and their auditors to prepare for their next returns, we have published a brief guide that outlines the key differences between the financial statements and the accounts return for 2017 to 2018.

You can use this guide to gather the additional information required for the accounts return before the form goes live on 1 October and whilst preparing your financial statements.

We have put the differences together into 3 types:

• new information for 2017 to 2018
• information in previous years’ accounts returns but not in the financial statements
• figures included in the financial statements where more information is needed for the accounts return

We hope this reduces the time needed to complete the accounts return.

2. Information: support schools to maximise their resources and budgets

ESFA is preparing to tender for organisations to supply, manage and accredit Schools Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs)

We are looking for:

• organisations to manage the supply of SRMAs
• one organisation to develop and deliver induction and an accreditation process

This is an exciting opportunity, please read more if you want to support schools to maximise their resources and budgets.

3. Information: high needs allocated place numbers

We have updated the high needs place numbers for the 2018 to 2019 academic year.

4. Reminder: devolved formula capital allocations 2018 to 2019

We have published devolved formula capital (DFC) allocations for 2018 to 2019.

Allocations spreadsheets now include DFC amounts for all eligible institutions. Payments will be in July as previously announced.

5. Information: outcome of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) 2018 to 2019 appeals announced

We have now published the list of successful projects following appeal.

Schools can check the outcome of their bid by logging into the CIF portal.

This decision is final and we are unable to consider any requests to review. We will publish details of the next CIF round in the autumn.

6. Information: industry placements - capacity and delivery fund (CDF) for 2019 to 2020 for 16 to 19 providers not in receipt of CDF in 2018 to 2019 academic year

We have published information explaining the arrangements for 16 to 19 providers applying to deliver industry placements through the CDF in 2019 to 2020 academic year.

This information is for those providers that did not receive an allocation of CDF in 2018 to 2019 academic year. We have written to eligible providers outlining the process. If you think you are eligible to apply for this funding and have not received a letter via email, please contact us through our online contact form.

7. Information: interactive post-16 school census tool

We have updated our post-16 interactive tool to support the return of accurate post-16 school census data. Some institutions risk not getting the funding they should because of inaccurate data.

The tool will help you understand:

• how your data is used to calculate your post-16 funding
• how common data errors affect your funding

Business managers and staff responsible for preparing and submitting the autumn school census return will find it useful.

A suite of ESFA funding reports will be available in COLLECT when the autumn census opens in October. They will show you how your data looks in relation to our post-16 funding calculations. We strongly advise institutions to use these reports to help quality assure census returns.

The tool is in an Excel workbook, please make sure that macros are enabled so that the workbook functions properly.

If you have any questions, please use our online enquiry form.