Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 2 February 2022

Published 2 February 2022

This correspondence was withdrawn on 27 December 2023

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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. Action: coronavirus (COVID-19) mass testing exceptional premises costs claim form now open

Schools and academies with secondary age pupils, along with colleges and other eligible establishments, can now submit claims for exceptional premises costs incurred during the mass testing of pupils and students on their return in January 2022.

The claim submission guidance is available on GOV.UK and the window to claim closes on Sunday 20 February 2022.

2. Action: Get Help with Technology: internet access and device claim form now open

The Get Help with Technology: internet access and device claim form is now live. The deadline to submit your claim is Sunday, 27 February 2022 at 11:59pm.

We have published guidance to help you complete the form.

You can read more on GOV.UK.

3. Action: gender pay gap reporting 2022

The statutory deadline for publishing gender pay gap data is approaching.

Schools, academy trusts and further education colleges with 250 or more employees should publish their figures by no later than Wednesday 30 March 2022.

If you have 250 or more employees, you need to:

• ensure your organisation has a nominated individual registered with the gender pay gap service
• read our guidance on how to identify causes of the gender pay gap in your organisation
• report your gender pay gap data ahead of the 30 March 2022 deadline for public sector organisations

If you previously reported but are no longer required to, please sign into your account on the gender pay gap service and change your reporting requirement.

4. Action: Sustainability and Climate Change Survey

DfE has launched an anonymous survey to gather feedback on our Sustainability and Climate Change Draft Strategy. We will use the results from this survey alongside feedback from focus groups and working groups to inform the final developments of the strategy before publication in April 2022.

Please read our draft strategy and then take part in our anonymous survey. Responses must be submitted by 23:59 on 20 February.

By submitting your response, you are consenting for us to use your answers as part of our analysis of the public’s opinion on the draft strategy.

We encourage you to share the survey amongst your networks in line with your own data privacy notices, as well as through social media.

5. Reminder: flexi-job apprenticeship scheme

As you will have seen in previous ESFA updates and press, we are launching a pilot scheme for flexi-job apprenticeships (previously known as portable apprenticeships) beginning in April 2022. Flexi-job apprenticeship put apprentices in the driving seat apprentices and enable them to complete their apprenticeship across multiple short employment contracts.

We launched an Expression of Interest for the pilot in December 2021 to invite providers to submit an application to engage in the pilot to test an exciting new model of apprenticeship delivery and support ongoing developments in the apprenticeship programme.

The Expression of Interest and further details about flexi-job apprenticeships can be found on the Department for Education eSourcing portal.

Following a request from a provider to accommodate business needs, we have extended the closing date for the expression of interest to 4 February 2022.

6. Reminder: mid-year funding claims for 2021 to 2022

The mid-year funding claim window will open at 9am on Tuesday 8 February 2022.

Please submit your mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Friday 11 February 2022.

The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data. For more information, please see the 2021 to 2022 funding claims guidance.

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:

1. grant funded - ESFA funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) (Adult Skills, Community Learning, 19 to 24 Traineeships and National Skills Fund Level 3 Adult Offer)
2. grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)

Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any queries about this, please contact your Territorial Manager.

7. Information: payments for Care to Learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund

We have published data showing aggregate payments made to childcare providers and education institutions, for both Care to Learn and the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for students in defined vulnerable groups. The data will show payments made from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021.

The Care to Learn scheme helps young parents (aged under 20) to continue in education after the birth of a child. ESFA provides funding towards childcare and travel costs whilst the young parent is engaged in a study programme. The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help care leavers, students in care, or in receipt of specific benefits, to remain in education.

8. Information: allocation calculation toolkits available to support 2022 to 2023 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations

We have now made allocation calculation toolkits (ACT) available for maintained school sixth forms on Document Exchange.

These confirm how we have used 2020 to 2021 data to calculate funding elements which will be used in the calculation of 2022 to 2023 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations.

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

9. Information: technical specification to accountability framework for apprenticeship training providers

In August 2021, we published a new framework for apprenticeship training provider accountability. Due to continuing impact from Covid19, 2021 to 2022 will be a transition year for the Framework arrangements. The Technical Specification sets out the key principles and objectives of the framework, alongside the indicators that will be used to assess provider quality and the range of interventions.

We are issuing this technical specification as a clarification version to give you the opportunity to provide feedback on how we can make them clearer or better understood. Please email any feedback to provider.strategy@education.gov.uk by 1 March 2022.

Following a review of any feedback, we will update the specification to reflect any clarifications by the end of April 2022.

10. Information: exceptional in-year growth for 2021 to 2022 for 16 to 19 education

Each year (subject to affordability) we award in-year growth funding to those grant-funded institutions which have recruited significantly more students than we allocated. In recognition of the funding pressures that many institutions are still facing this year because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we will continue to use the same methodology and thresholds for allocating these funds that was introduced for 2020 to 2021. The exception is a slight change to the method for awarding Element 2 funding for specialist post-16 institutions and the centrally funded exceptions.

We have now published the details of the calculation for awarding exceptional in-year growth for 2021 to 2022. We will be informing institutions eligible for growth by mid-February and revised funding allocations will be available through Document Exchange.

11. Information: The Big Assembly National Apprenticeship Week

The Big Assembly is an annual broadcast that provides apprenticeship advice to schools, parents, students and employers. Last year’s broadcast was watched live and on demand by over 60,000 people. The event is organised by Workpays, one of the ASK programme delivery contractors.

This year’s event takes place on the Tuesday of National Apprenticeship Week 2022 at 11:10 broadcast live from Pret A Manger HQ in London.

The assembly will feature a panel made up of employers, current apprentices, former apprentices, and a representative from the Disabled Apprentice Network.

To watch the Big Assembly live sign up online.

12. Information: Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2022

We are pleased to announce the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers will be returning for 2022 and entries open early February.

The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers celebrates England’s outstanding apprenticeship employers and helps future apprentices, parents and careers advisers to identify apprenticeship opportunities at the country’s leading employers.

And new for 2022, England’s top small and medium-sized enterprises will be featured for the first time in the Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers.

Please help spread the word by sharing the link: Apprenticeships Top 100 Employers 2022 with any employers that might be interested in applying.

13. Information: ventilation update and delivery of CO2 monitors

To help settings manage ventilation, we have delivered over 350,000 CO2 monitors to over 99% of eligible maintained schools, further education colleges and the majority of early years settings.

We will fulfil all eligible applications that we have received from 1,265 settings for air cleaning units. To do so, we are making a total of up to 9,000 air cleaning units available for poorly ventilated teaching spaces in state-funded education settings, where quick fixes to improve ventilation are not possible.

We will contact eligible settings directly to confirm arrangements for deliveries, which started this week. The air cleaning marketplace also remains open for any state-funded settings that wish to purchase air cleaning units at a suitable specification directly from suppliers.

Further information on ventilation is available in:

• guidance on the use of both CO2 monitors and air cleaning units, available on the ventilation document sharing platform
• section 5 of the Health and Safety Executive’s guidance
• the DfE Education Hub Blog for tips on managing ventilation in colder weather
• a short video on ventilation and CO2 monitors in schools by Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings

video

You should have received approximately one CO2 monitor for every two teaching rooms. If this is not the case or if you have not received your allocation of monitors, please contact the DfE COVID-19 helpline on 0800 046 8687 by Thursday 10 February with the following information about your setting.

For any problems with deliveries, please contact the supplier, Rexel, directly on 0330 0450 606. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm.

• number of pupils
• number of teaching spaces
• number of sites
• your URN
• full name of your setting