ESFA Update further education: 2 June 2021
Published 2 June 2021
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2021
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-2-june-2021/esfa-update-further-education-2-june-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.
Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.
2. Reminder: year-end forecast funding claim for 2020 to 2021
The year-end forecast funding claim window will open at 9am on Tuesday 8 June 2021.
We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, and time and resources are under strain. However, we will require you to submit an accurate year-end claim as this will enable us to inform you of your indicative reconciliation figure prior to final claim submission in October 2021.
Please submit your year-end funding claim by 4pm on Friday 11 June 2021. The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data.
You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:
- grant funded – ESFA adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and COVID-19 skills offer)
- learner support for ESFA AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
- 19 to 24 traineeships 2020 procurement - learner support – paid-on-profile
- grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)
- 16 to 19 education.
Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding.
You can get further help with ESFA services.
3. Reminder: reporting unspent 16 to 19 Bursary Funding
16 to 19 Bursary Funding can be carried over to the next academic year, but not for more than one year. We want to remind you that you must contact ESFA to repay any unspent funds each year - some providers have recently reported unspent funds that have accumulated over several years, in breach of the bursary fund rules.
More information, including how to contact ESFA to repay unspent funds, can be found in the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide.
We also ask that when you make contact about repaying funds, you specify in your email the amount of funding being returned and which year the funding is from. This is particularly important if funds for more than one year are involved.
4. Information: unspent 16 to 19 tuition funding 2020 to 2021
Due to further disruption to learning as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19), any proportion of unspent 16 to 19 tuition funding for the 2020 to 2021 academic year can now be used to support students in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. It must still be spent and recorded in the manner detailed in the 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance.
Providers must confirm if they plan to carry over any proportion of unspent tuition funding from 2020 to 2021 and we will collect this information by July. Providers will be notified of the process shortly.
5. Information: qualification achievement rates
We have now published the following documents for qualification achievement rates 2020 to 2021 on GOV.UK:
- qualification achievement rates business rules 2020 to 2021
- apprenticeship qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021
- traineeship qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021
- education and training qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021
These documents provide technical information about how we produce the QAR dataset and should be read alongside the business rules, which explain the methodology for calculating QARs for 2020 to 2021.
As referenced in the business rules, we will be sharing with providers in-year QAR data via the View Your Education Data portal. In preparation for accessing the data, please ensure you have the correct IDAMS user access. The IDAMS user guides provide detail for creating access or checking your user permissions.
If you have any questions, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
6. Information: DCFT (the hub) decommissioning
As part of the planned service improvements to Submit Learner Data (SLD), we will be switching off DCFT (the Hub) from 1 July 2021. If you need to keep reports for audit purposes from the 2013 to 2014 funding year onwards, please download and save them to a safe location. The final reports for each academic year will be migrated to SLD and will remain accessible there.
If you have questions about this change, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
7. Information: Learning Aims Reference Service (LARS) decommissioning
As we communicated last year, the Learning Aims website (part of the Hub) has been replaced with a new website. The Find a learning aim design has simplified the user experience while still providing all of the key information our users need.
The period of dual running both sites has allowed us to seek further feedback and to implement more changes, to improve the user experience. There is a survey for you to provide feedback on your experience and to suggest improvements on the service.
We will be decommissioning the Learning Aims website (part of the Hub) from the 1 July 2021, users trying to access the old site after this date will be redirected to Find a learning aim.
8. Information: webinar to introduce the provider guide to delivering high-quality apprenticeships
All apprenticeship training providers are invited to join us for a webinar introducing the ‘provider guide to delivering high-quality apprenticeships’ recently published on GOV.UK. The guide sets out the essential steps for every stage of the apprenticeship journey. The event is aimed at both providers new to apprenticeships, and those who are already experienced to support continuous improvement. We will focus on areas which providers often ask us about and explore the things which matter most to apprentices.
You may want to read the provider guide before the sessions.
There will be time for questions at the end. To send questions in advance, you can email us at apprenticeships.qualitypolicy@education.gov.uk. Or just bring your questions along on the day and we will try to answer as many as possible.
If you’d like to join us, you can sign up for a session:
Both sessions are the same, so you don’t need to come to both.
9. Information: supporting smaller employers to use the apprenticeship service
This summer, many smaller employers (annual pay bill of less than £3 million) will be using the apprenticeship service for the first time.
As trusted advisors, training providers have an important role to play in supporting these employers. Please pass on the information below, so they don’t miss out.
To benefit from the summer peak in interest from school and college leavers, and to meet the eligibility criteria for the incentive payment for hiring a new apprentice, smaller employers need to prepare as soon as possible:
- Create an apprenticeship service account. The time needed to set up an account varies depending on each employer’s situation. You can help employers by sharing our support video Registering an account on the apprenticeship service to provide a step-by-step guide.
- Reserve apprenticeship funds. It is essential that employers reserve funds through the apprenticeship service before training begins. Our support video Reserving apprenticeship funds provides a step-by-step guide. You can reserve funds on behalf of an employer if you are granted permission when the employer sets up their account. The employer will need to approve all actions.
- Advertise apprenticeship opportunities. If employers are recruiting apprentices externally, they can add their opportunities under ‘Your apprenticeship adverts’ in their apprenticeship service account. The opportunities will be published on Find an apprenticeship. Our new support video Recruiting an apprentice using the apprenticeship service provides a step-by-step guide. You can submit opportunities on behalf of an employer if you are granted permission when the employer sets up their account. The employer will need to approve all actions.
Recruiting an apprentice video
9.1 Additional support
Apprenticeships.gov.uk contains all the answers to questions frequently asked by potential apprentices and employers.
If you have specific queries about the apprenticeship service, please visit our help portal where you can access help articles, webchat with an adviser, call (08000 150 600) or text (07588 690018) our helpline or email our helpdesk.