Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 2 October 2019

Published 2 October 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 December 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

1. Reminder: get ready for Brexit

The UK is leaving the EU on 31 October 2019. Find out how to prepare your business.

The government has guaranteed that in the event of leaving the EU without a deal, all those who are resident in the UK before the UK leaves the EU will be able to stay. Employers should ensure that their employees, including apprentices, who are EU/EEA or Swiss citizens living in the UK are aware that they and their family members will need to apply for settled or pre-settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme in order to secure their rights. Many of your employees will have already applied to the EU Settlement Scheme, or be in the process of doing so. But if they haven’t, they still have until 31 December 2020 to do so (30 June 2021 if the UK leaves with a deal). Use the toolkit for employers to help your employees.

Irish citizens’ right to live in the UK will not change when the UK leaves the EU. Irish citizens do not need to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme, but their family members who are not Irish or British citizens will need to do so.

All EU/EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members starting an apprenticeship in England in the 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 academic years will remain eligible for apprenticeship funding. The funding rules will be updated to reflect this.

Guidance is also available for FE and apprenticeship providers and businesses employing apprentices on how to prepare for Brexit.

2. Information: high needs funding operational guide for 2020 to 2021

We will publish the high needs operational guidance setting out arrangements for high needs funding in 2020 to 2021 on Thursday 3 October.

The guidance includes changes to the high needs funding system in 2020 to 2021, a summary of key dates and actions for local authorities and institutions, and information on funding arrangements for alternative provision.

We will also publish a separate guide for local authorities with special free schools.

3. Reminder: funding claims 2018 to 2019 – final claim

Your 2018 to 2019 final claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data from 9am, on Monday 21 October and will close at 5pm, on Tuesday 29 October.

You must sign your claim digitally on Manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Wednesday 30 October by your principal or a delegated authority. You will need to submit and sign a claim if you receive funds through:

• a grant for your Adult Education Budget (AEB)
• a grant for your 16 to 19 Funding
• a grant with an Advanced Learner Loans Bursary contract
• a Learner Support contract

Once you have submitted your claim on Submit Learner Data, you will be able to view and sign it on Manage your education and skills funding within 15 minutes.

We have guidance on the funding claims and the separate 16 to 19 education: funding guidance. The funding claims user guide will help you complete the form.

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

4. Action: qualification achievement rates (QARs) 2018 to 2019

We are approaching the final individualised learner record (ILR) data collection for 2018 to 2019. The data is used to calculate QARs and minimum standards.

We have released the R12 in-year QAR data for 2018 to 2019 on the Hub and dashboard on the View Your Education Data portal. The in-year QAR guidance and QAR webpage provide details about this data release and accessing the dashboard.

If you have identified any issues in your 2018 to 2019 data, then these must be resolved before the R14 hard close on 17 October 2019. Any data issues will affect your 2018 to 2019 QARs. Please review your ILR data before you make your final R14 submission; you will not be able to amend your 2018 to 2019 data after the R14 hard close.

To help you review your data you can find information about the common data issues and funding monitoring reports. Please see the IDAMS user guides for creating access or checking your user permissions.

If you have any questions, please contact the service desk.

5. Information: How to submit your growth funding business case for mainstream budget traineeships

16 to 18 traineeship providers funded through the mainstream budget will be able to apply in-year growth for 2019 to 2020, this is specifically for planned growth in the remainder of the year.

Business cases for growth funding can be submitted through our online enquiry form between 11 November to 6 December 2019. We cannot accept business cases from providers with a traineeship-only contract.

For colleges and independent learning providers, we will assess how much of your 2019 to 2020 allocation has been used to date by looking at R04 data. For other types of providers, we will use the latest data available.

Business cases must:

• include supporting evidence of employer support for additional starts in-year
• include evidence of student demand.
• be clearly marked as “Traineeship In-year Growth Business Case”

All awards are subject to overall affordability. We expect to inform providers of the outcome in February 2020.

6. Information: Apprenticeship technical funding guide

We have published the Apprenticeships technical funding guide for April 2019.

This explains how funding will work for apprenticeship frameworks and standards starting on or after 1 April 2019, including how we will calculate provider payments.

The main additions from the previous guidance are:

• the impact of the ILR changes from 1 August 2019; mainly on how to record completions and achievements for apprenticeship standards
• new guidance for how to record late data in your ILR
• new guidance for providers with apprenticeships following a merger

For all starts before 1 April 2019 please refer to Apprenticeships technical funding guide for starts from May 2017 to March 2019.

For further information please contact the service desk.