ESFA Update academies: 20 January 2021
Published 20 January 2021
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-20-january-2021/esfa-update-academies-20-january-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: academies land and building collection tool (LBCT)
Thank you to those trusts that have submitted their land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) return. For everyone else, this is a final reminder that the deadline for submission is Thursday 28 January 2021.
The return must be completed by all academy trusts with at least one open academy on 31 August 2020. If you have any church-owned land, you’ll need your local diocese review your submission.
Please visit our LBCT GOV.UK webpage where you will be able to view the summary guidance, the optional LBCT workbook along with the link to the online form.
Our GOV.UK page also has information about our Microsoft Teams calls for all LBCT form users. These calls are now daily until the deadline from 10:30am to 11am.
3. Information: academies financial returns help
Thank you to those trusts that have submitted their financial statements and/or accounts return. If you are still working on them, please submit these by the deadlines. These are:
- Sunday 31 January 2021 for submitting your trust’s financial statements using the accounts submission coversheet
- Tuesday 23 February 2021 for your external auditor to submit your trust’s accounts return. Please make sure your external auditor is registered and set up to use the accounts return online form
We will be hosting a series of weekly Teams calls to answer any of your questions about the automated submission process for the accounts return. Where set up, automation sends the data from your trust’s financial management system directly to DfE. This allows us to pre-populate parts of your financial returns, reducing the time it takes you to input data and ensuring that data is handled in a consistent way across the sector.
You can join us on Teams or dial in using 0203 321 5238 and when prompted entering the conference code: 604 191 994#.
3.1 Dates and times
- 26 January – 11am to midday
- 2 February – 11am to midday
- 9 February – 11am to midday
You can submit any questions you may have on automation to the webchat on sli.do (please enter #API2020 to access the webchat forum). Please check back for a response to your question regularly, we will be responding to questions several times a week.
4. Information: high needs place change request outcomes 2021 to 2022
We have published the high needs place change request outcomes: 2021 to 2022 that will inform the funded place numbers for the 2021 to 2022 academic year in academies, free schools, further education colleges and independent learning providers.
You should review the published outcomes as soon as possible to ensure the numbers reflect those expected. If an institution is not listed, this means no change was notified for that institution and the published 2020 to 2021 place numbers will be used as the basis of the 2021 to 2022 allocation.
Local authorities, academies or further education institutions can contact ESFA to query their 2021 to 2022 place numbers between 20 January 2021 and 5 February 2021.
More information about the enquiry window can be found in the high needs place change process guidance.
5. Information: 16 to 19 funding allocations 2021 to 2022
We have updated our 16 to 19 funding allocations information for academic year 2021 to 2022:
- our timeline lets you know when you can expect your allocations. We update the timeline on a regular basis, so do keep checking back to see the latest updates
- we have confirmed the data sources for student numbers and other formula elements we’re using to calculating 2021 to 2022 allocation
- we have published the page where you will find information to help you understand your allocation
We have also published details about how 16 to 19 funding will work in academic year 2021 to 2022.
If you have any queries please contact us using our online enquiry form.
6. Information: consultation on alternative arrangements for vocational and technical qualifications
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic means that the government is of the view that it is not viable for external exams and assessments to go ahead for some vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) this year.
However, for VTQs that require a practical assessment to demonstrate occupational competency or to gain a licence to practise, we think that these assessments should continue to take place in school or college, where this is possible, subject to public health guidance.
It is really important we get views on these proposals, so on Friday we launched a joint consultation with Ofqual on the alternative arrangements for awarding Vocational and Technical qualifications where exams don’t go ahead. Our aim is to ensure that there is a fair, equitable and robust awarding of qualifications this academic year, and would encourage learners, staff, and providers to respond as we are keen to hear your views.