ESFA Update academies: 20 July 2022
Published 20 July 2022
Applies to England
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1. Reminder: budget forecast return due by 26 July
Thank you to those academy trusts that have already submitted their BFR.
We’d like to remind those that have not yet submitted their BFR that there is less than a week to go before the deadline at close of business 26 July 2022.
You can find information about the BFR on GOV.UK with details of the support available to help you complete the return.
If you are experiencing any difficulties, please contact us.
2. Reminder: the school-led tutoring year-end statement form is live
The school-led tutoring: year-end statement form is live. You will need to complete this form if you have received school-led tutoring funding.
The deadline for your submission is 6:00pm on Friday 16 September 2022.
We have published guidance to help you complete the form. This form is for schools, academies and independent special schools.
You can read more on the school-led tutoring grant on GOV.UK.
3. Information: academies planning calendar
We have published the academies planning calendar .
A planner showing key dates for payments, publications and academy actions, for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
4. Information: schools funding arrangements 2023 to 2024
On 19 July, the Minister of State for School Standards made a written statement setting out the schools, high needs and central school services national funding formulae (NFF) for 2023 to 2024.
Provisional 2023 to 2024 NFF allocation tables and technical notes have been published, along with the policy document detailing the changes. The school-level provisional allocations have also been published in an online tool.
We have published the schools operational guide for 2023 to 2024, for local authorities to progress their planning for the financial year.
5. Information: universal infant free school meals (UIFSM): final and provisional allocations
In June we published both final UIFSM allocations for the 2021 to 2022 academic year and provisional allocations for the 2022 to 2023 academic year. This was the first time we published the final and provisional allocations for the 2 years separately and understand this caused some confusion.
We have now published a more detailed version of the final allocations for 2021 to 2022, with each school’s allocation shown separately as 2 different funding elements in the tables. These are the final allocation, in column K, based on the original meal rate of £2.34, and then separate additional funding in lieu of the meal rate increase to £2.41 backdated to 1 April 2022, in column L.
The final payment for June /July 2022, in column M, is the sum of these elements less the provisional allocation paid in June/July 2021. We’ve now made this clearer in the final allocation tables.
We have also published, and made clearer, the 2022 to 2023 provisional allocations table. All schools that are eligible in both years should receive their June /July 2022 payments from the 2021 to 2022 final allocation tables and from the 2022 to 2023 provisional allocation tables.
Academies and local authorities should see 2 UIFSM payment lines on their remittances, one for UIFSM 2021 to 2022 and the other for UIFSM 2022 to 2023. Further information on the calculations is available in the conditions of grant.
6. Information: National Tutoring Programme for the 2022 to 2023 academic year
We are pleased to confirm that we have now appointed three new delivery partners for the new academic year. Full details are published on GOV.UK.
All schools can continue to use the NTP throughout the summer holidays. This is across all three tuition routes, including Tuition Partners, who are now in place until 31 August 2022.
All schools can access their National Tutoring Programme school funding for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
You can find out more about how programme will work from September in our NTP guidance for schools for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
7. Information: funding for time off timetable for early career teachers and mentors who participated in the early roll-out of the early career framework reforms
An early roll-out of the early career framework reforms was launched for eligible schools in the North East, Greater Manchester, Bradford and Doncaster in autumn 2020, ahead of national roll-out from September 2021.
We have now published the school and college level allocations for the schools and colleges that signed up and participated in the early roll-out.
We expect payments to be made to local authority-maintained schools and colleges via their respective local authorities and directly to academies in summer 2022.
You can view the published allocations and conditions of grant on GOV.UK.
For any queries please contact continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk.
8. Information: backfill payments for time off timetable for early career framework (ECF) mentor training (national roll-out)
Providers using one of the DfE-funded training providers to deliver early career framework mentor training from 1 September 2021 (national roll-out) will receive backfill payments to cover 36 hours of mentor time off timetable for training per mentor over 2 years. This funding will be made in arrears over 2 payments.
The first payment will be in the summer of year 1, covering 18 hours of mentor time off timetable for training. The second payment for the remaining 18 hours of mentor time off timetable for training will be made in the summer of year 2 where there has been sustained engagement with the mentor training. The payments will be made to local authority-maintained schools and colleges via their respective local authorities and directly to academies.
We have now published the school and college level allocations for schools and colleges eligible for ECF mentor training backfill funding.
You can view the published allocations and conditions of grant on GOV.UK.
9. Information: interactive post-16 school census tool updated
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:
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how your data is used to calculate your post-16 funding
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how common data errors affect your funding
Updated worksheets for 2022 to 2023:
- ‘Code tables’: new funding and monitoring (FAM) codes, updated programme cost weightings table
- ‘National rate’: funding rates and planned hour thresholds have increased
- ‘Programme cost weighting examples’: there is a new example setting out the effect of omitting an occupational specialism (ZTLOS code) learning aim
- ‘Condition of funding’: the condition applies to students starting T Level programmes after 1 August 2022
Business managers and staff responsible for preparing and submitting the autumn school census return will find this 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.
10. Information: share your views on SEND and alternate provision reforms
The Department for Education (DfE) Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) green paper consultation closes on Friday 22 July.
Resources are available understand the proposals on sendreview.campaign.gov.uk, including question and answer sessions that cover mandatory mediation, behaviour, accountability, school SEND budgets and teacher training.
Please respond to the consultation by Friday 22 July.
10.1 Call for evidence into the use of unregistered alternative provision
As part of the SEND and AP green paper, the DfE committed to review and improve oversight and accountability for unregistered alternative provision settings.
To inform and support a national vision and delivery model for alternative provision, the department has now launched a call for evidence. Predominantly aimed at commissioners including schools and local authorities, as well as unregistered providers who deliver the education, asking those with practical understanding of how these provisions are arranged and operate to share their views.
The call for evidence closes Friday 30 September. For further information and to respond visit GOV.UK.
11. Information: support with school buying over summer
DfE’s Get help buying for schools service is available throughout the summer to support you with buying for your school. Contact our procurement experts for no obligation advice and guidance to make sure you get great value for money on a range of goods and services.
12. Information: get advice on harmful sexual behaviour
South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL) and the Marie Collins Foundation have launched a new Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service.
The service provides support and advice to any professional in England who may encounter developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviour among the children and young people they work with.
The service has been funded by the Home Office and developed in collaboration with the Department for Education.
It’s available Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm on 0344 225 0623, or hsbsupport@swgfl.org.uk.
Find out more on the Harmful Sexual Behaviour Support Service.
13. Your feedback: Power Hour survey - academy finance professionals
Our specialist teams have discussed a wide range of topics throughout the year during the Power Hour events. Topics have included funding, budget forecast returns, related party transactions, academies financial reporting and our first virtual networking event.
We hope you enjoyed them, and they provided useful information to support your role.
We would welcome your feedback by completing this short questionnaire. Your valuable feedback throughout the year has helped shape previous events and will support the development of future events.