Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 20 September 2023

Published 20 September 2023

Applies to England

1. Action: R12 in-year qualification achievement rate (QAR) 2022 to 2023

Your R12 in-year 2022 to 2023 QARs can now be accessed through View your education data, which provides:

• a QAR dashboard that uses your ILR data from the R12 return to show your rates
• a QAR data download to show your learner level information

The QAR dashboards have been updated to a new format, please take the opportunity to review the new format and provide any feedback or suggestions via the online feedback form.

On reviewing the in-year data you will have until the ILR R14 on 6pm on Thursday 19 October 2023 to identify and resolve potential data issues that may impact on your QAR.  You cannot request fixes or adjustments to your 2022 to 2023 Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data following the ILR R14 hard close on Thursday 19 October 2023.  For further information on correcting errors in the ILR, please refer to Provider Support Manual: 2023 to 2024 - Correcting errors.

If you have any queries in relation to Qualification Achievement Rates (QAR), please contact us via our online enquiry form, referencing the data from the data downloads if applicable. Further advice and support can also be found under the Help Centre articles and Communities section for peer support.

2. Information: update on the FE workforce data collection

We have published headline results for the 2021 to 2023 FE workforce data collection. We would like to thank all providers who took part last year, as this achievement would not be possible without you.

The next round of the FE workforce data collection will open for returns on 27 September 2023 and will close on 26 January 2024. This collection is mandatory for all eligible providers.

This collection will help:

• provide a better understanding of the implications of government policy reforms, including their impact on the composition of staff and their specialisms.
• provide a greater understanding of contracts and pay in the sector.
• reveal skills gaps in the sector.

All three strands (staff, vacancy and governance) are mandatory for eligible providers.

We will be publishing outcomes in 2024, for the benefit of providers and key stakeholders, such as Ofsted and sector representatives.

We have published guidance documents for the collection to support staff who are completing the collections.

3. Information: ESFA funded adult education budget funding rates and formula guide 2023 to 2024 version 2

We have published version 2 of the adult education budget (AEB) funding rates and formula guide for 2023 to 2024.

This document sets out how we will fund activity for ESFA funded AEB and continuing 16 to 18 traineeships. In this version, we have described:

• a change of rate to £336 for digital functional skills qualifications.

This guide covers delivery starting in the 2023 to 2024 funding year. We may publish further updates through the course of the year and we will tell you about any changes in ESFA Update.

If you have any queries after reading our guidance contact us, marking your query for the attention of the 19+ Calculations group.

4. Information: earnings adjustment statement (EAS)

We have published guidance for submitting the EAS in the 2023 to 2024 funding year.

This year’s version contains the following updates:

• new funding line types for the ESFA adult education budget (AEB) procurement for starts from August 2023
• updated funding line types for National Skills Fund provision
• details of what can be claimed through EAS for the updated apprenticeships care leaver bursary

You can now access published guidance and supporting documents, including a template CSV file and validation rules, to help you with your return.

5. Information: recording your T Level data accurately

We calculate T Levels under- and over-delivery against your estimated numbers by reviewing, in year, your student numbers submitted in your autumn census or R04. It is important your autumn census or R04 data is recorded correctly as we will not accept business cases to change these numbers.

We have updated the record your T Level data correctly guidance. This includes additional examples of how T Level programme elements and scenarios should be recorded in your data returns.

We strongly encourage you to submit your autumn school census or R04 before the return deadlines (1 November 2023 for the autumn census and 6 December 2023 for the R04) so you can review your data submitted and make amendments where needed. You can review your 16 to 19 funding reports in the funding information system (FIS), submit learner data and COLLECT as these will identify your T Level students and the funding bands assigned to them.

If some T Level students are not displaying as you expected, you can use the checklist provided at the bottom of the record your T Level data correctly guidance to ensure you have recorded all programme elements correctly.

6. Information: webinar on DfE’s formal response to FE funding and accountability reform

Our reforms play a critical role in achieving the ambitions set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper: to create a further education (FE) system that delivers high-quality training which leads to good, sustainable jobs and in turn transforms people’s lives.

If you are interested in understanding the proposals in more detail, please see the consultation outcome for ‘Implementing a new FE funding and accountability system’.

DfE is hosting a webinar on Thursday 28 September, this will be an opportunity for the FE sector to hear an overview of the reforms, discuss our formal response and to ask questions. Please register for the webinar online.

7. Your feedback: Skills Bootcamps, FE college provider forum

This short survey is for FE colleges only.

We ask for your views on shaping the scope of a Skills Bootcamps provider forum, which could be created to support sharing of best practice in Skills Bootcamps delivery amongst FE Colleges. The forum would run on a termly basis and be open to all FE Colleges across England.

The survey consists of only 3 multiple choice questions. Please submit your responses by 6th October.