Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 22 May 2024

Published 22 May 2024

Applies to England

Information: 16 to 19 funding allocations

The 16 to 19 disadvantage funding allocations consist of 2 blocks: one to account for students’ economic deprivation, and one to account for low prior attainment in English and maths. The Education and Skills Funding agency (ESFA) has amended the 16 to 19 allocations data to show the allocations from academic year 2020 to 2021 onwards, by separating these 2 blocks and including the minimum top-up amounts. This is to support the transparency of 16 to 19 allocation data.

We have updated the below transparency data:

• 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2023 to 2024 academic year
• 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2022 to 2023 academic year
• 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2021 to 2022 academic year
• 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2020 to 2021 academic year

Information: Changes to the funding regulations for post-16 provision 2024 to 2025 guidance

ESFA has updated the funding regulations for post-16 provision 2024 to 2025 guidance. You can find any changes detailed in the what’s new section.

Changes include an amendment to section 6, which now sets out all our subcontracting advice for schools and academies.

Information: Publication of college financial benchmarking tool and college accounts dataset

ESFA has published an updated college financial benchmarking tool with data from further education and sixth-form colleges’ 2022 to 2023 finance records, submitted to, and reviewed by ESFA up to Tuesday 30 April 2024. The tool allows colleges to compare their performance with others in the sector.

We have also published the college accounts dataset for 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023 based on the finance records.

Information: Take part in a set of trials if you are a local area or provider that delivers functional skills qualifications level 1 or GCSE maths provision to adults

We are inviting adult learning organisations to take part in an exciting set of trials in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

If you are a local area or a provider that delivers functional skills qualifications level 1 (FSQ L1) or GCSE maths provision to adults then these trials present an opportunity for you to be directly involved in generating new, high-quality evidence on what works in adult numeracy.

The trials will be fully funded, and incentives are available.

The following video provides helpful information about what being involved in a randomised control trial (RCT) means and what is required of participants:

Multiply Randomised Control Trials (RCTs): Participant Information (youtube.com)

Tribal is delivering the trials for the Department for Education (DfE). If you would like to hear more, contact Tribal directly by emailing multiply@tribalgroup.com or by completing the expression of interest form on the Tribal website.

Information: Launch of the skills injection fund 3

The application window for the latest round of the higher technical education skills injection fund is now open and will close on Monday 17 June. This £10.3 million capital fund supports the government’s ambition to grow provision of higher technical qualifications (HTQs), to give learners the skills that employers need to help the economy grow and thrive.

The purpose of the fund is to help providers invest in industry-standard equipment they need to offer an experience for learners that will meet employer needs. Applications can be made for courses in the following routes: 

• agriculture, environmental and animal care
• care services
• construction and the built environment
• digital
• education and early years
• engineering and manufacturing
• health and science

To check your eligibility and to apply, visit the higher technical education skills injection fund 3 guidance page.

The fund will close for applications at 11:59pm on Monday 17 June.

Information: The DfE further education provider dashboard

The DfE further education (FE) provider dashboard has been developed for all grant-funded FE providers and for local authority FE providers in receipt of £1 million per annum or more from ESFA. The dashboard forms part of the wider FE accountability reforms set out in the skills for jobs white paper.

We appreciate the efforts of those that have supported the testing of the dashboard. We are now ready to go live in July 2024 for a ‘private beta’ (non-public) pilot in view your education data (VYED).

We would like all colleges and large local authority FE providers to start using the dashboard from September, as part of this pilot. To support you with this we are holding demonstration webinars followed by a live question and answer session.

Register for the webinars following webinars:

• Thursday 20 June, 10am to 11am
• Wednesday 26 June, 3pm to 4pm

Share with any colleagues who may be interested in attending.

Your Feedback: Financial statement submissions process: independent training providers needed for research

Are you an independent training provider (ITP) and do you submit financial statements to ESFA? If so, we need your help. 

The first phase of a project exploring the ways ITPs submit their financial statements to ESFA and identifying any potential changes was completed in March. We are now beginning the next phase of research, testing ideas, and evaluating prototypes for future submission requirements.    

We need your help to understand how changes we are exploring would work for you and will be holding online interviews over the coming weeks to explore this further.

We are committed to ensuring our services work for all users so do consider getting involved. We would particularly like to hear from you if you use assistive technology or make technological adjustments.

To get involved, read this participant information sheet which will tell you more about upcoming research opportunities and how to complete the consent form.