ESFA Update further education: 23 March 2022
Published 23 March 2022
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-23-march-2022/esfa-update-further-education-23-march-2022
1. Information: initial funded qualification offers for 2022 to 2023
We have published our initial qualification offers for the funding year 2022 to 2023 on the ESFA list of qualifications approved for funding. The list shows which qualifications will have funding approval for another year until 31 July 2023, unless they are withdrawn earlier.
In April 2022, we will update the Find a Learning Aim (FaLA) website to display the funding validity information for the funding year 2022 to 2023.
We will also soon publish our qualification funding approval manual for the funding year 2022 to 2023. After we publish the manual, we will start accepting submissions from awarding organisations to consider additional qualifications for funding approval in 2022 to 2023.
If you have any further queries, please use our contact form.
2. Information: Advanced Learner Loans (ALL) funding rules for 2022 to 2023
We have published version 1 of the ALL funding rules for academic year 2022 to 2023.
These rules have been published in HTML format which is more accessible to readers.
The rules apply to all providers of education and training who hold a loans agreement with ESFA.
We expect to publish the performance management in version 2 in late spring. If you have any queries on these rules, please contact us through our enquiry form.
3. Information: maximum loan amounts for Advanced Learner Loans 2022 to 2023
We have published the maximum loan amounts guide for academic year 2022 to 2023.
This document confirms we have maintained the same maximum loan amounts for qualifications that we designated for loans in 2021 to 2022.
If you have any queries on these rules, please contact us through our enquiry form.
4. Information: ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding and performance management rules 2021 to 2022 – Ukrainian visa schemes
All Ukrainian adults and their family members supported through the Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme are immediately eligible for FE 19+ funding and are exempt from the 3-year residency requirement as per the current AEB funding rules.
Individuals applying for these schemes from outside the UK, will receive an official permission letter from Home Office confirming that they can travel to the UK. When they arrive in the UK with the permission letter, the UK Border Force officers will endorse their passport with a 6-month entry stamp. The 6-month entry stamp will be evidence of their right to work, study and claim benefits in the UK. Within 6 months of their arrival in the UK, they will be required to submit their biometrics to extend their stay for up to 3 years and will be issued a biometric residence permit (BRP), as evidence of their immigration status.
Individuals applying for these schemes from inside the UK, will need to book and attend an appointment at the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services service point where they will need to give their biometric information to get a BRP.
It’s important to note that there may be some delays in the issue of the Home Office BRP. In these cases all individuals will be issued with a document showing proof of Home Office immigration status.
If you have any questions, please contact us using our enquiry form.
5. Information: final qualification achievement rates (QAR) for 2020 to 2021
On Thursday 31 March, we will publish final QAR for 2020 to 2021 as part of the National Achievement Rate Tables through Explore our statistics and data.
As previously announced in response to the impact of COVID-19, provider level achievement data for 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021 will not be published. The release only covers high level national aggregations which are made available for transparency purposes only.
Thank you to those who provided feedback on the provisional 2020 to 2021 QAR data. Following feedback, QAR logic has been adjusted to account for AchDate crossover for apprenticeship standards, AchYear where CompStatus is continuing, and OutcomeStartYear for traineeships where CompStatus is complete but OutStartDate is missing. Additionally, logic specific to Planned End Year 2018 removed to include relevant aim records.
Providers will be able to access their final QAR data for 2020 to 2021 through View Your Education Data portal in early April following the national data release.
6. Information: the Employer Data (Registration) Service (EDS or EDRS), employer identifiers and ILR submissions
The new Employer Data Service (EDS) search facility is now available on submit learner data (SLD).
Users with required access will see a new tile under ‘Reports and data: EDS – Search EDS Data’. Access to EDS has been provided to super users only.
Users who require access will need an Identity and Access Management System (IdAMS) account. Instructions on how to register for this are available for users who do not already have an account.
To access EDS users will need to request a new role ‘Submit Learner Data – EDS’ and this will need to be approved by the providers’ super user.
Providers can carry on submitting EMPIDs/ERNs on the ILR for current learners. For new learners, where an ERN is required and cannot be found, use 999999999 on the ILR and the 60 day validation rules will be turned off.
Where a 999999999 EMPIDs/ERNs is used on the ILR, as long as the learner is registered on the apprentice service, the employer name will be displayed on provider reports that display this field.
7. Information: Bett Show 2022, 23 to 25 March
DfE is once again delighted to be featured at Bett as it returns to ExCeL London this week.
Bett is the global community for education technology and this flagship UK event welcomes educators, leaders and innovators together to showcase the future of technology in education.
DfE is launching the first technology standards for schools and colleges, to help them understand their digital environment and what core technology to have in place.
Discover the full agenda including sessions from DfE, and keep up with latest with #Bett2022 on Twitter.