Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 23 September 2020

Published 23 September 2020

This correspondence was withdrawn on 29 December 2021

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Read the latest editions of ESFA Update for up to date news and information.

Applies to England

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. Action: budget forecast return three-year (BFR3Y) – less than one week until the deadline

The deadline for the BFR3Y submission is 29 September 2020. Thank you to all the academy trusts who have already submitted their BFR3Y return.

You may be preparing your BFR3Y using the excel workbook, but we recommend you access and complete the ‘Overview’ section in your form as soon as possible. This is to ensure you receive the most appropriate supporting communications.

For help with completing your submission, please see our BFR3Y guidance.

3. Information: how T Levels are funded from 2021 to 2022 academic year

We have published how T Levels are funded guidance regarding the size of the technical qualifications for the second wave of T Levels being delivered from 2021 to 2022.

4. Information – updated good practice guide for internal scrutiny in academy trusts

We have updated our good practice guide for internal scrutiny in academy trusts. The guide provides suggestions as to how trusts can implement internal scrutiny arrangements that meet the requirements set out in the Academies Financial Handbook (AFH).

This updated guide can be found in the full list of available good practice guides, which aim to support trustees, accounting officers, principals/executive leaders and chief financial officers (CFOs) to develop good practice in their trust. This includes good practice guides that may be of particular interest to you at the start of the new financial year, such as:

• Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)

• operating an academy trust as a going concern

• external audit preparation checklist.

5. Information: 16 to 19 tuition fund opt-in template

We originally set a deadline of 16 September for providers to opt-in to the 16 to 19 tuition fund. We are aware that some institutions did not see their opt-in template in time to respond by that date, and so we have a set up an additional window for further responses.

For those providers who have not yet responded, opt-in templates should be completed and returned to ESFA by 14 October 2020. Eligible providers will find their template on the ESFA Information Exchange, which you can access by logging into DfE Sign-In.

Full details of eligibility are given in the guidance on the 16 to 19 tuition fund. Note that special schools and special academies are not in scope for the 16 to 19 tuition fund as all of their provision is covered by the schools catch-up premium funding.

6. Information: coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium allocations

We’ve published the provisional allocation tables and conditions of grant for the coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium.

7. Information: new high needs funding operational guidance

We have published the 2021 to 2022 high needs funding operational guide which sets out:

• changes to the high needs funding system in 2021 to 2022

• a summary of key dates and actions for local authorities and institutions

• information on funding arrangements for alternative provision.

8. Information: Capacity and Delivery Fund data returns

We have published a recorded presentation outlining information to assist Capacity and Delivery Fund (CDF) providers when completing ILR and school census data returns. Providers should view this to support the completion of end year data for the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

This information will support the monitoring requirements of funds allocated for the delivery of industry placements through CDF. Further information on monitoring requirements can be found on GOV.UK.

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