Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 24 October 2018

Published 24 October 2018

This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 February 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Find the latest information from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the latest ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Action: Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) 2019 to 2020

The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for 2019 to 2020 is now open for applications.

We have published updated guidance about the CIF application process.

CIF is an annual bidding round for eligible academies and sixth-form colleges to apply for capital funding. We allocate most CIF funding to address significant condition need. A small proportion goes to high performing academies and sixth-form colleges to address overcrowding or create extra places.

If you are applying to CIF for the first time, you must register to use the portal by 5pm on Friday 30 November 2018.

The deadline to submit your application for CIF 2019 to 2020 is midday on Thursday 13 December 2018.

2. Action: final funding claims for 2017 to 2018 change in deadlines

Following the delay in opening the final funding claim window, we have extended the claim dates to the following:

• claims must be submitted in the Hub by 5pm on Monday 29 October
• claims must be signed off in the Manage your education and skills funding service (formerly known as the Skills funding service) by 5pm on Wednesday 31 October

You will not be able to submit a claim after the deadline on Monday 29 October 2018.

We have published a user guide to help you submit your claim. You can also find more information in the adult funding claims guidance and the 16 to 19 education funding guidance for the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

For further information or related queries, please email the service desk.

3. Information: qualifications achievement rates (QAR) reports update

We have published your final 2016 to 2017 QAR reports and in-year R10 2017 to 2018 QAR reports to the ‘QAR reports’ section of the data returns page on the Hub.

These interim excel reports provide the same data as was in the decommissioned Birst dashboards. We’ve published guidance to help you understand these reports.

If you are unable to access the reports, please ensure you have the correct user access. Please see the Hub guide to user roles and the in-year guidance for more information.

We have identified an issue in the reports for some providers. We are applying a fix and will republish all reports for all providers by early November. You will see the republished files as “version 2” on the Hub.

If you have any questions, please contact the service desk and ask us to assign your query to ‘ESFA Business Operations QAR’.

4. Information: 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations for 2018 to 2019

This week we published the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations for academic year 2018 to 2019.

The publication covers schools, academies and further education institutions funded by ESFA for 16 to 19 year olds and 19 to 25 year olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

We have published the data sets in the interests of transparency. They also give a more complete picture of education funding by showing how ESFA has allocated £5.7 billion for this cohort.

5. Information: EpiPen and EpiPen Junior shortage updated advice

Following last week’s guidance on the EpiPen shortages, you should note the guidance in a letter from NHS allergy experts, which GPs are issuing to those affected and includes updated advice.