Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 26 July 2023

Published 26 July 2023

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-26-july-2023/esfa-update-further-education-26-july-2023

1. Information: further changes to 16 to 19 funding for 2023 to 2024

Following the announcement of additional funding for further education we have made changes to a number of 16 to 19 funding rates and policies.

We have increased the national funding rate, programme cost weights, disadvantage block 2 rates and the care leavers rate. We wrote to institutions significantly impacted by the baseline change to the Advanced Maths Premium in April, and we have clarified funding relating to wave 4 T Levels.

Guidance with changes include:

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

2. Information: apprenticeship off-the-job training hours

The funding rules monitoring report ‘Apprenticeship off-the-job training hours (OTJT) below the minimum’ (FRM37) for R11 is now available to view in the post-16 monitoring dashboard.

If you deliver apprenticeships, please access the dashboard to view these errors and correct your data, you should ensure this is corrected by the R14 ILR submission.

There is specific guidance on how we calculate the thresholds and what you need to do to ensure that you’re reporting OTJT hours correctly.

You must calculate planned OTJT hours using the methodology described in the funding rules at the outset of the apprenticeship programme and record this on the training plan and apprenticeship agreement. When recording the start of the apprenticeship in your ILR data, you must report the number of planned OTJT hours for the whole programme in the planned hours field. This field is mandatory and must accurately reflect the evidence documented on the apprenticeship agreement and training plan.

3. Information: submit your application for the new IfATE Award for National Apprenticeship Awards 2023

This is the last chance to submit your application for the new IfATE Award for National Apprenticeship Awards 2023!

Back for their 20th year, the National Apprenticeship Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase the apprentices, employers and champions who have gone above and beyond.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is calling for businesses to submit applications for a special award we are introducing to celebrate employers’ pivotal role in transforming apprenticeships for the better.

The IfATE Apprenticeship Development Partner of the Year Award will celebrate the outstanding reach and impact of their work, including efforts made to instigate innovation; prioritise green skills and diversity; and secure consensus and support.
You will need to submit your application in time for the deadline of 5pm on Friday 28th July.

It is free to enter and you can apply here on our website.

Please note all other award categories are now closed for 2023 applications.

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