Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 27 June 2018

Published 27 June 2018

This correspondence was withdrawn on 20 February 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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: submission of external assurance on subcontracting controls certificates by providers and employer-providers who deliver adult provision, including apprenticeships and traineeships

You must send your completed certificates for 2017 to 2018 to CF1718.SUBCONTRACTING@education.gov.uk by Friday, 14 September.

You can find information about this requirement in the updated guidance document alongside the certificate proforma on GOV.UK.

If you have any queries, please contact the service desk.

2. Action: help us to improve our online forms

We are making improvements to a number of our online forms and looking for people to help with our user research testing. We are currently looking for help with:

• the land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) and accounts return (academy trusts)
• Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) (academy trusts and sixth-form colleges)
• reporting safeguarding concerns (local authorities)

If you are interested, please contact Charlotte Lewis.

3. Reminder: deadline for T Level data collection approaching

We would like to remind providers the T Level data collection deadline is midnight on 6 July. The data collection will gather information to inform T Level implementation and inform future provider support programmes. We are asking all providers who plan to offer T Levels to supply the requested information. You can find full guidance on how to complete the data collection on GOV.UK.

4. Information: 16 to 19 funding guidance for academic year 2018 to 2019

We have published the final 2 16 to 19 funding guides for academic year 2018 to 2019:

• 16 to 19 ILR funding returns guide
• 16 to 19 subcontracting controls guide

We have revised the guides, in particular the subcontracting guide and made a number of significant clarifications that all institutions should be aware of.

These guides outline the main features of the 16 to 19 funding arrangements for 2018 to 2019. The guidance books are an integral part of our funding agreements and contractual arrangements for young people aged 16 to 19 and those aged 19 to 25 with an education, health and care plan.

We have also made a small addition to paragraph 28 of the 16 to 19 funding regulations book. This is in respect of an additional group of eligible students for those having been granted leave under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 (the ‘Dubs’ amendment).

5. Information: AEB funding and performance management rules 2018 to 2019

This week we will publish version 2 - adult education budget (AEB) funding and performance management rules 2018 to 2019.

The main changes from version 1, published May 2018 is the inclusion of:

• performance management included in section 3
• amendments to low wage flexibility regarding evidence and wage threshold requirements
• status under section 67 of the Immigration Action 2016 leave (Dubs amendment)

The rules apply to all providers of education and training who receive AEB funding through the ESFA.

We will be holding a webinar on Monday, 16 July at 10.15am to 11.30am to introduce the revised rules and the changes for 2018 to 2019, please register with Eventbrite to confirm your place.

6. Information: feedback on the apprenticeship funding rules 2018 to 2019

We recently published the 2018 to 2019 apprenticeship funding rules. These documents set out the rules for apprenticeship funding, including the evidence required to support it and will apply to apprenticeship starts from 1st August 2018.

We have provided a period for feedback on the published documents. Following feedback, we will issue a final version of the rules in July to reflect any areas of clarification.

Please make sure to email suggestions to fundingrules.comments@education.gov.uk by Monday 2 July.

7. Information: in-year Qualification Achievement Rates for 2017 to 2018

We will release the in-year Qualification Achievement Rates (QARs) data for 2017 to 2018 this week, on both the Hub and through the Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards. The in-year QAR briefing and QAR webpage provide details about this data release and accessing the dashboard.

We have also published the QAR data extract guidance for 2017 to 2018 and the BI dashboard guidance on the QAR webpage.

To access the data, please ensure you have the correct IDAMS user access. Please see the IDAMS user guides for creating access or checking your user permissions.

If you have any questions, please contact the service desk.

8. Information: Strategic College Improvement Fund

The department are launching the main phase of the Strategic College Improvement Fund (SCIF) tomorrow, Thursday 28 June. SCIF supports colleges with Ofsted graded 3 or 4 for overall effectiveness or for any sub-judgement, to partner with a higher-performing college and undertake a focused quality improvement programme.

Following feedback from the pilot, we have simplified the application process and application windows will run roughly every three months and will align to the academic year. Applicants will be required to submit an ‘expression of interest’ outlining the quality challenge(s) they propose to address with an initial level of detail about how they will carry out their work.

You are invited to participate in a webinar on Thursday 5 July.

There will be opportunities to apply to the SCIF from now to July 2019. We will provide an update on all application windows in future ESFA updates.

9. Information: Taking Teaching Further applications now open

On Wednesday 20 June, Anne Milton launched a £5m national initiative to support up to 150 industry experts to teach in Further Education (FE). The programme will also fund 40 projects that will support an ongoing exchange between industry and FE.

Taking Teaching Further is open to all FE providers, and will initially run for two years with a focus on priority sectors, including the first T Level routes.

You can find further information about the programme and how to apply on the Education and Training Foundation website. Deadline for applications is midday, Friday 27 July.

10. Information: changes to charity automatic disqualification rules

The Charity Commission has published charity automatic disqualification rules: prepare for changes to the law ahead of the law changing on 1 August 2018 to extend the scope of who will be disqualified from running a charity.

We recommend that trustees and senior managers in academy trusts read the guidance and check that they will not be affected by these changes.