Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 27 March 2019

Published 27 March 2019

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This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Find the latest information from ESFA in the latest ESFA Update.

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-27-march-2019/esfa-update-academies-27-march-2019

1. Reminder: ESFA independent appeal panel complaints

We would like to remind academies must instruct clerks that run their admission appeals to include a link to the academy independent admission appeal complaints factsheet in the panel’s decision letter.

We have now published a series of guides to help admission authorities advise those involved with school admission appeals to understand their roles and responsibilities.

2. Reminder: reporting gender pay gap figures

The statutory deadline for reporting your gender pay gap figures for the 2018 to 2019 reporting year is Saturday 30 March 2019.

If you have not already done so, please register with the government’s gender pay gap reporting service as soon as possible and upload your figures before midnight on Saturday 30 March. Guidance on reporting your figures is available.

If you have previously registered to report but now do not think you are in scope of the regulations for this reporting year, please change your status on the reporting service by logging onto the reporting service.

Please do this before Saturday 30 March 2019 to ensure government records are accurate and to avoid any potential enforcement action for non-compliance.

3. Information: 2019 to 2020 funding allocation statements

We are making good progress issuing allocations for academic year 2019 to 2020. We’re uploading allocation statements after confirming the relevant local authority funding formula, so statements for academies in a multi-academy trust might not be uploaded together.

We have published academy general annual grant and 16-19 guidance to help you understand your statements.

We expect to issue pre-16 statements to academies that opened:

  • before or on 1 January 2019 by the end of March 2019
  • in February and March 2019 by the end of April 2019

We’ve uploaded the majority of 16 to 19 statements. Any remaining statements are on hold due to institution data issues or where funding arrangements are yet to be confirmed. We’ll upload these as they become available.

You can find all statements in the ‘revenue funding’ folder (2019/20) in the Document Exchange section of the Information Exchange. For support and guidance about the Information Exchange, please visit our support page.

Please contact us using our online enquiry form if you have any questions after reading our guidance.

We have published information about new arrangements for related party transactions where, from Monday 1 April 2019, academy trusts must declare when they agree to a related party transaction and seek approval from ESFA before they agree any related party transactions over £20,000.

We have also published a summary guide to related party transactions for academy trusts. This covers the information and evidence academy trusts need to prepare before using the online form, which will launch on Monday 1 April 2019.

5. Information: free school meals supplementary grant 2018 to 2019

A number of schools have contacted us asking how the free schools meals supplementary grant is calculated.

We use the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in the October 2017 and October 2018 school census returns to calculate this grant. This includes pupils in reception to year 11, pupils in nursery or sixth form are not included.

You can read more about the free school meals supplementary grant, and view allocations for the 2018 to 2019 financial year on GOV.UK.

6. Information: 16 to 19 capacity and delivery fund – updated guidance

We have updated the guidance for the capacity and delivery fund relating to academic year 2019 to 2020. The guidance provides important information relating to industry placements for students with special needs, students on an applied general qualification, and the use of discretionary bursary to support students on an industry placement.

The updated documents are:

7. Information: changes to the Student Bursary Support Service

ESFA has appointed a new provider to deliver the Student Bursary Support Service (SBSS). The SBSS is the online service that administers the Care to Learn scheme and claims for students in defined vulnerable groups from the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund. A new portal will be available in May 2019.

Key dates to note are:

  • summer retainer applications to retain childcare places over summer 2019 - available through the new portal from Tuesday 7 May 2019
  • Care to Learn 2019 to 2020 academic year applications – available through the new portal from Tuesday 7 May 2019
  • funding claims for the bursary for students in defined vulnerable groups will be processed through the new portal from Sunday 1 September 2019

Please continue to use SBSS for applications and funding claims for the 2018 to 2019 academic year. We will update you again about changes that may affect you and give instructions about when to start using the new portal.

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