Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 28 February 2024

Published 28 February 2024

Applies to England

1. Action: make the most of your National Tutoring Programme funding with holiday tuition

Schools can use their 2023 to 2024 National Tutoring Programme (NTP) grant to pay for 50% of tutoring costs until Saturday 31 August 2024. This includes using your school’s grant to deliver tuition in the school holidays.

Register for the next webinar on Thursday 7 March at 12:30pm, which will share practical tips on delivering holiday tuition. It will also cover the 2023 to 2024 NTP guidance and give you an opportunity to ask questions. To submit questions in advance, please email ntp.engagement@education.gov.uk.

In addition, we encourage you to:

• check your funding allocation
• use the calculator tool to plan and track your tutoring

2. Information: mainstream schools additional grant 2023 to 2024: new and growing schools allocations

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has published mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) actual allocations for 2023 to 2024 for new and growing schools. New and growing schools are schools that have opened in the past 7 years and are still adding year groups in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This also includes schools that opened from September 2023.

These updated allocations incorporate actual pupil numbers and recent pupil data schools recorded in the October 2023 school census.

ESFA will make payments to local authorities for new and growing maintained schools in February 2024, and to new and growing academies in March 2024.

3. Information: ESFA Adult Skills Fund – Tailored Learning

The primary purpose of Tailored Learning is to support learners into employment and to progress to further learning. It can also be used to support wider purposes of learning, including building confidence, and improving well-being.  

For ESFA-funded Adult Skills Fund (ASF) provision, you must not use Tailored Learning funding for learning that is primarily or solely for leisure purposes, which is defined as learning where the primary or sole intent of the learning is for leisure. This applies to curriculum intent and to the learner’s purpose for undertaking the learning.   

Learners studying on the same course may have different purposes. For example, a learner may participate on a course with the learning aim ‘Creative Arts’ to improve their confidence, and another to improve their wellbeing. Similarly, a learner may participate on a course within the learning aim ‘volunteering, active citizenship’ to develop employability skills, and another to contribute to community life.

4. Information: teachers’ pay additional grant allocations for 2023 to 2024 academic year

ESFA have published teachers’ pay additional grant (TPAG) allocations for 2023 to 2024  for new and growing schools. New and growing schools are schools that have opened in the past 7 years and are still adding year groups in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This also includes schools that opened from September 2023, using the recent pupil data from the October 2023 census.

These updated allocations incorporate actual pupil numbers of those schools recorded in the October 2023 school census. Payment will be made by the end of March 2024.   These replace the indicative allocations that were published in July 2023, to help new and growing schools with budget planning.

5. Information: 16 to 19 additional hours in study programmes

ESFA increased funding from the academic year 2022 to 2023 for the introduction of an additional 40 hours for band 5 study programmes, T Levels, and for proportionate increases in hours for other study programmes.

For the academic year 2024 to 2025, it is the continued expectation that all institutions deliver on average 40 more hours on band 5 programmes, than in the academic year 2020 to 2021.  

ESFA has maintained the increase in funding band hours in the academic year 2024 to 2025 to account for the additional hours. It is recognised that there will be some variation with differences in cohorts and courses, but the agency will analyse where the data suggests that teaching hours have not significantly increased.  

As the policy remains the same, the guidance on 16 to 19 additional hours in study programmes will remain unchanged from the academic year 2023 to 2024 guidance. It will be incorporated into the 2024 to 2025 study programme guidance to reduce burdens for providers, which will be published in due course.  

Institutions should continue to: 

• use additional hours flexibly, broadly in line with study programme guidance, to best meet the needs of students 
• prioritise maths in the use of additional hours where there is an identified student need 
• use additional hours to support areas such as mental health, wellbeing or study skills where these are a barrier for students effectively accessing teaching and learning

6. Information: update to PE and sports allocations for 2023 to 2024

ESFA has updated the 2023 to 2024 allocations for PE and sport premium to include brand new schools and newly eligible schools. Namely, schools that did not have eligible pupils in January 2023 census but do in October 2023 census.

7. Information: risk protection arrangement members to book a place on the statutory inspections workshop and the mock trial workshop

Willis Towers Watson is providing risk management support for all risk protection arrangement (RPA) members through audit, guidance and advice. As part of the risk management support, RPA members are invited to a workshop covering statutory inspections.

Places are for RPA members only and will be allocated on a first come first served basis:

• Thursday 7 March 2024 – 10am to midday
• Wednesday 20 March 2024 – 10am to midday

‘The Regulatory Mock Trial’ is a 3-hour workshop designed to assist governors, trustees, directors, and members of Senior Leadership Teams to understand the challenges they face in implementing compliant health and safety management systems, enhance the prospects of avoiding enforcement action and improve the school’s defensive capabilities where a prosecution is pursued.

Places are for RPA members only and will be allocated on a first come first served basis:

• Thursday 21 March 2024

8. Information: national measles webinar

DfE is hosting a webinar on the increase in measles cases, with speakers from UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England (NHSE).

The webinar will cover information on measles, an overview of current epidemiology, the importance of the MMR vaccination and how to get it, as well as how to manage cases and outbreaks in educational settings.

Education settings can sign up to the live webinar that will take place on Monday 4 March at 4pm to 5pm.  

For those that cannot attend on the day, the webinar will be recorded.