Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 28 November 2018

Published 28 November 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 February 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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: portal registration deadline for new applicants for Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) 2019 to 2020 and helpline launch

Academies and sixth-form colleges applying for CIF for the first time must apply to register by 5pm on Friday 30 November 2018. You should contact us via the ESFA enquiry form with the information set out in the CIF checklist for applicants.

The CIF 2019 to 2020 helpline opens on Thursday 29 November 2018 if you need help accessing your CIF portal account or uploading your application.

You can call the CIF helpline on 01325 340947, Monday to Friday, between 9:30am and 4:30pm. The application round closes at 12 noon on Thursday 13 December 2018.

For all other CIF enquiries, including monitoring returns, loans or scope change requests, please use the ESFA enquiry form.

2. Information: register of apprenticeship training providers launch

We will be opening the register of apprenticeship training providers for new applications on Wednesday 12 December 2018. It will remain open so organisations can apply when they are ready to deliver apprenticeship training. Following a review, we have made changes to the application process.

We want to make sure only financially stable providers who have the capacity, capability and skills, and are ready to train apprentices, can access apprenticeship funding.

If you are already on the register, you will need to reapply and we will contact you to let you know when. In the meantime, you can continue to deliver apprenticeship training.

All organisations that want to receive government funding to train apprentices must be on the register, including subcontractors.

We have strengthened the application process, requiring evidence of capability and capacity as well as financial stability. We will publish detailed application guidance when we open the register for applications.

Before you consider applying, you should read our guidance about becoming an apprenticeship training provider.

3. Information: provider funding for the delivery of T Levels government consultation

The Department for Education has published a consultation describing how we propose to distribute funding to providers for the delivery of T Levels.

As set out in the government’s response to the wider T Levels consultation published in May 2018 we plan to:

• build on the existing arrangements in order to distribute T Levels funding for 16 to 19 year olds rather than develop new arrangements
• fund level 2 maths and or English for those students who have not yet met the T Levels minimum exit requirement on top of the hours needed for the T Level itself
• allocate the extra funding needed for T Levels in the year of delivery before reverting to a lagged system at a later stage

The funding arrangements for these new programmes are a key priority and we encourage all of those with an interest to respond with their views. The consultation closes on Tuesday 19 February 2019.

4. Information: qualification achievement rates (QAR) 2017 to 2018 provisional data window

We will publish your provisional QAR 2017 to 2018 data in the week commencing Monday 7 January 2019. The data will be available in the ‘QAR reports’ section of the Data Returns page on the Hub.

You will have until 5pm on Friday 1 February 2019 to inform us of any concerns about how we have implemented our published methodology. Please note, you cannot request fixes or adjustments to your 2017 to 2018 individualised learner record (ILR) data.

We will publish updated business rules, dataset specifications and data extract guides to the QAR 2017 to 2018 webpage by the end of November.

More information is available in our QAR guidance.

5. Information: ESFA course directory

We have been speaking with providers about their experiences with the course directory and we are now designing a new, improved service.

We are looking to visit providers and show them the new course directory in order to collect feedback that will help us shape our design.

We are looking to start conducting face-to-face feedback sessions from this week onward. This would involve a researcher visiting your office to discuss your experiences with the new directory and asking you for feedback on a prototype. The session will take between 20 to 30 minutes.

If you’re interested in taking part or have any questions, please email our researcher at christina.emmanouil@digital.education.gov.uk with your preferred dates and times.

6. Information: adult education budget (AEB) devolution update

From the 2019 to 2020 academic year, the government will devolve AEB to 6 combined authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA) through a delegation agreement to the Mayor of London. This means that, from 1 August 2019, ESFA will be responsible for funding for residents of non-devolved areas only.

Combined authorities and GLA will be responsible for funding for their residents and, as a result, they will be undertaking various procurement and commissioning activities over the coming months.

Providers who wish to deliver to learners resident in areas where AEB will be devolved should ensure they are aware of the relevant authority’s funding, contracting and planned procurement arrangements.

For more information, visit our guidance on AEB devolution.

7. Information: adult education budget (AEB) allocations for the 2019 to 2020 funding year

In December we will issue illustrative non-devolved AEB allocations for the 2019 to 2020 funding year. Final allocations will be subject to a confirmed budget and will be issued through the Manage your education and skills funding service in March 2019. We plan to share (subject to a data sharing agreement) the illustrative allocations with mayoral combined authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA).

We will also publish provisional 2017 to 2018 AEB delivery data in non-devolved and devolved areas during December.

If you have any queries, please contact your local territorial team contact.

8. Information: additional funding for 2017 to 2018 contracts and final reconciliation statements

We have published details of the over-delivery that we are funding for 2017 to 2018. This is for both grant funded providers and contract-funded providers and it covers apprenticeships, adult education budget (AEB) including learner support, and advanced learner loans bursary funding.

Final reconciliation statements for 2017 to 2018 will shortly be available for you to view on the Manage your education and skills funding service. They set out what funding you must repay and, where applicable, any additional funding we will pay. They will cover the following grant-funded allocations:

• a grant for your AEB (non-procured)
• a grant with an advanced learner loans bursary contract
• a learner support contract
• a community learning contract

We will process the final reconciliation adjustments for 2017 to 2018 in December 2018. Any under-delivery will be recovered against your subsequent adult funding payments (excluding 16-19 funding) from December 2018.

9. Information: ‘Opportunities Through Apprenticeships’ scheme launched

Four local authorities - Portsmouth, Nottingham, South Tyneside and Torbay - have all signed up to take part in the new ‘Opportunities Through Apprenticeships’ pilot scheme. The scheme aims to increase the number of people from disadvantaged communities taking up high-quality apprenticeships.

Each area has pledged to work with employers, training providers and local partners to promote and encourage people to consider doing apprenticeships in key sectors such as engineering, manufacturing, construction and ICT.

More information on the new scheme is available.