Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 3 April 2019

Published 3 April 2019

This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 December 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

Applies to England

1. Action: Document Exchange Service feedback

We are in the process of developing the new Document Exchange Service within the Education and Skills Funding Service which will replace Information Exchange. We are also looking at the digital transformation of funding documentation, including the dedicated schools grant (DSG), general annual grant (GAG) and reconciliation statements.

We want to talk to a broad mix of customers in different roles and organisation types. Your feedback is really important in helping us make user centred improvements and prioritise future developments.

We are looking for volunteers to join us for an hour research session. We are flexible and can hold them over the phone, via web meeting, at your place of work or at our Coventry location.

To sign up, please complete the form which you would like to give feedback on:

• the Education and Skills Funding service
• Information Exchange

2. Reminder: reporting your gender pay gap figures

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

For trusts with 250 or more employees, please register with the government’s gender pay gap reporting service as soon as possible and upload your figures. 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 as soon as possible to ensure government records are accurate and to avoid any potential enforcement action for non-compliance.

3. Information: payment reports and remittance advice feedback

We are looking for volunteers to inform our research into the payments reports and remittance advice that ESFA publishes for schools, colleges and other providers.

If you are interested in taking part in any of the pre-release trials for upcoming releases, please email our User Researcher.

4. Information: budget forecast return outturn pre-launch information

The budget forecast return: outturn (BFRO 2019) is due to go live on Tuesday 9 April 2019. The submission deadline is Tuesday 21 May 2019.

We have made available an Excel workbook available with guidance included to assist trusts in completing the online form. We advise reading the guidance and filling in the workbook early to assist you in completing the online form and meeting the deadline.

5. Information: academy general annual grant funding allocations 2019 to 2020

We have uploaded all allocation statements to the ‘revenue funding’ folder (2019 to 2020) in the Document Exchange section of the Information Exchange. For support and guidance about the Information Exchange, please visit our support page.

We expect to issue allocation statements by the end of April 2019 for academies that opened in February and March 2019.

We have published academy general annual grant guidance for 2019 to 2020 to help you understand your statement.

6. Information: updated pupil premium allocations for 2018 to 2019

We have updated the published pupil premium allocations for 2018 to 2019 to reflect quarter four payments.

As a reminder, local authorities may not carry forward funding centrally held looked after children (LAC) premium into the financial year 2019 to 2020.

7. Information: update to the financial advice for schools and supplier list

We have updated the financial advice for schools guidance and supplier list, which contains companies that can provide financial advice to schools.

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