ESFA Update further education: 3 October 2018
Published 3 October 2018
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2018
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-3-october-2018/esfa-update-further-education-3-october-2018
1. Information: 2017 to 2018 year-end reconciliation statements
Year-end reconciliation statements are now available via the Skills Funding Service (SFS), following the 2017 to 2018 year-end funding claims process relevant to the funding streams:
- grant funded adult education budget (non-procured)
- learner support
- advanced learning loans bursary
- community learning
These statements are provisional following the R13 return; we will publish the final reconciliation statements on SFS in November following the final funding claim process.
If you have any queries please contact the service desk.
2. Information: qualification achievement rates (QAR) - dashboard decommissioning and new reports
Due to the Birst (My BI) decommissioning, the BI Tools tab on the Hub is no longer available.
Your final 2016 to 2017 QAR reports and in-year 2017 to 2018 QAR reports are available in the ‘QAR reports’ section of the Data Returns page on the Hub. We have also made the 2016 to 2017 final QAR reports available to Ofsted.
These interim reports, in Excel format, contain the same data as the Birst dashboards. We have published new guidance for these reports on the QAR webpage.
To access the reports, please ensure you have the correct user access. Please see the hub guide to user roles and the in-year guidance for more information.
3. Information: apprenticeships funding band review
Over the summer, the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) has been reviewing the funding bands of 31 standards. The Department for Education (DfE) requested that existing standards be reviewed to assess where they should sit in the new 30 band funding structure, which was introduced for new starts from August 2018.
Ministers have now approved the first 12 recommendations from the review of standard prices, 2 standards will see their funding bands increased, 3 have stayed the same and 7 will see their funding bands reduced.
Increased funding bands will take effect for all new starts from 6 October 2018. Reduced funding bands will take effect after 3 months, from 1 January 2019. This is to give the market notice and time to respond to any changes in funding levels.
The IfA will make recommendations to DfE on the remaining standards in October.
Further information will be available on the IfA’s website.
4. Information: traineeship in-year growth business case window 2018 to 2019 – 16 to 18 mainstream budget
As in previous years, ESFA will be operating a business case process for traineeship in-year growth for providers with an ESFA 16 to 18 contract.
The window for submitting business cases for 2018 to 2019 will be open from 12 November to 7 December 2018. Providers wishing to submit a business case for growth should do so through our online enquiry form.
For colleges and independent learning providers we will look at the R04 data return to assess how much of your 2018 to 2019 allocation has been used to date. For other provider types, we will use other latest data available.
Business cases must include supporting evidence of employer support for additional starts in-year, together with evidence of student demand; we cannot support business cases without this evidence. All awards are subject to overall affordability and we expect to inform providers of the outcome in February 2019.
5. Information: 2017 to 2018 R13 reconciliation statements for independent learning providers (ILPs)
We uploaded 2017 to 2018 individualised learner record R13 reconciliation statements for ILPs to the ESFA Information Exchange on Friday 29 September 2017. The statement is available in the ‘revenue funding’ folder, under ‘AY 2017-18’. You can access the Document Exchange by logging into ESFA Information Exchange, and choosing the Document Exchange tab at the top of the page. For support and guidance about ESFA Information Exchange, please visit our support page.
If you have any questions about the reconciliation process, please submit your query using the online enquiry form.
6. Information: high needs place change notification process and technical note 2019 to 2020
Local authorities are invited to confirm the 2019 to 2020 high needs place numbers in ESFA funded institutions by 16 November, via secure access.
We have published the high needs place change notification 2019 to 2020: technical note. The technical note sets out the process for local authorities notifying ESFA of institution level changes to 2019 to 2020 high needs place numbers, following discussions with their institutions. We have also published separate guidance relating to hospital education and special free schools.
We will send local authorities their secure access login details by Thursday 4 October. Please contact us if you do not receive your login details.
7. Information: publication of the 2017 to 2018 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census dataset
We have published the 2017 to 2018 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census.
We have provided this information to inform local discussion about commissioning arrangements for 2019 to 2020. It presents the actual number of high needs students at institutions recorded in the academic year 2017 to 2018 ILR R10 data return and the actual number of pupils in special academies and special free schools recorded in the spring 2018 school census. The file also provides the allocated number of high needs place numbers for academic years 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019.
8. Information: hospital education funding - guidance on local authority applications for changes in 2019 to 2020 and changes to hospital education template
We have published guidance for local authorities who wish to apply for changes to their hospital education funding for 2019 to 2020. This may be a change in funding due to a change in the health care or medical provision in the local authority area.
Local authorities must submit applications using the published template by the 16 November 2018.
9. Information: free school meals pupils should remain eligible until at least 2023
To protect pupils from uncertainty during the changes to free school meals (FSM) eligibility, we introduced transitional protections that mean that pupils in receipt of FSM immediately prior to 1 April 2018, and those who become eligible during Universal Credit rollout, will retain eligibility until the end of this rollout period. Following this, if they are still in education, they will continue to be eligible until the end of their phase of education.
This means that schools should not remove FSM eligibility from pupils until at least 2023, continuing to offer them meals and record them as eligible on the census.
For more information, please see the free school meals guidance for schools and local authorities, or contact the free school meals team at Freeschoolmeals.MAILBOX@education.gov.uk.