ESFA Update academies: 30 March 2022
Published 30 March 2022
Applies to England
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1. Action: gender pay gap reporting 2022
The statutory deadline for publishing gender pay gap data is this week.
Schools, academy trusts and further education colleges with 250 or more employees should publish their figures by no later than Wednesday 30 March 2022.
If you have 250 or more employees, you need to:
- ensure your organisation has a nominated individual registered with the gender pay gap service
- read our guidance on how to identify causes of the gender pay gap in your organisation
- report your gender pay gap data ahead of the 30 March 2022 deadline for public sector organisations
If you previously reported, but are no longer required to, please sign into your account on the gender pay gap service and change your reporting requirement.
2. Reminder: academies to check the status of their business rates payments process
From 1 April 2022, ESFA will centrally pay business rates for those academies whose billing authority is implementing the new national non-domestic rates (NNDR) payment process. This means academies in those areas should not pay the 2022 to 2023 business rates bill to the billing authority.
You can check the NNDR payment process your billing authority is implementing. We recommend you check this before making payment to avoid any confusion and duplicate payments.
If your billing authority is continuing with the existing NNDR payment arrangements, academies should continue to pay the rates bill for 2022 to 2023 directly to the billing authority and reclaim this from ESFA using the NNDR portal.
3. Reminder: call for academies to submit historic business rates claims for unclaimed years
From 1 April 2022 academies will not be able to claim historic NNDR for previously unclaimed years. From this date ESFA will not process or reimburse academies for historic claims for unclaimed years.
Academies have until 31 March 2022 to submit outstanding claims from the 2015 to 2016 financial year, via the NNDR portal.
This will only apply to years from 2015 to 2016 up until 2021 to 2022 which have not already been claimed for. Academies will continue to be able to claim for historic adjustments to claims already made from 1 April 2017 onwards through the NNDR portal until 31 January 2023.
You can read more information about the changes to the payment process of schools’ business rates: consultation response.
4. Information: new plans for publishing public sector apprenticeships data
The public sector apprenticeships target comes to an end on 31 March 2022. From this date, there will no longer be a target set in legislation for public sector employers.
However, it is important that public sector bodies continue to gather relevant apprenticeships data and we would like the public sector to continue to commit to apprenticeships and transparency in their performance.
The Department for Education will therefore continue to publish data annually on starts, total numbers of apprenticeships and organisation headcounts.
Public sector employers with 250 or more staff will be asked to report this data for the period between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Further information on how and when employers can submit their data will be shared nearer the time. Reporting against the 2021-22 public sector apprenticeship target will continue unaffected, with returns required by 30 September 2022.
5. Information: independent appeal panel complaints
We have published a review of academy admissions appeal complaints received in 2021.
Each year, we receive a high volume of complaints about academy admission appeal panel hearings and the review:
- summarises the common reasons for complaints
- makes recommendations for appeal panel clerks to help reduce the number of complaints
Please encourage those within your academy or trust with responsibility for admissions to read the review and the guidance on admission appeals for school places.
6. Information: the 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance for academic year 2022 to 2023 is now available
The 16 to 19 tuition fund guidance for academic year 2022 to 2023 is now published on GOV.UK.
Changes for academic year 2022 to 2023 include:
- more flexibility to allow more students to benefit from the funding
- an automatic renewal process for institutions who received 16 to 19 tuition funding in 2021 to 2022
the requirement to publish a statement of intent on how the funding will be delivered to be replaced with the submission of an end of year financial report.
7. Information: 16 to 19 funding guidance
We have published the 16 to 19 rates and formula and 16 to 19 funding regulations guidance today.
You will find the changes for the year in the what’s new sections. Changes include:
- increased national funding rates for 2022 to 2023 as confirmed in December
- updated advice to set out the small number of circumstances where planned hours must be adjusted after the initial 6-week attendance period has passed
- confirmation that funding repeat studies will revert to our usual resit and retake policy. This means treating COVID-19, where it has caused severe disruption to a student relative to their peers, like any other exceptional circumstance outside the control of the student or institution.
8. Information: 2022 to 2023 student financial support scheme guides published
We have published student financial support scheme guides for the 2022 to 2023 academic year for:
- 16 to 19 Bursary Fund
- Free meals in further education
- Residential Bursary Fund
- Residential Support Scheme
We ask that institutions review the updated guides and remind themselves of the funding rules which apply to each scheme to ensure their processes reflect them.
For the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund in particular, institutions must remember that they should not award any student a fixed or flat rate of funding without assessing the actual needs the student has. The guide includes a summary of key points for institutions to consider when administering the bursary fund.
9. Information: schools supplementary grant 2022 to 2023
The schools supplementary grant will be paid to mainstream schools and academies in the 2022 to 2023 financial year to provide support for the costs of the Health and Social Care Levy and wider costs.
You can read the methodology and more information about eligibility on schools supplementary grant 2022 to 2023.
9.1 Payment schedule
| Paid to | Payment 1 (to cover April 2022 – August 2022) | Payment 2 (to cover September 2022 – March 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Local authorities (to be paid to maintained schools) | May 2022 | October 2022 |
| Academies | June 2022 | November 2022 |
As academies follow an academic year rather than a financial year, an additional payment will be made to academies to cover April to August 2023 in advance of the schools supplementary grant being rolled into the academies’ core budget allocations through the NFF. This will be allocated using the same rates and pupil numbers as the 2023 to 2023 grant.
Final allocations will be published in May 2022, We have published indicative allocations at local authority level along with a calculator tool to help schools estimate their allocations.
10. Information: view my financial insights (VMFI) tool updated
The view my financial insights (VMFI) tool, which provides visual information on the financial performance of schools, has been updated with the latest 2020/21 accounts return data from academy trusts. You can log in now to view the refreshed metrics.
VMFI is part of the DfE’s benchmarking offering and the team is hosting monthly webinars to showcase VMFI and to answer any questions you may have. To sign up, please click the links below:
11. Information: National Funding Formula consultation response
DfE has published its response to the completing our reforms of the National Funding Formula (NFF) consultation. The response confirms the Government’s long-standing ambition that all mainstream schools funding would be allocated based on a single national formula, replacing the current system where local authorities allocate funding.
The consultation response confirms that we will:
- bring forward legislation to move to allocate funding directly through a single national funding formula
- require local authorities to move their factor values a minimum of 10% closer to the NFF in 2023 to 2024 as part of a ‘smooth’ transition to a direct NFF
- continue the separate funding cycles for maintained schools and academies
- introduce new transparency requirements for MAT pooling
- review services funding through the ongoing responsibilities element of the central school services block (CSSB) while continuing with a legacy grant for unavoidable historic commitment costs.
We will come back to the sector for a further consultation on the direct NFF, focussing on our approach to growing schools, falling rolls, and premises funding in spring 2022.
12. Information: gas and electricity contracts
The energy market remains volatile with high prices. This can impact on all sectors, including education. We recommend you do not allow your existing contracts to expire as buying energy out of contract is more expensive. Contact your current supplier to discuss a contract extension if necessary.
DfE approved energy framework suppliers are available to provide renewal quotes for schools and colleges.
Cabinet Office has just issued advice for public bodies with contracts with suppliers from Russia and Belarus. This advises you to:
- identify any contracts where the prime contractor is a Russian or Belarusian supplier
- where a Russian or Belarusian prime contractor is identified, consider terminating that contract in accordance with the terms of the contract, i.e. following a legally compliant process
- only proceed to terminate a contract if an alternative supplier can be sourced in line with value for money, affordability and with minimal disruption to public services
13. Information: your invite to the Schools and Academies Show, 27 April
You are invited to join us at the Schools and Academies Show, London Excel on 27 April.
We’ve worked with the organisers to put together a full programme of speakers and workshops for this free face-to-face event.
Come along and speak directly to teams from ESFA and DfE in the Government Education Village and join one of our short information sessions or workshops.
Register now. Registration is free for schools, multi-academy trusts and the wider public sector.
14. Your feedback: preventing sexual harassment and sexual violence in schools
DfE, in association with Brook, have launched a survey to understand what support teachers need to deliver high quality relationships and sex education.
Complete the survey by 3 April and get 25% off Brook’s expert on demand training.
15. Your feedback: Research into workforce disability data in schools
Are you interested in taking part in research around workforce reporting in schools? Each year, schools are asked to provide information on the number of teachers that record themselves as disabled in the School Workforce Census. However, in the last census, disability data was not submitted by schools for 52 per cent of teachers.
The Department for Education (DfE) is very keen to hear from those within schools and trusts responsible for collecting school staff disability data. This research will help DfE understand how schools currently collect disability data and identify ways this process can be more effective and user-friendly.
If you are interested in participating and/or would like to learn more ahead of deciding, please contact the researchers: dwdstudy@bmgresearch.com.
Alternatively, please go to: http://disabilityresearch-opt-in.co.uk/ to take part.