ESFA Update further education: 5 February 2020
Published 5 February 2020
Applies to England
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1. Action: 19+ contracts and variations to be signed
Your contracts, and any variations to the allocations or terms and conditions held within them, are available in the Manage your education and skills funding service.
These need to be reviewed and signed by a contract authoriser promptly to ensure that the correct payments are received and you are aware of the current obligations.
Please ensure that you have at least one person in your organisation with a contract authoriser role and that their email address is up to date to receive alerts. Your super user can arrange this.
There are a number of contracts and variations currently awaiting signature – please check to see if you have anything outstanding.
If you have any queries about this please contact your territorial manager.
2. Reminder: mid-year funding claims for 2019 to 2020
The mid-year funding claim window will open at 9am on Monday 10 February 2020.
You must submit a mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Thursday 13 February 2020. The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data. Failure to submit the form will be a breach of your agreement
You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:
- adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills and community learning) – grant-funded
- Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB) – grant-funded
- Learner Support for AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding service.
For colleges due to submit the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC) at the end of February, please ensure figures in the mid-year claim are used to inform the financial planning you are currently undertaking.
If you have any queries about this please contact your territorial manager.
3. Information: future-proofing our early warning integrated financial model for colleges
Over the last few months, we have been working closely with colleges, the Association of Colleges and the Sixth Form College Association to shape a new integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC).
We have listened and acted on user feedback so that the model collects monthly cash flow and other financial information in one annual return. Access to this monthly cash flow data will be crucial in spotting and acting on, at an earlier stage, financial issues at colleges..
Last week, we published guidance to respond to common questions from colleges.
We are planning to release a final updated version of the IFMC on Thursday 6 February 2020. This will be the last update to the IFMC before the submission deadline on Friday 28 February 2020.
As with all financial models, it is important we continue to upgrade the model based on user feedback. The IFMC is a first step in rationalising the current ESFA financial returns into one common template. We will continue to work with colleges via the College User Group to explore how we can simplify the template in the future.
Around 50 colleges are members of the college user group and 26 have been actively involved in the development of the IFMC. Any future revisions to the model will be updated on GOV.UK.
3.1 Webinar on the IFMC
We are hosting a Q&A webinar on Tuesday 11 February, between 1 and 2pm, to answer your queries regarding population of the new model. To sign up to attend the webinar, please email financial.model@education.gov.uk.
4. Information: apprenticeship service for smaller employers – reservations for April starts now open
In January we opened up full access to the apprenticeship service for smaller employers, who do not pay the apprenticeship levy. This allowed employers to reserve funds for apprenticeships starting in January, February and March 2020 (to a maximum of three active reservations per employer).
Retrospective reservations cannot be made on the service so reservations for January starts are now not available. However, employers can now also reserve funding for apprenticeships starting in April (so starts are available on the service for February, March and April). During the transition we intend to continue allowing employers to reserve funding for three months ahead.
We continue to monitor how the system is working. This includes keeping under review how the reservation policy is working. More information is available in the funding rules and the reservation policy.
Smaller employers, who do not pay the apprenticeship levy can choose to work with all main providers who are listed on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP), not just those with an existing procured non-levy contract (if the provider also agrees).
As this is a test phase and a gradual transition bringing smaller employers on to the apprenticeship service, employers are still able to access training via existing procured non-levy contracts. We are extending these contracts to allow new starts beyond March 2020.
5. Information: consultation on subcontracting the delivery of education and training using ESFA post-16 funds
ESFA has launched a consultation on proposals for the future arrangements for subcontracting of post 16 education and training. The consultation will run from Tuesday 4 February 2020 to Friday 17 March 2020.
The purpose of this consultation is to hear from those who have an interest in subcontracted delivery to inform our thinking about the nature and extent of the proposed reforms to subcontracting arrangements and the timing of the implementation of them.
We are keen to start to implement reforms from the 2020 to 2021 academic year, but recognise that some elements of the changes may require a period of transition so that providers have time to adjust their existing arrangements in order to comply with changes to requirements, and to ensure that there is no disruption to learners’ existing programmes.
If you have any enquiries, please email Subcontracting.CONSULTATION@education.gov.uk.
6. Information: upcoming provider roadshows
Over the past few weeks we have been asking you to ‘save the date’ for our second series of provider roadshows in February and March for main providers on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP).
This week we will be sending out registration emails to all main providers on the RoATP with a link that will enable you to register for your chosen event. If, you have not received an email to register by Friday 7 February and you are a main provider on RoATP, please contact us at apprenticeship.providers@education.gov.uk.
Our roadshow dates are as follows:
- Tuesday 25 February - North East - East Durham College
- Tuesday 3 March - North West - Haydock Park Racecourse
- Thursday 5 March - London - Holiday Inn, Wembley
- Tuesday 24 March - Midlands - The Citrus Hotel, Coventry
- Thursday 26 March - South - Farnborough College of Technology
- Tuesday 31 March - South West - Taunton Conference Centre at Taunton RFC
Please note that registration will be on a first-come-first-served basis. We hope very much to see you in a few weeks!
7. Information: 16 to 19 school and academy sixth form 2020 to 2021 allocation calculation toolkits
We have uploaded 16 to 19 school and academy sixth form 2020 to 2021 allocation calculation toolkits (ACT) for most institutions to ESFA Information Exchange. You will find your ACT file in the Document Exchange ‘Revenue Funding’ folder, under ‘AY 2020-21 (2020/21)’.
Our guidance will help you understand the information in your ACT file.
Please do not submit a business case about your data until you have reviewed your 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. The deadline for business cases is Thursday 30 April 2020.
8. Information: 19+ funding allocations
We have updated the 19+ funding allocations page for 2020 to 2021.
The page outlines the timeline for the 19+ allocations for 2020 to 2021. It also includes further information on how the allocations will be calculated, as well as other useful information.
If you have any questions around 19+ allocations, please contact us via the ESFA online enquiry form.
9. Information: grant to FE institutions for Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) increased employer contributions
We have uploaded confirmation of the second grant payment to cover increased employer contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for further education providers that participate in the TPS to ESFA Information Exchange. This second payment is for the period of 1 April to 31 July 2020. You will find your information in the Document Exchange ‘Revenue Funding’ folder, under ‘AY 2019-20’.
We have also updated our guidance to explain how we will calculate payments for the financial year 2020 to 2021.
If you have any questions, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
10. Information: end-point assessment organisations
ESFA and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) are hosting a one-day event for organisations on the ESFA’s register of end-point assessment organisations.
The day will be themed around embedding quality and value in end-point assessment.
This free event will provide end-point assessment organisations (EPAO) with an opportunity to learn about current and future end-point assessment policy from ESFA and the Institute. Delegates will hear from industry peers and employers, who will share their experiences and advice to support the successful delivery of end-point assessment (EPA).
The day will be a mixture of presentations and workshops, including:
- EPA policy updates from the ESFA and the Institute
- External Quality Assurance (EQA)
- best practice for working with EQA Providers
- A Consortium Model and how this might work across your sector
- working together for the sector and sharing for learner success
- working with apprenticeship standards
We have sent an invitation to each EPAO contact listed on the register of end-point assessment organisations, please follow the Eventbrite link in your email to reserve a place for your organisation.
11. Your feedback: your views on the new contract framework for the 2019 to 2020 Education & Skills agreements
We would like your views on the new contract framework that was implemented for the 2019 to 2020 Education & Skills agreements to inform development of the 2020 to 2021 agreement.
You can find more information and copies of the agreements on GOV.UK.
We would be grateful if you could take a few moments to complete this brief survey regarding your experience of the new agreements.
You can also take part in a Q&A session regarding the contract framework on FE Connect. The session is being run from Monday 10 February to Friday 14 February and please see FE Connect for details.