ESFA Update local authorities: 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: dedicated schools grant (DSG) conditions of grant for 2020 to 2021
We have published the DSG conditions of grant, and pupil number tool, for 2020 to 2021.
You can also read the government response to the consultation on changing the dedicated schools grant.
4. Information: updated dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocations and conditions of grant for 2019 to 2020
We have updated the DSG conditions of grant for 2019 to 2020 with new conditions relating to DSG deficits, and we have updated the published allocations to reflect quarter 4 payments.
You can also read the government response to the consultation on changing the dedicated schools grant.
5. Information: the future funding of maintained nursery schools – written ministerial statement
On 31 October 2019, Nick Gibb, the Minister of State for School Standards, gave a written statement to Parliament on early education. In it he said:
I can also confirm today that supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools (MNS) will continue, at its current rate, for the whole of the 2020 to 2021 financial year. I can also confirm that the government remains committed to funding for MNS in the longer term; and that any reform to the way they are funded in future will be accompanied with funding protections.
You can read the full statement, and we will announce further detail in due course.
6. Information: benchmarking report cards issued to local authority maintained schools
On 24 January 2020, we distributed benchmarking report cards to local authority maintained schools. The cards use spending data updated for the 2018 to 2019 financial year.
These individual report cards contain highlights of a school’s spending compared with statistically similar schools in terms of levels of deprivation and special educational needs.
We sent the cards to the school contact email address recorded on Get information about schools (GIAS).
If schools have any queries about these report cards, we are directing them to School.RESOURCEMANAGEMENT@education.gov.uk.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Information: Early Years Foundation Stage reforms – early adopters invitation
On Monday 20 January 2020 we invited all primary and infant schools and academies to voluntarily implement the forthcoming reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage a year early in the academic year 2020 to 2021.
We are inviting schools to participate at this early stage so that you have the necessary time to consider and prepare for early adoption, and so that the government can be ready to support early adopters once final policy decisions have been made following the conclusion of the consultation. Please complete a short survey by Friday 14 February 2020 to sign up as an ‘early adopter’.
For more information on the early adopter year please contact EYFSReforms.EarlyAdopters@education.gov.uk.
12. 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.
13. Information: guidance for schools post-Streatham terror attack, 2 February 2020
The following guidance and advice may be of assistance should you, your staff and/or pupils be seeking any support in the aftermath of Sunday’s terrorist attack in Streatham, London.
The Home Office’s Victims of Terrorism Unit website, includes access to support services, including mental health and other medical services.
Whether or not a school was directly affected, students may have concerns over news coverage and online footage. The following online resources may be of specific assistance to educators (safeguarding leads and teachers) with discussions about terrorist attacks:
- The PSHE Association Frameworks: primary and secondary resources
- Educate Against Hate
- NSPCC