Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 5 March 2025

Published 5 March 2025

Applies to England

Action: Register to deliver T Level and T Level foundation year study programmes for academic year 2026 to 2027

For post-16 providers not currently delivering T Levels, this is the final opportunity to register your T Level and T Level foundation year delivery intentions for academic year 2026 to 2027 and be eligible to receive implementation planning support, and upfront 16 to 19 participation funding allocation for T Levels. 

You will need a DfE sign-in account to register and only providers offering T Levels for the first time should apply. 

You can register by accessing the registration portal and supporting guidance. 

The registration portal will close at midnight on 21 March 2025. We will not be able to accept applications after this date.

If you have any enquiries about the registration process, or want to confirm you are registered, you can do so by checking the T Level provider list, or contact us by emailing the TLevel.Registration@education.gov.uk mailbox quoting your organisation’s name and UKPRN in the subject header.

Information: 16 to 19 funding arrangements for academic year 2025 to 2026

We have published details on how 16 to 19 funding will work for academic year 2025 to 2026 and confirmed the timeline for delivering allocations. We aim to issue the majority of allocations by the end of April 2025.

All the national funding rates for students on 16 to 19 study programmes and T Levels will increase by 3.78% in academic year 2025 to 2026.  This means a full-time study programme student will attract a rate of £5,026, with T Level students attracting higher rates due to these being larger programmes.

In total we will be spending over £400 million more on 16 to 19 education in financial year 2025 to 2026 to ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system.

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact our customer help centre.

Information: 16 to 19 in-year growth funding for academic year 2024 to 2025

There has been a very large increase in 16 to 19 funded students this year. This growth is positive for the many young people who have been able to take up opportunities for 16 to 19 education and represents a strong response by the sector. 

However, because of the size and distribution of this growth in student numbers, it does create an unprecedented amount of in- year growth. The current growth is significantly above the budget available for in-year payments. We are changing our funding methodology for this year’s in-year growth to provide you with the highest possible funding available within our budget.   

We will provide approximately two-thirds of the funding expected based on arrangements published in August 2024.

This change applies to the exceptional in-year growth for student numbers only. We are not changing the methodology for: 

• high needs in-year growth in special post-16 institutions or centrally funded exceptions

• bursary and free meals in-year growth 

We have always stated that our method depends on affordability. If you have concerns regarding the impact of this change and need to discuss this, please contact your place-based team contact or our customer help centre. 

We will notify all institutions with growth awards by the end of March and start to make payments in May 2025. 

We will also notify all institutions affected by the T Level reconciliation via email by the end of March 2025. Institutions also affected by 16 to 19 in-year growth awards will receive one revised allocation statement, which will include both the outcomes of the T Level reconciliation and the in-year growth award.

Information: Post-16 budget grant for April to July 2025

We have announced a one-off post-16 budget grant. This new grant will be paid to schools, academies, further education colleges and sixth-form colleges from April 2025.

We aim to publish further information on the grant in May 2025, to include the:

• methodology for calculating the grant
• institutional level funding allocations
• conditions of grant

This grant will stop at the end of academic year 2024 to 2025. For academic year 2025 to 2026, we have brought the grant into the national funding rate which will be the same for all institutions with a 16 to 19 allocation.

Information: Early years expansion grant 2025 to 2026

On 27 February 2025, we published details on how the additional £75 million early years funding will be distributed to local authorities via the early years expansion grant.

This funding is to support providers as they plan to deliver the next phase of the childcare entitlements rollout in September 2025.

We have published the conditions of grant, methodology and local authority level allocations. This guidance details how the local authority level funding has been set and how the Department for Education (DfE) expects local authorities to pass on the funding to providers locally.

Payments for this grant will be made in July 2025.

Information: Dedicated schools grant (DSG) recoupment guide for 2025 to 2026

We have published details of the DSG recoupment process for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.

Information: PE and sport premium allocations for academic year 2024 to 2025

We have published updated 2024 to 2025 allocations for PE and sport premium on the Manage your education and skills funding (MYSEF) service, to take into account new schools as of February 2025.

Information: 16 to 19 subcontracting data for academic year 2022 to 2023

We have published the 16 to 19 subcontracting data for the academic year 2022 to 2023. This publication includes subcontracting data for FE institutions, and schools and academies funded by ESFA. It is based on the R14 individualised learner record (ILR) return produced by FE institutions, and the autumn census return for schools and academies.

Information: Update to post-16 subcontracting exemption forms for 2025 to 2026 requests

DfE post-16 forms for 2025 to 2026 exemption requests for distance subcontracting, whole programme subcontracting and subcontracting over the 25% threshold, are currently under review and will not be ready for publication until the end of March 2025.

We ask providers not to request the forms before the end of March – we will notify you when the new forms are ready.

Due to this delay, the deadline to return exemption requests will be extended to 31 May 2025 to allow time for completion.

Thank you for your patience as we update this process.

Webinar: Risk protection arrangement (RPA) members only – mock trial

Tuesday 18 March 2025, 9am to midday. Register online.

Webinar: Hiring supply teachers and agency workers for your school

Tuesday 18 March, 9:30am to 10:30am. Register online.

Webinar: DfE energy for schools service – simplified buying of gas and electricity

Tuesday 18 March 2025, 2pm to 2:30pm. Register online.