ESFA Update: further education 6 February 2019
Published 6 February 2019
Applies to England
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1. Action: 2019 to 2020 reconciliation
The 2018 to 2019 mid-year claim will open on Thursday 7 February and close on Tuesday 12 February 2019.
It is important that your claims are a true reflection of your forecast for the funding year so that we can closely manage the budgets.
You have already received illustrative allocations for ESFA funded adult education budget (AEB) for 2019 to 2020, so your forecasts and plans will need to reflect how you will repay under-delivery against a changed allocation.
For further information on how we will gain assurance from your claims and manage under-delivery, see funding claims & reconciliation on GOV.UK.
2. Action: Taking Teaching Further – deadline 15 February 2019
The deadline for applications for the Taking Teaching Further programme is noon on Friday 15 February 2019.
On 12 December 2018, the second round of the Taking Teaching Further programme opened, inviting bids from further education providers to help attract industry professionals to teach in further education.
The £5 million scheme was initially launched in June 2018, aiming to support up to 150 professionals to teach in further education. The programme is also funding up to 40 projects to help develop local partnerships and collaborations aimed at supporting an ongoing exchange between industry and further education.
Taking Teaching Further is open to all further education providers, and will initially run for 2 years with a focus on priority sectors, including the first T Level routes.
3. Information: qualification achievement rates (QAR) 2018 to 2019 – business rules published
We have published version 1 of the QAR business rules for 2018 to 2019 on the QAR 2018 to 2019 webpage. This document explains the methodology for calculating apprenticeship and education and training QARs for 2018 to 2019.
The main methodology has not changed from 2017 to 2018, however we have made some minor amendments and clarifications in the document.
For more details, go to the QAR webpage.
4. Information: apprenticeship non-levy extension allocations for April 2019 to March 2020
In February, we will issue apprenticeship non-levy extension allocations for April 2019 to March 2020 through manage your education and skills funding. Your allocation statement will include a covering letter which will set out how we will manage your allocation during this 12 month extension period.
You need one of the following roles on manage your education and skills funding. to view your allocation statement:
- contract authoriser
- contract manager
- contract user
- data returns and claims authoriser
You can request a new role through the Identity and Access Management Service or by asking your organisation’s super user.
We will e-mail users who have the contract authoriser and/or manager roles when your allocation statement is available to view.
If you have any queries, please contact your local territorial team contact.
5. Information: adult allocations for the 2019 to 2020 funding year
In March, we will issue adult education budget, 16 to 18 traineeships (for providers without 16 to 19 funding) and advanced learner loans allocation statements for 2019 to 2020 in a new digital format.
Your allocations will be displayed digitally on manage your education and skills funding and you will be referred to the 19+ funding allocations page for more information on how they have been calculated.
You need one of the following roles on manage your education and skills funding to view your allocation statement:
- contract authoriser
- contract manager
- contract user
- data returns and claims authoriser
You can request a new role through the Identity and Access Management Service or by asking your organisation’s super user.
We will e-mail users who have the contract authoriser and/or manager roles when your allocation statement is available to view.
If you have any queries, please contact your local territorial team contact.
6. Information: capital funding for eligible providers delivering the first 3 T Levels in 2020
The Department for Education has launched a capital fund of £38 million that is open until Wednesday 17 April 2019, to bids from eligible providers delivering the first 3 T Levels in 2020.
This will support them to make the investments needed in facilities and equipment, ready to deliver high quality, industry relevant programmes from September 2020.
7. Information: 16 to 19 school and academy sixth form 2019 to 2020 allocation calculation toolkits
We have uploaded 16 to 19 school and academy sixth form 2019 to 2020 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 2019-20 (2019/20)’.
Our guidance will help you understand the information in your ACT file. Your ACT shows how we have used your data to calculate your funding factors, band proportions, students not meeting the condition of funding and students eligible for CDF Industry placement funding for your 2019 to 2020 allocation. For most schools and academies, ACT also includes lagged student data. Further funding information will be shown on your allocation statement.
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 Tuesday 30 April 2019.
Please contact us using our online enquiry form if you have any questions.
8. Information: new insolvency regime for colleges
On 31 January 2019, the new insolvency regime for FE colleges came into force, giving legal clarity about what will happen in the event of a college entering insolvency and providing protection for existing students.
Guidance for governors, published on 29 January 2019, provides technical information on the new regime, and general guidance on how to reduce the risk of insolvency through good financial management. Primarily aimed at governors, it will also be useful for college finance directors and other senior staff.
We are also reviewing and strengthening our FE college intervention regime to ensure we can identify issues earlier and focus on preventing colleges getting into a position of insolvency.
On 31 January 2019 we published some questions and answers about the changes. In April 2019 we will publish full details setting out what is changing and when.