Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 6 October 2021

Published 6 October 2021

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2022

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Read the latest editions of ESFA Update for the latest news and information.

Applies to England

1. Reminder: 16 to 19 tuition fund 2021 to 2022 form

Eligible institutions are reminded to complete the 16 to 19 tuition fund form.

The deadline for your submission is 11:59pm on 12 October 2021.

You can read the guidance document to help you complete the form.

2. Reminder: our consultation on plans to simplify funding for all adult skills training is closing on 7 October 2021

On Thursday 15 July 2021, the Department for Education made a series of announcements on boosting the nation’s skills, which included details on a consultation on plans to simplify funding for adult skills training.

The Skills for Jobs White Paper sets out our vision to transform further education. We want people to get the advanced technical and higher technical skills they need to get good jobs. Colleges’ place at the centre of their local communities and economies means that they are key to unlocking opportunities and to building back better.

This consultation delivers key commitments of the White Paper – it addresses the underlying system of complex funding for adult skills and limited focus on outcomes, through proposals to reform adult skills funding and the wider accountability system for colleges and other grant funded providers.

The consultation is for:

• further education providers
• independent training providers
• local government (including local authorities, Mayoral Combined Authorities /Greater London Authority)
• employers
• learners
• representative bodies
• other interested parties

3. Information: preparing your final ILR return for 2020 to 2021

The deadline to submit your final ILR return for 2020 to 2021, R14, is 6pm on Thursday 21 October.

We recommend that you submit your data as early as possible and that you check your validation and funding reports, available on Submit Learner Data. You must also ensure you have corrected any recoverable errors identified in your post-16 monitoring reports dashboard.

Providers leaving their submissions until the last minute run the risk of not having made an accurate submission by the deadline to guarantee payments.

Ensuring you have resolved any data or funding errors prior to submission close will ensure we can process payments and issue reconciliation statements promptly.

Submitting your data early will increase your chances of correcting any problems before the deadline. We have published some guidance to help you correct the most common data problems in the 2020 to 2021 ILR. This guidance will be expanded as we approach R14. We have also published helpful information on the ESFA Help Centre.

You can contact our Customer Service team for assistance on specific issues and support not covered by this guidance.

Issues may take some time to resolve, and it may not be possible to clear those raised very close to the deadline, so we strongly recommend that you take prompt action to ensure your return is correct and complete.

You can contact us by using our enquiry form.

4. Information: final funding claim for 2020 to 2021

The final funding claim window will open at 9am on Monday 25 October 2021.

Please submit your final funding claim by 5pm on Tuesday 2 November 2021. The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data.

Your principal or a delegated authority must sign your claim digitally on Manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Wednesday 3 November 2021.

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:

• grant funded – ESFA adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and COVID-19 skills offer)
• learner support for ESFA AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
• 19 to 24 traineeships 2020 procurement - learner support – paid-on- profile
• grant funded - advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)
• 16 to 19 education

Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding service within fifteen minutes.

If you have any queries, please contact us using the online enquiry form.

5. Information: coronavirus national testing programme – conditions of grant from August 2021, including claims for exceptional funding and payments

The conditions of grant for rapid coronavirus testing of staff and students in FE providers and secondary schools have been updated. These grant conditions relate to the allocation colleges will receive to support costs associated with testing from 23 August onwards, including:

• the one-off on-site ATS testing on return of all students attending educational settings, with students receiving 2 lateral flow device (LFD) tests, spaced 3 to 5 days apart
• the maintenance of an on-site ATS testing offer from 18 September until further notice, in line with departmental testing policy, to enable the twice weekly testing of students for whom at-home testing is not considered suitable or who may need additional assistance

A series of payments will be made to colleges, with payments being made retrospectively and based on information reported through Test and Trace. Further information about how much each institution has been allocated for the periods of testing that have already been paid for is available on GOV.UK.

For testing conducted between 23 August and 17 September, we will make payments directly to colleges at the end of November 2021. For testing conducted from 18 September onwards, we will make payments directly to colleges in April 2022. Further information is available on GOV.UK.

In exceptional circumstances we will consider claims for additional funding over a minimum level of £250 to cover other additional costs incurred by colleges. The window to claim for exceptional costs will be open by the end of the autumn term 2021 and will include colleges that had to hire additional premises or make significant alterations to their existing premises to conduct testing from 23 August to 17 September 2021. The link to claim exceptional costs will be available on the coronavirus (COVID-19) mass testing funding for schools and colleges: exceptional costs guidance page on GOV.UK along with further guidance in due course.

We anticipate making payment for valid claims in January 2022.

6. Information: webinar for training providers on apprenticeships initial assessment to recognise prior learning

We are pleased to announce that we are running a webinar aimed at supporting apprenticeship training providers. The objectives of the webinar are to explain:

• the importance of initial assessment prior to commencing an apprenticeship
• how the newly published guidance can help with initial assessment and the recognition of prior learning

The webinar will be hosted by ESFA policy leads, who will talk about the recognition of prior learning in the context of the policy intent and the apprenticeship funding rules.

The webinar will include:

• an overview of what an initial assessment is and the importance of recognising prior learning and experience
• a review of the relevant funding rules and evidential requirements
• a summary of the changes we have made to the published guidance, following your feedback
• an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on the updated guidance

You can register to take part in the live webinar, which takes place on 3 November 2021 at 2pm or you can watch it ‘on demand’ later.

7. Information: notification of FE Professional Development Grants application outcomes

We are very pleased to announce that 22 applications have been successful in securing funding through the FE Professional Development Grants pilot. 39 applications were received in total. Funding has been allocated based on application merit and departmental priorities.

The FE Professional Development Grants pilot (FEPDG) is helping deliver the Skills for Jobs white paper commitment to support the sector to strengthen the professional development and progression of the FE workforce.

Alongside each applicants own approach to sharing the outcomes of their work funded through the FEPDG pilot, we will be working with providers and representative organisations to support dissemination nationally.

The list of successful FEPDG lead providers, their partner providers and the activity areas programmes of work will be focusing on is now published on GOV.UK. If you have any questions, please use the dedicated mailbox for the pilot: FEPDG.PILOT@education.gov.uk.

8. Information: apprenticeships standards versioning report

IFATE has updated the Revisions Status Report. This report will be updated regularly to show which live standards have entered IFATE’s formal revisions process, and the stage they are at in that process.

This regular dissemination of information aims to prewarn the sector that new versions are upcoming so it can prepare accordingly, and allow IFATE to consult the sector on the appropriate notice period for each version change. It forms part of wider enhancements to the introduction of new versions of apprenticeship standards to the market.

Providers and EPAOs should review this note, which provides further information on the report and the action that providers and EPAOs should take with it, as well as the wider enhancements that we are planning.

9. Information: full steam ahead for the fourth wave of T Levels

Contracts have been signed with leading awarding organisations for the fourth wave of T Levels to be taught from 2023.

Following a competitive bidding process overseen by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute), City & Guilds will develop and deliver qualifications in: Animal Care and Management and Agriculture, Land Management and Production.

NCFE will develop and deliver qualifications in Craft and Design, Media, Broadcast and Production and Hair, Beauty and Aesthetics.

Highfield will develop, deliver and award qualifications in Catering.

10. Information: Adult education budget (AEB) funding – Afghan adults

Earlier in September, we confirmed some funding eligibility rules for Afghans arriving in England. This clarification should help with enquiries we have received.

All Afghan adults, who are being resettled through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), are immediately eligible for FE 19+ funding as per the current AEB funding rules.

Afghan adults and their family members resettled through ARAP and ACRS on or after 1 August 2021 will automatically receive ‘indefinite leave to remain’ making them exempt from the 3-year ordinary residence rule. Those Afghan adults coming to the UK under the ARAP scheme, and through the future ACRS are not classed as asylum seekers.

Afghan adults resettled through these schemes will also be eligible for unemployment benefits and have the right to work so will, in most cases, be fully funded for ESFA ESOL provision. The eligibility rules for fully funded English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision may differ depending on whether the individual is resident in a devolved or non-devolved AEB area.

It’s important to note that there may be some delays in the issue of the Home Office biometric residence permit (BRP), in these cases all individuals will be issued with a document showing proof of Home Office immigration status.

11. Information: ESFA AEB update for the Heavy Goods Vehicles offer

The Department of Transport and Department of Education announced a joint collaboration to support the increase of qualified HGV drivers and address the current shortages in the sector.

As part of the announcement the ESFA will introduce flexibilities to their adult education budget (AEB) and associated funding rules, which enables providers to use their existing allocation for 2021 to 2022 to fund both medical and HGV licenses for any adult who completes one of the 5 HGV driving qualifications listed below:

• Highfield Level 2 Certificate in Driving Goods Vehicles
• ProQual Level 2 Certificate in Driving Goods Vehicles
• Pearson Edexcel Level Certificate in Driving Goods Vehicles
• ICQ Level 2 Certificate in Driving Goods Vehicles
• SQA Level 2 Certificate in Driving Goods Vehicles

This change will be backdated and applied to anyone who started one of these ESFA AEB qualifications on or after 1 August 2021.

The changes will be reflected in version 3 of the ESFA AEB funding rules, which we will publish shortly. Any further updates will be released through the bulletin.

12. Your feedback: please tell us about your experience with digital forms

We are seeking volunteers to participate in our user research panel to inform the ongoing development of digital forms. We’d like to hear from schools, academies, local authorities and colleges who can tell us about their experience of using our digital forms, particularly for submitting data to us for grant funding.

If you’d like to take part, please complete our online form and we will be in touch.