Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 7 July 2021

Updated 8 July 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2022

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Action: access and submit your budget forecast return (BFR) 2021

Thank you to the academy trusts that have already submitted their BFR financial return.

If you haven’t already submitted your form you have until the 27 July to do this.

If you’ve not logged into your form yet we recommend that you do so. We know that users prepare the return offline using the excel workbook, however we recommend you start using the online form as soon as possible. This is so you have more time to download the report which includes your pre-populated balances.

More information about the BFR return is available, along with details of the MS Teams dial-in calls, where you can ask us questions.

3. Information: additional funding for those currently undertaking induction

In recognition of the challenging initial teacher training and induction newly qualified teachers (NQTs) have experienced, all state funded schools that currently have an NQT who is due to complete induction this summer will have access to a one-off payment to further support the development of this cohort.

Schools will have access to funding for the equivalent of an additional 5% off timetable for next academic year. This time off timetable is not statutory but has been designed to be used flexibly:

• time off timetable can be grouped together in different ways, for example, taken as whole days or half days
• schools will be able to access DfE-accredited development materials for use during this time off timetable
• schools will receive this funding in summer term of 2022. Funding will be based on School Workforce Census returns.

Read the latest on the changes to statutory induction from September 2021 on GOV.UK.

4. Information: reformed National Professional Qualifications (NPQ)

From autumn 2021, a reformed suite of NPQs will be available for teachers and leaders. These reforms include:

• reforming the 3 existing NPQs in senior leadership, headship, and executive leadership
• replacing the current NPQ in middle leadership with 3 new NPQs for those who want to develop their expertise in specialist areas of teaching practice.

As part of the government’s long-term education recovery plan, £184 million of new funding for NPQs was announced on 2 June 2021. For information on the full scholarship funding with no cost to the participant, available to teachers and leaders visit GOV.UK.

Teachers and leaders can now apply with one of 9 providers accredited to offer these qualifications. The first step to apply is to sign up with a provider.

The easiest way to do this is to contact your local teaching school hub. To find your local teaching school hub, please search ‘teaching school hubs’ on GOV.UK. You can also contact Lead Providers, or other known delivery partners, directly.

Once you have selected your course and provider, you will need to register for your programme using the DfE’s online service.

To receive direct updates on these reforms, fill in this form.

5. Information: updated model articles of association

We have updated the model articles of association for mainstream academies, special academies, 16 to 19 academies, alternative provision academies, free schools and studio schools.

The new model is for use by all new trusts, and existing trusts updating their articles of association.

The main changes are:

• a new requirement for at least the majority of members to be independent of the board
• a requirement for trusts to hold Annual General Meetings
• new wording to emphasise that trusts must appoint a governance professional (clerk) to the board of trustees.

We have also made formatting and other changes to make the document more accessible and easier to navigate.

6. Information: Academy finance professionals - Power Hour

Join us for the next Academy Finance Professionals Power Hour session on Thursday 15 July, from 3pm to 4pm where you can hear directly from a School Resource Management Adviser (SRMA). SRMAs are accredited experts who provide free, hands-on support and advice on all areas of school resource management. The SRMA will cover the benefits of working with them and what you can expect during a visit.

Our Cyber Security team will also be speaking at the event. They will give an update on current cyber threats to the education sector and tips on how to mitigate against them.

The session will end with a 25-minute Q&A session where you can ask the SRMA, the SRMA team, or the Cyber Security team, any questions that you have.

Book your AFP Power Hour place now.

7. Information: changes to T Level funding guidance to include further detail on programme cost weighting

The T Level funding guidance has been updated to outline the approach for programme cost weighting (PCW) which will be applied to T Levels, after T Levels are brought into the lagged student methodology.

It details how the PCW will be applied at occupational specialism level for T Levels and how PCW for the T Level transition programme will be applied at route level.

8. Information: Post-16 Monitoring: Reports Dashboard, survey and recording loans provision

Please can all providers of post-16 education and training log into the post-16 monitoring reports dashboard in View Your Education Data and action errors prior to the R12 ILR submission. To access the dashboard, you need an IDAMS account with the ‘view your education data – post-16 monitoring’ user role. The dashboard links to all supporting guidance and indicates what actions are taken for each report.

We have identified high volumes of records in our FRM20 and FRM21 (‘Loans not in the ILR/SLC’) reports. Some providers have not recorded the advanced learner loans indicator (ADL) against provision. Please ensure you correctly identify loans-funded learners and only record the ADL flag for learners with an approved loan.

Thank you to colleagues who have completed our user survey via the dashboard. It is open until 9 July and we encourage you to complete it as it helps us develop our service further.

9. Information: call for academies to submit historic claims for unclaimed years

DfE recently consulted on proposals to centralise the payment of national non-domestic rates (NNDR), more commonly known as business rates. These proposals involve ESFA paying business rates directly to billing authorities on behalf of schools from 1 April 2022. Under these proposals, moving to the new payment system will mean that academies will no longer need to submit rates claims via the NNDR portal to recoup their rates costs, and this academy upload function will be removed. Instead, all billing amounts (including any adjustments) will be uploaded by billing authorities.

If we proceed with these proposals, following the recent consultation, from 1 April 2022 the functionality for academies to submit historic claims for previously unclaimed years will be removed. Academies would have until the end of March 2022 to submit any outstanding historic claims relating to the 2015 to 2016 financial year onwards via the NNDR portal. From 1 April 2022, ESFA would no longer accept, process, or reimburse academies for historic claims relating to unclaimed years.

If this change comes into force, it will only apply to any years from 2015 to 2016 onwards which have not already been claimed for. Academies would continue to be able to claim for historic adjustments to claims made from 1 April 2017 onwards through the NNDR portal after April 2022.

Whether or not we proceed with the proposals outlined above, we would strongly encourage academies to submit any historic NNDR claims for unclaimed years at their earliest convenience, so that DfE can meet such claims promptly.

10. Information: The National Apprenticeship Awards 2021 are now open for entries

Back for their 18th year, the National Apprenticeship Awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase the apprentices, employers and champions who have gone above and beyond, despite the challenges faced in the last year.

Entries to the awards are open until 28 July. It is free to enter the awards, and all entries must be made through our application website.

There are nine categories to recognise exceptional employers, apprentices and apprenticeship champions:

10.1 Employer of the Year categories

• SME Employer of the Year (for organisations with 1 to 249 employees).
• Large Employer of the Year (for organisations with 250 to 4,999 employees).
• Macro Employer of the Year (for organisations with 5,000+ employees).
• Recruitment Excellence.

10.2 Apprentice of the Year and Apprenticeship Champion categories

• Intermediate Apprentice of the Year (level 2).
• Advanced Apprentice of the Year (level 3).
• Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year (level 4 or higher).
• Rising Star of the Year.
• Apprenticeship Champion of the Year.

Webinars to explain the awards process in more detail, including hints and tips on completing applications are available.

For more information contact: Apprenticeship.AWARDS@education.gov.uk.

11. Information: Supporting International Teachers – expanded eligibility

If your school is recruiting international Maths, Science (including Physics, Chemistry and Biology), Computer Science, English, Humanities (including History, Geography and RE) and Modern Foreign Languages teachers, DfE is trialling a new acclimatisation service to give them the knowledge and skills they need to flourish in English classrooms.

We will provide teachers with pre-arrival support, a two-day virtual acclimatisation training event, support throughout their first term and a further training and networking event with other international teachers. Schools are asked to appoint an in-school mentor, who can also access training to support your international teachers.

If you are interested in signing up for this service, or for further information, please visit Recruit teachers from overseas or email international.teacherrecruitment@education.gov.uk.

12. Information: Publication of 2021 Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE)

We have published revised statutory guidance, Keeping children safe in education 2021 and the Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges advice, which provides schools and colleges with more detailed advice to support part five of KCSIE.

This is for information only, neither document comes into force until 1 September 2021. Until then, KCSIE 2020 and the Sexual violence and sexual harassment advice 2018 remain in force.

We know this is later that previous years but we delayed the publication of these documents this year to allow us to reflect on the Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and its recommendations, which has helped us to further strengthen the guidance.

The guidance is clear that there should be a zero-tolerance approach to sexual violence and sexual harassment and that schools and colleges should take a “it can happen here” attitude, being clear abuse could be happening even where it is not being reported.

The government response to KSCIE 2021 consultation is available on GOV.UK.