Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 8 February 2023

Published 8 February 2023

Applies to England

1. Action: mid-year funding claim for 2022 to 2023

The mid-year funding claim window opened at 9am on Wednesday 8 February 2023.

Please submit your mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Monday 13 February 2023. The claim form will be available on submit learner data. The funding claims user guide is available to help you complete the form.

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

• grant funded - ESFA funded adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and national skills fund Level 3 adult offer (Level 3 free courses for Jobs)
• grant funded - advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)

Please be aware that 16 to 19 providers do not need to submit a mid-year claim.

Once you have submitted your mid-year funding claim on submit learner data, you will also be able to view it on Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any queries, please use ESFA help centre to contact us.

2. Information: payments for Care to Learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund

We have published data showing aggregate payments made to childcare providers and education institutions, for both Care to Learn and the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for students in defined vulnerable groups. The data will show payments made from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021.

The Care to Learn scheme helps young parents (aged under 20) to continue in education after the birth of a child. ESFA provides funding towards childcare and travel costs whilst the young parent is engaged in a study programme. The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund provides financial support to help care leavers, students in care, or in receipt of specific benefits, to remain in education.

3. Information: 16 to 19 and adult education budget (AEB) grant funding payment profiles

We said we’re amending payment profiles for institutions who receive 16 to 19 and non-devolved adult education budget (AEB) grant funding. We set out full details of who this applies to in our January news item.

This is to remind you that you will receive the first payment on 17 February and the second on 17 March.

The 2 extra payments will total:

• 6.11% of your 16 to 19 funding for academic year 2022 to 2023
• 4.02% of your ESFA (non-devolved) AEB funding for academic year 2022 to 2023

We will recoup the additional payments in April and May 2023.

4. Information: apprenticeships provider accountability framework and specification – further clarifications

The apprenticeship training provider accountability framework came into effect in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and is a more timely, proactive approach to accountability for apprenticeship training providers, based on a wider range of quality metrics.

In response to sector feedback, we have updated the framework and its specification to provide further clarity on the technical definitions and quality indicators included in the framework. No changes have been made to the underlying policy or the quality indicators included in the framework. These clarifications have been made in preparation for formal provider reviews from February 2023.

The update includes:

• a new section on the review process and what to expect
• expanded content on the definitions and thresholds for the various quality indicators
• further information on possible interventions
• presentational changes to improve accessibility

The Department hosted a webinar on 25 January 2023 to support providers’ understanding of the framework. A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube.

recording of the webinar

To support providers, we have also built the Analyse FE Data tool. Providers will be able to see some of their accountability framework performance data in a dashboard which is currently in development.

5. Information: Reinforced Autoclaves Aerated Concrete (RAAC) questionnaire and survey update

You should have received an invitation to respond to a questionnaire on Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).

Surveys of reported RAAC have now started. To make sure your school or college is considered for inclusion please respond to the questionnaire by Tuesday 28 February at the latest.

All school responsible bodies (RB) and college corporations have been asked to complete an online RAAC questionnaire for all schools and colleges in their estate. The purpose of the questionnaire is to identify buildings where RAAC is present so DfE can commission a survey if needed.

All RBs and corporations have been sent log in information to the DfE Portal and questionnaire. However, if you do not have this, please request an account.

Returns are to be made by the RB and not individual schools or colleges. Please contact RAAC.AWARENESS@EDUCATION.GOV.UK with any queries.

6. Information: IfATE’s revisions status report for February 2023

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has published its latest revisions standards report.

The revisions status report:

• shows apprenticeships that are being revised
• provides a brief overview of the revisions planned for each apprenticeship
• states the stage that each revision has reached.

Read the report on the IfATE website.

7. Information: flagship report to accelerate the FE and HE sector’s pathway to Net Zero

On 23 January, The Royal Anniversary Trust published their “Accelerating towards Net-Zero” report, an ambitious roadmap for carbon reduction in the tertiary education sector. The report, which includes recommendation on steps HE and FE settings can take to accelerate their transition to Net Zero, is the result of a year-long research project – The Platinum Jubilee Challenge – funded by the DfE and led by 21 higher and further education institutes from across the UK.

As well as providing 14 recommendations to government, the report also identifies three key Action Pathways for the sector to prioritise on its pathway to Net Zero: The Built Environment, Travel and Transport and Sustainable Supply Chains.

The report also proposes a new Standardised Carbon Emissions Framework (SCEF), developed by the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC) and designed exclusively for the sector which will enable all HE and FE institutions to measure and manage carbon emissions.

8. Your feedback: volunteer to take part in curriculum and financial planning user research

You’re invited to take part in a confidential online interview about the design of a proposed new curriculum planning benchmarking tool. The ESFA is looking at how it can support colleges in their planning activities using data that has been submitted in the finance record. This research will take place throughout 2023.

To express your interest in taking part please fill in this short survey and a user researcher will be in touch with more details to schedule an interview.

If you have any questions about the research, please email us.