Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 9 October 2019

Published 9 October 2019

This correspondence was withdrawn on 21 December 2020

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Find the latest information from ESFA in the latest ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Reminder: get ready for Brexit

The UK is leaving the EU on 31 October 2019. Find out how to prepare your business.

The advice for further education and apprenticeship providers in England on how to prepare for Brexit is being kept up to date with links to relevant guidance, including the new online service to check EU Settlement Status.

The advice includes information on topics including:

• EU Settlement status
• Funding
• staff and students that are EEA nationals
• UK Nationals currently residing in the EU
• data protection
• travel to the EU

You are advised to familiarise yourselves with the guidance if you have not already done so, and to continue to check for updates throughout October. You can also sign up for Brexit alerts from GOV.UK.

2. Reminder: the Association of Colleges Brexit No Deal preparation advice and webinar

The government has encouraged all organisations to prepare contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit. The Association of Colleges (AoC) is providing information for colleges to help them prepare for Brexit, supported by the government’s Business Readiness Fund. Many of the issues will be common across all ESFA funded providers.

AoC’s No Deal College Readiness Pack is available to help those in leadership positions at colleges work through the issues for their staff, students and institutions. There is a ‘No Deal Brexit: how colleges can be prepared’ webinar running on Wednesday, 16 October and further regional events are planned. Any questions can be directed to brexit@aoc.co.uk.

3. Action: funding claims 2018 to 2019 – final claim

Your 2018 to 2019 final claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data from 9am on Monday 21 October and will close at 5pm on Tuesday 29 October.

You must sign your claim digitally on Manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Wednesday 30 October by your principal or a delegated authority. You will need to submit and sign a claim if you receive funds through:

• a grant for your adult education budget (AEB)
• a grant for your 16 to 19 funding
• a grant with an Advanced Learner Loans Bursary contract
• a Learner Support contract

Once you have submitted your claim on Submit Learner Data, you will be able to view and sign it on Manage your education and skills funding within 15 minutes.

We have guidance on the funding claims and the separate 16 to 19 education funding guidance. The funding claims user guide will help you complete the form.If you have any queries about this please contact your Territorial Manager.

4. Information: October apprenticeship payments update

In September, we made apprenticeship payments without publishing a number of reports due to the issues with the datamatch process in the apprenticeship service.

For October, for levy paying employers, we will pay providers using employer’s levy accounts and this will be shown in their accounts and in the relevant ILR funding reports. For non-levy and for all other levy payments (that is, English, maths, additional payments, learning support), we will pay these based upon your earnings as detailed in your ‘Apps Indicative Funding Report’, although these will not be included in your ILR payment reports.

We realise this will have an ongoing impact to training providers and we are currently aiming for all payments to be made on the service at R03. At this point payment reports will show full details of all payments since R01.

We apologise for the impact this issue may be causing, if you have any queries please contact the apprenticeship support team via email helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk or on 08000 150600.

5. Information: publication of Framework for Delivery of the T Level Transition Programme

We have published the T Level Transition Programme Framework for Delivery. The T Level Transition Programme will be taught for the first time from September 2020, by providers taking part in its phased implementation. This is a new type of study programme specifically designed to help students to progress onto and succeed on a T Level. The Framework for Delivery sets out the design of this new programme and how it should be delivered in this first year.

6. Information: updated teachers’ pay grant rates for 2019 to 2020

We have updated the teachers’ pay grant rates for 2019 to 2020, in line with increases in the total amount of the grant.

7. Information: high needs funding operational guide for 2020 to 2021

On 3 October, we published the high needs operational guidance setting out arrangements for high needs funding in 2020 to 2021.

The guidance includes changes to the high needs funding system in 2020 to 2021, a summary of key dates and actions for local authorities and institutions, and information on funding arrangements for alternative provision.

We have also published a separate guide for local authorities with special free schools.

8. Information: high needs place change notification process

The high needs place change notification process is now open. Local authorities can confirm their 2020 to 2021 high needs place numbers in ESFA funded institutions by 15 November 2019, via Secure Access.

We have published the high needs place change notification 2020 to 2021 technical note. The technical note sets out the process for local authorities notifying ESFA of institution level changes to 2020 to 2021 high needs place numbers, following discussions with their institutions.

We have also published the data showing high needs place and pupil numbers in special academies from the spring 2019 census, alongside 2019 to 2020 place numbers. This will help inform local discussion about commissioning arrangements for 2020 to 2021.

We will send local authorities their secure access login details by 10 October 2019. Please contact us if you do not receive your login details.

For 2020 to 2021, requests for changes to local authority hospital education funding should be made through the workbook. We have published guidance which explains how to do this.

9. Information: adult education budget (AEB) allocation statements

We have updated AEB allocation statements to include continuing learner funding values. This funding is part of providers’ overall ESFA funded AEB allocations and we will not manage it separately. Please note this value may differ from the illustrative value on March allocation statements.

We have used R12 (July 2019) data returns to calculate funding for learners that were in learning in 2018 to 2019 but did not complete their programme by 31 July 2019, regardless of where they reside.

We will not consolidate funds for continuing learners in devolved areas in 2020 to 2021 ESFA funded AEB allocations.

You can access allocation statements through Manage your education and skills funding and we will update your contract with these values. We advise providers to promptly sign agreements to ensure payments are made on time.

For more information, please see the 19+ allocations technical guidance.

If you have any queries, please use the ESFA online form.

10. Information: individualised learner record (ILR) R14 hard close

The R14 ILR data return closes at 6pm on Thursday 17 October. It is critical that your return is accurate. We use your R14 data return in several ways, particularly when we calculate your 16 to 19 funding allocations.

After the deadline, you will not be able to fix any data issues. Do not wait until the deadline, check your data and make your return now.

11. Information: qualification achievement rates (QAR) dashboard 2018 to 2019

We have been working to make further changes and improvements to the QAR dashboard, such as:

Report Page	Improvements
E&T Summary	The report and now shows 16 to 18 and 19+ data side by side rather than showing a summary by default, with the option to apply filters for an age band.
GCSE	Shows more detailed insights for GCSE. English and Maths are now displayed side by side.
GCSE, Qualification, SSA E&T	You can now select either 16 to 18 or 19+ data.
Apprenticeships Summary	Users drill down on all ages for apprenticeships rather than specific groups.

We have made these changes based on the responses you have submitted and we are working on setting a date to release the dashboard containing these changes.

To ensure that the QAR dashboard is fit for purpose, and so that we can keep making improvements, please make use of the ‘Log Feedback’ and ‘Log Ideas’ buttons. We will use your ideas to drive improvements to the products and services we supply. They are located on the top right hand side of each page in the QAR dashboard.