Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 9 October 2024

Published 9 October 2024

Applies to England

1. Action: Submit your 16 to 19 tuition fund end of year spend for 2023 to 2024 by Friday 11 October 2024

You must submit a digital form to tell us your tuition fund spend, if your organisation received 16 to 19 tuition funding for the academic year 2023 to 2024.   

You must submit the form by 5pm on Friday 11 October 2024.   

Failure to submit a report will result in the full recovery of your tuition funding for the 2023 to 2024 academic year. 

Guidance on how to complete the digital form is available in how to complete the 16 to 19 tuition fund: 2023 to 2024 form.

2. Action: Submit your earnings adjustment statement by Thursday 17 October

The earnings adjustment statement (EAS) operates within a funding year alongside the individualised learner record (ILR) each month. For R14, you must submit your EAS by Thursday 17 October 2024. You need to submit all ILR and EAS data by the final R14 collection date so that we can calculate the correct amount to pay you for the year. 

If you are a grant-funded provider (‘paid on profile’ for the adult education budget or the advanced learner loans bursary), your EAS claims will be included as part of your funding claims.  

Ensure your excess learning support (and other eligible categories) are correctly claimed through EAS rather than exceptional adjustment field in the funding claim.  

We may reject any exceptional adjustments recorded in the funding claim that we have not authorised before you submitted your claim.

3. Action: 2025 to 2026 high needs place change process

The high needs place change notification process for 2025 to 2026 is now open until Friday 8 November 2024. Schools and colleges should contact their local authorities about their high needs places for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. In most cases, if you do not request a change your 2024 to 2025 academic year place numbers will be used to determine your funding allocation. 

We have published guidance on the high needs place change process.

We have also published the spring 2024 census data for high needs pupil numbers in special academies and free schools, and the place numbers for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. You can use this to inform your discussions about commissioning arrangements for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

4. Action: Final funding claim for 2023 to 2024 window opens on Tuesday 22 October 2024

The final funding claim window will open at 9am on Tuesday 22 October 2024.   

Submit your final funding claim by 5pm on Friday 25 October 2024.  

The claim form will be available on submit learner data. The funding claims user guide is available to help you complete the form.   

If you have any exceptional adjustments to enter on the claim form, you will require prior agreement by ESFA. The claim should be supported by relevant evidence, which we may request. Any unauthorised exceptional adjustments will be disallowed.  

Your principal or delegated authority must sign your claim digitally on manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Tuesday 29 October 2024.   

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

• ESFA-funded adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and level 3 free courses for jobs offer)   

• advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)   

The 16 to 19 delivery section of the funding claim will be included in the final funding claim for your principal or delegated authority to sign off.  

Providers with only a 16 to 19 allocation do not need to submit a funding claim at R14 but they do need to sign the R14 form digitally on manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Tuesday 29 October 2024.   

You must not enter any adjustments relating to the earnings boost in your funding claim. We will do this after you have submitted the claim. Your indicative reconciliation statement (for grant-funded providers) will include the earnings boost that we have calculated. We will contact all providers with the details behind the calculations as we did last year.  

We will review claims to ensure they are substantiated by the data you have submitted in your ILR and present value for money.  

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

5. Information: 2024 to 2025 individualised learner record funding reports guidance

We have published guidance for ILR funding reports in the 2024 to 2025 funding year. 

We have made these key changes in this year’s version:  

• added the 16 to 19 funding calculation full output report which provides easy access to all the funding variables that are output by the 16 to 19 funding calculation 
• added 2 new reports for devolved skills bootcamps; a funding summary and an occupancy report 
• removed all European Social Fund (ESF) reports, the destination and progression report, the traineeship section and funding lines and the funding lines for procurement from August 2021 
• updated the funding line types for adult education budget (AEB) provision following the change to adult skills fund (ASF) and updated the equivalent devolved authority funding lines.

6. Information: Updated guidance for sixth form and further education college corporations on streamlined energy and carbon reporting

We have updated our guidance for sixth form and further education college corporations on streamlined energy and carbon reporting (SECR) to reflect the latest emissions conversion factors.  

This guidance will help finance directors, accounting officers, principals and governors of sixth form and further education college corporations to report energy consumption in their 2023 to 2024 accounts and develop good practice in their colleges.

7. Reminder: Training providers, R14 is closing on Thursday 17 October 2024 for your apprenticeship ILR data submission

Thank you to providers who have submitted an R14 return already.  

For those that still need to submit, you have until 6pm on Thursday 17 October 2024 to return your apprenticeship individualised learner record (ILR) data submissions for the 2023 to 2024 funding year.  

We encourage you to submit your data as early as possible to avoid any processing delays. Your ILR data for this period cannot be amended following the close of the R14 data collection.  

For additional information, read our help article on preparing your final ILR return for 2023 to 2024.   If you require further support, use our help centre or contact the Apprenticeship Service Support team.