College financial planning handbook and CFFR
Guidance for sixth-form and further education colleges on preparing and submitting their College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR) and supporting commentary.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR)
ESFA has issued an updated template for a July 2024 return for colleges. We are asking for a return from all colleges as part of ESFA’s ongoing financial risk-assessment process.
This is a mandatory return, and all colleges must submit a return by 31 July 2024.
The documents required to be submitted are:
- College financial forecasting return for colleges (CFFR) – Formal assessment of financial health and review of college budget forecasting.
- Commentary – A supporting document that explains the assumptions upon which the forecast years have been completed in the CFFR return. Refer to the updated Financial Planning Handbook for further information.
Ensure that you use the version of the CFFR published on the 1 May 2024, or subsequent releases that might include fixes and the monitoring worksheets. Submission of information in draft or test versions of the CFFR will not be accepted.
The accounting officer must sign this return which confirms the review and approval of the 2024 to 2025 budget by the Governing Body.
We will provide guidance and support through the ESFA Update newsletter, the ESFA helpdesk via the customer help portal, and your DfE Place Based Team caseworker.
Submission arrangements for the CFFR
Colleges must submit these documents to ESFA by 31 July 2024.
The 2024 CFFR and associated documents must be submitted through the College financial data (CFD) service. This will require a DfE Sign-in account to login. Colleges will receive an email confirmation that their upload has been successful.
Both documents (CFFR and commentary) must initially be uploaded at the same time by colleges but can subsequently be resubmitted separately, if required. Colleges will receive an email confirmation that their upload has been successful.
Further details are available within the online portal.
If the person responsible for submitting these documents does not have access to DfE Sign-in they can Create a DfE Sign-in account.
Use the customer help portal if you have any questions about your submission.
College financial planning handbook
The handbook specifies the financial outturn requirements for the financial year 2023 to 2024 and financial planning requirements for the financial years 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 for:
- sixth form and further education college corporations
- designated institutions
- entities funded by ESFA which conduct or control a designated institution unless that designated institution itself is required to submit accounts to ESFA
(Collectively referred to as ‘colleges’.)
Compliance with this handbook is a requirement in colleges’ accountability agreements with ESFA.
Colleges must refer to this handbook when preparing their College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR) and commentary for the July financial planning return. The latest version of the handbook (2024) includes a small number of updates.
Ongoing monitoring
Colleges under ongoing ESFA monitoring arrangements should continue to submit management accounts and other information as required to collegemanagement.accounts@education.gov.uk (in addition to submitting these templates).
Updates to this page
Last updated 6 August 2024 + show all updates
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Updated the 'College financial planning handbook 2024' to clarify how documents should be submitted.
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Added 'College financial planning handbook 2024'. Updated 'College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR)' and 'College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR): user guide'.
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We have published the college financial planning handbook for 2023, along with an updated College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR) user guide and template.
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We have published the college financial planning handbook 2022. A list of what's new in this version of the handbook can be found in the summary. We have also updated the college Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR): user guide and have published a new CFFR template.
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We have updated the standard cash flow template.
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We have updated paragraph 9 of the college financial planning handbook 2021 to clarify the financial returns required of corporations which are being monitored because they are in receipt of Restructuring Facility, Exceptional Financial Support, Emergency Funding and Exceptional Restructuring Funding. We have also updated the dates by which these returns must be received.
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Updated version of the College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR) document has been uploaded to the page. CFFR Updater document also added to the page.
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We have published a user guide for colleges completing the College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR).
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College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR) excel document added to the page.
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We have published details of the college financial forecasting return (CFFR). The deadline to make a return is 31 July 2021.
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We have published guidance and a cash flow template for colleges to complete as part of the April cashflow financial return.
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We have updated the integrated financial model for colleges guidance.
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We have published an updated version of the College Financial Planning Handbook which provides guidance on how the new finance record should be completed, as well as some minor changes to our approach to assessing and moderating college financial health. The changes to the document are outlined in the document.
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We have published information and a template for the COVID-19 November financial return.
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We have published information for colleges on completing the COVID-19 July financial return, along with a financial health calculator, a standard cashflow template, and completed examples of both.
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We have updated the common issues with the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC) document, to provide further help for colleges completing the IFMC.
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We have published an example version of the IFMC to show colleges what a completed version looks like.
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We have updated the submission arrangements for the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC).
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We have published the latest version of the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC).
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We have published a guide outlining common issues with the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC).
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We have updated the college financial planning handbook and published details of the integrated financial model for colleges.
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We have updated the cash flow forecast template.
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We have published the submission arrangements for colleges to submit their financial plan and supporting commentary.
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We have updated the college financial planning template and the cash flow forecast template.
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We have updated the college financial planning template. The changes are detailed in the 'Contents' tab.
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We have published the college financial planning handbook 2019: financial planning requirements for sixth-form and further education colleges.
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We have made minor amendments in the college financial plan template, details of which can be found on the contents tab of the template
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Updated College financial planning handbook 2018 and template have been added for 2018.
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New versions of the Financial planning handbook, College financial planning template and Financial planning template guidance uploaded on 14 June 2017.
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Revised version of College Financial Planning template uploaded on 17 June 2016.
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New version of College Financial Plan Template uploaded on 13 June 2016.
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New files titled College financial plan template and Financial planning template guidance uploaded on 13 May 2016.
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Financial planning handbook for 2016 to 2018 published.
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Published June 2015: Financial planning template
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Published June 2015: Financial Planning Handbook 2015 to 2017
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First published.