Guidance

Residential Support Scheme (RSS) data return 2022 to 2023: guidance for completing the digital form

Updated 11 October 2023

This guidance was withdrawn on 1 October 2024

Find the latest guidance on residential support schemes.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This guidance has been produced to help you complete the Residential Support Scheme (RSS) form.

Use this form to report how you used your RSS allocation that was provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

The academic year was from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023.

Institutions administering RSS funding are required to complete and submit an annual return to provide data on expenditure against their allocation and to confirm the number of students supported. This requirement forms part of ESFA contractual terms and conditions for RSS.

The data return will be analysed and used to reconcile RSS funding. We will recover any unspent funds as they cannot be carried forward to future years.

You can find more information about RSS in the published guidance.

2. Who is this publication for

The guidance is for the further education and sixth form colleges designated to deliver specialist provision, who have received RSS funding in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

3. When to complete your submission 

The deadline to complete your return is 5pm on Wednesday, 25 October 2023. 

4. Accessing the form 

Access the RSS form to complete your return. 

4.1 Before you start

Before you start the submission process, please ensure that you have:

• read this guidance document
• a DfE Sign-in account
• the total RSS you have spent
• the total number of students you have supported with RSS
• reasons for any overspend or underspend

4.2 DfE Sign-in

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

Follow the below steps to access your DfE Sign-In account:

1. When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your username and password) for authentication
2. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form
3. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and URN or UKPRN of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into DfE Sign-in
4. If these details are correct, then all you need do is to select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page
5. If you believe these details are incorrect, please complete the ESFA enquiry form and we will investigate. You can still proceed with your submission
6. Complete the form as instructed

Your account must be connected to the organisation you are completing the form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in; it is used for authentication only.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account 

You will need to create one by following steps 1 to 5 below: 

1. Select ‘create a DfE Sign-in account’ the DfE Sign-in page.
2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name).
3. We will send you an email to verify your email address; copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page
4. Create a memorable password of 8 characters or more. Your password must include 2 uppercase letters, 2 lowercase letters, and 2 numbers.
5. Sign in using your new credentials, and request access to the organisation for which you would like to submit a claim. Your request will be sent to the approver(s) at your organisation for action.

You might have noticed the term ‘approver’ when creating your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as an administrator or a manager.

For security reasons, you will need the approval of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under already have a DfE account to complete the form.

4.3  If you need further assistance

If you are having problems using the DfE Sign-in service, use our DfE Sign-in help service. You will be able to request further assistance if required. When raising a support request, select ‘other.’

If you have problems accessing the form, please contact us via the ESFA help centre.

5.  Completing the form 

There is a ‘save and continue’ button at the bottom of each page. Clicking on this button will take you to the next page.

The form will remember information you have saved if you sign out of the form or if you leave it open for an extended period.

You will also be advised what will happen next once you have submitted the form.

5.1  Your details 

We will show you the information we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed into your DfE Sign-in. 

5.2 Your funding for the 2022 to 2023 academic year

We will confirm the funding details that we hold about your organisation. This will display the amount of RSS funding allocated to you in the 2022 to 2023 academic year. We also show you the number of students that we expected to receive RSS funding. This is based on information submitted by your organisation as part of the RSS application process. 

We show these figures to you to remind you of the funding and expected student numbers for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, before you confirm your actual numbers delivered.

5.3 Total RSS you have spent

You will be asked how much you spent on RSS in the 2022 to 2023 academic year. 

If you enter zero (0), because you have not spent any of the RSS funding in the academic year, then you will be taken directly to the ‘reasons for variance’ page.

5.4 Total number of students you have supported with RSS

We will ask you how many students you supported with RSS in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

You will not see this page if you entered zero (0) when we asked how much you spent on RSS.

5.5 Reasons for any overspend or underspend

You will be asked to provide a short explanation of why your actual spend or actual number of students supported is different from the funding details provided for the academic year.

This question is optional; however, we would encourage you to complete it where you have supported different volumes to those expected. This will provide us with more information and will reduce the need for us to contact you for further information.

5.6 Declarations page

You must complete the declarations. You will not be able to submit your form without fully completing this section.

5.7 Submission summary

You will see a summary page so that you can check all of your answers before submitting the form on behalf of your organisation. You can change your answers by using the ‘change’ link that appears next to each data entry.

You can also save your submission summary by clicking ‘save summary as PDF’ before you submit it.

5.8  Confirmation

The final page confirms your submission and shows a unique reference number. Make a note of your reference number as we will not include this information in your confirmation email.

We will send an email to the email address you have provided to confirm we have received your submission.

5.9  Amending your submission

You can make changes and resubmit up until 5pm on Wednesday, 25 October 2023. To do this, you will need to log in and resubmit the form.

You cannot amend your submission after the submission window has closed. We will use your latest submission as final.

If you amend you submission you will receive a new unique submission reference.

6. Enquiries 

If you have read this guidance and have questions, contact us via the ESFA help centre.