Inform March 2021
Updated 18 January 2022
Applies to England
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1. Information: supporting employers who are new to the apprenticeship service
From 1st April 2021 all new apprenticeships will be managed and funded using the apprenticeship service. All employers hiring apprentices will need to have an apprenticeship service account in order to access funding.
As trusted advisors to employers, training providers have an important role to play in helping those employers who are new to the apprenticeship service. There are a number of ways you can remind employers to take action, or, with permission, manage actions on their behalf. We recently outlined these touchpoints as part of a webinar for colleges. The explanation is relevant to all training providers. Watch our recording to help you plan how best to onboard new employers.
There are additional resources available to support you and employers:
- Our YouTube playlist ‘Using the apprenticeship service’ is a collection of simple, how-to videos. You might want to start with ‘Training providers: apprenticeship service user journey’, which uses a demo to explain how to guide employers through the apprenticeship service.
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Apprenticeships.gov.uk contains all the answers to questions frequently asked by potential apprentices and employers. The employer zone is also a useful tool for training providers. It features simple explanations which you can use to support employers.
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Our help articles provide straightforward advice on how to use the apprenticeship service. They’re great to share with employers and can help you to navigate any known issues too.
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Our webinar playlist on YouTube is home to a series of deep-dive sessions covering topics from funding rules to end-point assessments.
2. Information: Communities – peer-led discussion forum.
From your feedback, we know that you would prefer to self-serve answers to your queries and access guidance quickly.
Get help with Education and Skills Funding Agency services is a help centre hosted by ESFA. We have extended the centre to include a peer-led discussion forum for academies, maintained schools and local authorities called Communities. This allows you to discuss training and skills topics with your peers across the country.
If you have any issues or want to know more about the service, please contact customer.experience@education.gov.uk.
3. Information: monitoring post-16 funding
We have analysed R06 ILR data and refreshed the post-16 monitoring reports dashboard. A number of providers have accessed the dashboard regularly and corrected data since its release last year; please continue to review reports as part of your monthly business activity.
You will need an IDAMS account with the “view your education data – post-16 monitoring” user role and associated with a UKPRN to access the dashboard securely. Your organisation’s super user will be able to grant you the correct user role.
We have published a new video guide demonstrating how to export data from the dashboard. We will publish further videos in the future based on common feedback and queries. We have also published a known issues log, which we will review regularly. If you have any feedback on the dashboard, you can leave this through the landing page.
We have identified that some providers are re-using learner reference numbers from previous years. The ILR specification 2020 to 2021 states ‘The learner reference number must be retained by the learner for any period of study with the provider and must not be re-used for a different learner.’
Re-using a learner reference number can affect calculations and reports which rely on this key piece of data to identify learner records. We will contact some providers directly through territorial leads; you must update any learner records to reflect this guidance.
We will reduce the amount of correspondence we send you. If we identify errors, we will only send one generic letter instead of multiple letters. We will not contact you immediately if we see that you are correcting errors between months. We will request evidence to support some reports and inform policy development through ESFA Information Exchange.
Please ensure that you have an account with access to the Other Submissions (AY 2021-22) folder of the document exchange area. If you do not have access to Information Exchange, please speak to your organisation’s approver.
4. Information: training for users new to data collections
For providers that are new to the ESFA, the data collections team will demonstrate how to validate individualised learner record (ILR) files through the Funding Information Service (FIS) and then show how to return data through Submit learner data (SLD).
You will also have an opportunity to ask questions.
The demo will take place on MS teams on 18 March at 1pm to 2pm.
Please email customer.experience@education.gov.uk if you would like to attend.
5. Information: incentive payments for hiring a new apprentice
To support employers, incentive payments for apprentices taken on as new employees from 1 April are increasing.
Employers will receive £3,000 for new employees of any age who start their apprenticeship from 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021.
You can view the details on GOV.UK.