Guidance

ESFA funded 16 to 18 traineeships

Information about 16 to 18 traineeships funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
18 March 2015
Last updated
13 December 2022 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

From 1 August 2023, traineeships are no longer delivered through the national traineeships programme. Traineeships can continue to be offered by providers locally.

Introduction

ESFA fund traineeships for 16 to 18-year-olds (and 19 to 24-year-olds, and up to age 25, with an education, health and care (EHC) plan) through the young people’s funding methodology for 16 to 19 study programmes.

We fund traineeships for 19 to 24-year-olds through the adult education budget (AEB) funding methodology. Further information on how these traineeships are funded is available in the AEB funding rates and formula.

Traineeships are a demand led programme which can benefit young people if they are within 12 months of being able to get sustainable employment or an apprenticeship.

We introduced traineeships in 2013 and further information about the policy, the content of the programme and details on work experience arrangements is available on GOV.UK.

Traineeships from September 2020

We have reformed the traineeship programme to increase flexibility and improve quality. This will support more young people into employment. The traineeship reforms came into effect on 1 September 2020 and we have published an updated Traineeships Framework for delivery which sets out these policy reforms, including:

  • the extended duration
  • the inclusion of digital content
  • closer alignment to occupational standards to further support the transition to apprenticeships

Provider eligibility

There are no unique provider eligibility requirements for traineeships beyond what is set out in the relevant funding rules.

Funding

Funding for traineeships

Traineeships funded under the 16 to 19 young people’s funding methodology are funded as study programmes on a per student basis. Further information is available in our funding guidance.

The unique characteristics of a traineeship are:

  • they have a programme aim and specific programme type (24) on the individualised learner record (ILR) or an indicator in the school census
  • they last a minimum of 6 weeks and up to a maximum of 12 months, and should reflect the needs of the student
  • students on them would normally be funded in a part-time band, however in some cases where the student requires more support, they can also be funded as a full-time programme
  • the core aim must be work experience

You can use as much of your study programme allocation as you see fit for delivering traineeships.

In-year growth for academic year 2021 to 2022

As in 2020 to 2021, we will be operating a data driven traineeship in-year growth process, based on ILR and school census returns for institutions with a 16 to 19 study programme allocation. Institutions are not required to submit a business case (and neither will one be accepted) to access additional in-year growth funding for traineeships.

Institutions are encouraged to increase their delivery of traineeships this year in the knowledge that funding will follow based on their data returns, up to their own individual traineeships cap (more details on the traineeships cap are below).

Whilst the principles underpinning the process are unchanged from 2020 to 2021, there will be minor changes in how the process will operate. The in-year growth process for traineeships will be based on the principles below.

In-year growth principles

Subject to the traineeships cap, we will fund growth in traineeships at a 100% rate (i.e. funded in full) with no tolerance; we will even fund one additional traineeship student above the baseline. However, we will only fund traineeship growth if an institution is also over-delivering against its overall 16 to 19 study programme allocation. If an institution is under-delivering against its 16 to 19 study programme allocation, it will not be eligible for traineeship growth funding.

For ILPs, over-delivery will be a cash based calculation and for grant-funded institutions it will be a student based calculation.

Each institution will have a traineeships cap beyond which growth funding cannot be guaranteed. For the majority of providers, the traineeships cap will allow them to at least double the size of their traineeship delivery. The traineeships cap is in place so that we are able to manage our budget. If possible, and should budget allow, we will increase the traineeships cap during the year to encourage further traineeship delivery or pay for traineeship growth already delivered.

To measure the growth in traineeships, we will set a baseline for each individual provider based on historic traineeship delivery. This baseline will be the final 2020 to 2021 delivery and providers with traineeship delivery in 2020 to 2021 will be issued with their baselines by December 2021.

The traineeships growth cap will initially be set at the same level as the baseline. However, for providers with either no or small levels of traineeship delivery in 2020 to 2021 the traineeships cap will be increased to 20 students for grant-funded providers and £100,000 for ILPs. For providers with higher levels of previous traineeship delivery, the maximum traineeships growth cap will be 100 students for grant-funded providers and £500,000 for ILPs.

Grant-funded providers

We will base the growth calculation for grant-funded providers on student numbers. We will award funding at the average funding rate per student for that provider. We will not amend allocated banding proportions. We will award growth at 2 points in the year: after the R04/S02 and R14/S05 data returns. We will calculate growth by:

  1. Calculating overall over-delivery
  2. Calculating the traineeship over-delivery
  3. Calculating traineeship growth as the lower of the figures at step 1 and step 2, subject to the traineeships cap
  4. Identifying, at R04 only, any remaining over-delivery not funded in step 3, to go forward for exceptional in-year growth

We will award growth by amending funding allocations and issuing them as contract variations.

ILPs

For ILPs we will use the reconciliation mechanism for awarding growth funding. Using the reconciliation process will mean that contract variations will not be required. Traineeships growth will be paid at R06, R10 and R14 only. We will calculate growth by:

  1. Calculating overall over-delivery (funding generated from that return less allocation)
  2. Calculating traineeship over-delivery (traineeship funding from that return less baseline)
  3. Funding the lower of steps 1 and 2 at 100% subject to the traineeships cap
  4. Funding remaining over-delivery through normal reconciliation rules (subject to the reconciliation tolerance and reconciliation cap, and paid at the relevant marginal rate in-year)

Subcontracting

If traineeship provision is being subcontracted, institutions should be mindful of the subcontracting controls and additional checks may be undertaken by ESFA.

Outcomes

Definitions for successful outcomes

Successful outcomes will be within 6 months of leaving/completing a traineeship, the trainee will either:

  • have had 8 consecutive weeks of employment/self-employment of 16 hours a week or more (if 16 or 17 years old with RPA compliant amount of training)
  • have started on an apprenticeship by passing the qualifying period to count in funding terms
  • have started on a further learning course at a level above which they are currently qualified (or a level that demonstrates progression) and have passed the qualifying period to count in funding terms—the further learning should include a substantial qualification recognised in the DfE performance tables (you can access the lists for each of the years from 2015 to 2018 for further details)

Completion of programme, outcomes, funding and quality implications

We use both the programme aim and the core aim to calculate retention for traineeships.

We use the programme aim to determine if the student is on a traineeship programme at some point in the academic year. Please use code programme type 24 if this applies. We also use the programme aim to determine if the programme is complete, transferred or withdrawn. This is important for calculating retention.

The core aim determines if a traineeship programme is the latest programme taken by the student in the year. If the student subsequently enrols on a non-traineeship study programme, it is the subsequent study programme that will be counted for retention purposes.

Completion can be by completing all planned activity for the programme or by leaving early to achieve a successful outcome. The programme aim in the ILR should correctly reflect the completion and achievement status of each student on a traineeship. There are 4 possible scenarios which define retention, funding and outcomes:

  • the trainee completes their programme and progresses to a successful outcome, which is retained in funding terms and positive in quality terms—in this scenario the programme aim should be recorded as completed and achieved
  • the trainee completes their programme but does not progress to a successful outcome, which is retained in funding terms, but negative in quality terms —in this scenario the programme aim should be recorded as completed and not achieved
  • the trainee leaves the programme early and progresses to a successful outcome, which is retained in funding terms and positive in quality terms—in this scenario the programme aim should be recorded as withdrawn and achieved (the student would still be retained because they have a positive destination)
  • the trainee leaves early and does not achieve a successful outcome, which is negative in retention terms and negative in quality terms—in this scenario the programme aim should be recorded as withdrawn and not achieved

English and maths

The condition of funding for English and maths and traineeships

Students on traineeship programmes are subject to the condition of funding in the same way as students on other study programmes.

From the academic year 2020 to 2021, the condition of funding grade 3 or grade D requirement will apply to students on traineeship programmes according to whether the student is full time or part time.

Full-time students with prior attainment of GCSE grade 3 or grade D in English and/or maths must study GCSE to meet the condition. Part-time students can study towards a GCSE or a valid stepping stone qualification irrespective of prior attainment.

Further information is available about the condition of funding for English and maths.

English and maths studied during a traineeship funded under 16 to 19 young people’s methodology

Institutions must be able to demonstrate educational progression for students recruited onto programmes funded by ESFA, and be able to record evidence of good educational reasons for any individual students recruited to programmes which do not provide progression. All such students should only make up a small percentage of the total student cohort.

If a learner does not complete the English and maths elements of the traineeship during their traineeship then these will continue to be funded until they are completed. Detail on how this is handled on the ILR can be found on GOV.UK.

English and maths studied after progressing from a traineeship funded under 16 to 19 young people’s methodology

When a trainee progresses from a traineeship, the next English and maths studied should be at a higher level than they studied on the traineeship.

Delivering traineeships

Delivery expectations

The expectation is that the number of providers and traineeships per provider will grow compared to previous years. There are published figures available on the total number of traineeships.

Delivering a successful traineeship

The primary objective of a traineeship is to progress the trainee to an apprenticeship or other sustainable job. Alternatively, the trainee could enrol on a course of further learning including a full-time study programme where it demonstrates learner progression.

Work experience

The purpose of traineeships is to prepare young people for employment so that they are able to progress successfully to apprenticeships and other sustainable jobs. Work experience in traineeships should give the young person experience of a real workplace so they can develop the skills, knowledge, confidence, attitudes and behaviours they need to succeed at work.

Ideally, work experience should be with an external employer, external to the learning environment and at an external site. However, exceptions to this will be funded. For example, local authorities with a training arm where the direct provision of training is clearly not the local authority’s core business, work experience within departments which are separate to the training arm counts as external work experience.

In these cases, providers will need to make a judgement about whether their work placements genuinely provide students with the experiences they need to develop the work-related attributes expected of a traineeship. Ultimately Ofsted make judgements about the suitability of these arrangements through inspection and grading of providers.

Simulated activity in an artificial environment may well form a helpful part of work preparation training but will not count as work placements for the purposes of traineeships.

Data

ILR requirements for the recording of traineeships

Further information is available on the ILR requirements for traineeships.

For further details please read the traineeships section of the provider support manual.

School census requirements for the recording of traineeships

Information is available on the census requirements for traineeships.

For further details please read the school census.

There is also support available to institutions submitting the school census in the Interactive post-16 census tool.

Queries on 16 to 19 funded traineeships

ESFA enquiries

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Version control

This document is Version 4.0 and the content was first published March 2015.

Updates to this page

Published 18 March 2015
Last updated 13 December 2022 + show all updates

  1. From 1 August 2023, we will no longer fund a standalone national traineeships programme. Traineeships can continue to be offered as part of our general skills offer. The last start date for traineeships under the current programme is 31 July 2023. Traineeships started on or before this date will continue to be funded as set out below. Read the written ministerial statement on the skills update: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-12-12/hcws434 from Robert Halfon, Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education.

  2. We’ve removed the section for in-year growth for the academic year 2020 to 2021 as the process is now complete.

  3. Updated to include the section on In-year growth for academic year 2021 to 2022

  4. We have added information about the increased in-year growth cap for traineeships delivered through 16-18 mainstream contracts.

  5. We have updated our guidance to include a new traineeship in-year growth mechanism for those institutions that have a 16 to 18 mainstream contract for academic year 2020 to 2021

  6. We have updated our advice to reflect: that traineeships may now last up to 12 months; how the English and maths condition of funding applies to students on traineeships.

  7. We have updated information about accessing further 16 to 18 funding to increase the number of traineeships for academic year 2020 to 2021.

  8. We have published new guidance for training providers delivering traineeships. We have added a new section for Coronavirus (COVID-19) to explain this and where to find the guidance

  9. General refresh and updated for 2019 to 2020.

  10. Completion of programme, outcomes, funding and quality implications has been updated.

  11. Updated for 2016 to 2017

  12. Updated information added on provider eligibility

  13. First published.

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