Guidance

High value courses for school and college leavers: a one-year offer for 18 and 19-year-olds

Additional funding for one-year to encourage and support delivery of selected level 2 and 3 qualifications in specific subjects and sectors in response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
16 July 2020
Last updated
4 August 2020 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as the offer has now ended.

Applies to England

Summary

On 8 July the Chancellor announced exceptional funding as part of the wider COVID-19 skills recovery response to support 18 and 19 year old young people leaving school or college this summer. The high value courses for school and college leavers one year offer for 18 and 19 year olds is additional funding to encourage and support delivery of selected level 2 and 3 qualifications in specific subjects and sectors that enable a more productive economy and support young people to remain engaged with education, employment and training. This is a one-off intervention in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The priority is for young people to find work or a work-based training offer such as an apprenticeship or traineeship. Where these are not available locally, providers can use this funding to deliver extra classroom-based opportunities to young people to prevent them becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET).

This is a short-term offer. We will fund young people aged 18 and 19 for an additional programme of study of high value level 2 and 3 qualifications for up to a year from September 2020 if they cannot find employment or work-based training.

We refer to both 16 to 19 students (18 year olds) and AEB learners (19 year olds) as learners throughout this guide.

This offer is for learners:

  • aged 18 and 19 on 16 to 19 and AEB Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funded provision respectively; and
  • studying qualifications of between 120 and 540 guided learning hours (GLH) included on our published list of eligible qualifications

What the offer includes

  • a £400 uplift to be paid once per learner to cover the costs of putting on additional courses at short notice, recruiting extra students, and preparing staffing and facilities

  • adjustments to retention payments (16 to 19 funding) and job outcome payments (ESFA AEB) to compensate where learners leave early and take up employment or an apprenticeship

  • increased rate to fund 18 year olds on larger programmes at the rate for 16 and 17 year olds

Other guidance

Providers must use this detailed guide alongside our other published guidance and funding rules.

Eligible qualifications

We have based the list of qualifying qualifications for 2020 to 2021 on qualifications approved for funding for all or part of 2020 to 2021 academic year.

We will include a qualification in this offer if it meets all of the following criteria. The qualification must be:

  • regulated by Ofqual
  • already approved for funding through the 16 to 19 offer, the ESFA funded adult education budget, or advanced learner loans
  • operationally available for all or part of the funding year 2020 to 2021
  • at level 2 or level 3
  • at least 120 guided learning hours (GLH) in size, but no greater than 540 GLH
  • not in scope to have funding approval removed because of no or low publicly funded enrolments
  • in either:
    • a sector or subject identified in the HVCP lists for the funding years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022
    • the health and social care sector

We have not included qualifications that:

  • mainly serve as an introduction to further training or study
  • are mainly focussed on individuals already in the workplace and/or upskilling in the workplace
  • are either too specialised or focus on knowledge and skills that are not essential for starting in a job
  • are Access to Higher Education diplomas, because they are designed to help students to progress to higher education

Evidence suggests that these subject areas traditionally attract lower levels of enrolment from female students. We ask providers to be aware of this during recruitment activity and look at ways of encouraging interest from this group.

Eligible providers

All colleges and other providers who are currently delivering a 16 to 19 study programme that have additional qualifying learners will be eligible to receive the additional funding. For ESFA AEB providers an allocation will be based on historic delivery of the qualifications in scope and will be confirmed in allocation letters.

For 18 year olds

Funding and payments

We will fund additional 18 year olds above an individual baseline for each provider based on historical delivery.

These payments are subject to affordability and ESFA reserves the right to withdraw the offer for this programme if faced with exceptional levels of demand.

The £400 uplift will be funded as a lump sum. The programme funding will be profiled across the year.

Eligible learners

For a learner to be counted as eligible they will need to be enrolled on a 16 to 19 qualifying study programme, and:

  • be aged 18 at the start of the 2020 to 2021 academic year
  • enrolled on a planned one year qualifying 16 to 19 study programme that starts after the 31 August 2020
  • be recorded as studying an approved high value courses for school and college leavers qualification as their core aim.

We will calculate the number of learners by:

Step 1 - we will calculate a baseline

We will calculate a baseline figure by using 2019 to 2020 full year ILR (R14) and autumn census 2020 (end year 2019 to 2020 data) to establish the number of eligible learners who have started their 16 to 19 study programme on or before the 1 November 2019. Providers that do not have any learners recorded on eligible qualifications will have a baseline of 0.

Step 2 - we will identify the number of eligible learners studying in the 2020 to 2021 year

We establish the number of eligible learners studying in the 2020 to 2021 academic year by using the 2020 to 2021 ILR (R04) and autumn 2020 census data.

Step 3 - we calculate the difference between eligible learner numbers in the baseline and the 2020 to 2021 year

We then compare the eligible learner number against the baseline to calculate the number of additional 18-year-old learners for each provider.

For example

  • in the baseline a provider has 30 eligible students studying a qualification from the approved high value courses for school and college leavers list as their core aim
  • in academic year 2020 to 2021, they have recruited additional students who are again studying a qualification from the approved high value courses for school and college leavers list as their core aim. The provider has a total of 45 eligible students in the 2020 to 2021 academic year
  • for this provider there are 15 additional students in the 2020 to 2021 academic that would attract the £400 uplift

The date when learners enrol will change when we will make payments to providers.

For a learner to be counted as eligible they will need to be enrolled on a 16 to 19 qualifying study programme, and:

  • be aged 18 at the start of the 2020 to 2021 academic year
  • enrolled on a planned one year qualifying 16 to 19 study programme that starts after the 31 August 2020
  • be recorded as studying an approved high value courses for school and college leavers qualification as their core aim

September enrolments

We anticipate that providers will enrol most learners in September. We will pay £400 uplift for each of these additional qualifying learners.

After allocating the uplift for each eligible student, programme funding, of up to a value of £4100, will be funded depending on the remaining available budget. We will pay the programme funding in-year and then offset this against future funding.

£4100 is an average figure so does not equal the exact amount that the learner would attract for programme funding in-year. We have calculated this amount based on the full time 18 year old rate plus an average for other formula factors.

We will retain an element of the available budget for enrolments later in the year. This will determine the amount that can be funded per student in-year.

Counting learners

We will identify the total number of qualifying learners nationally from the ILR R04 data return or the autumn census. Then we will calculate the additional learners above each provider’s individual baseline. We will then calculate the programme funding that can be paid in-year from the available budget.

Where providers recruit additional learners over the baseline, we will revise allocations for 2020 to 2021 academic year and confirm:

  • total amount of the uplift for each additional student
  • total additional programme funding for the academic year

We will pay additional funding from March 2021. We will

  • offset any in-year additional programme funding per student that we have paid, against the 2021 to 2022 allocation
  • not offset the £400 uplift

We will count the learners in lagged student numbers so that their full programme funding will be calculated and allocated in the 2021 to 2022 allocation, and adjusted as indicated above to offset the additional programme funding paid in-year during 2020 to 2021.

We explained that 18 year old learners on large qualifications (450 GLH) or more and with an overall programme of at least 540 planned hours, will attract the 16/17 year old rate. We will fund these learners as part of the usual lagged calculations in the 2022 to 2023 academic year allocations.

16 to 19 in year growth

We will consider any overall growth in student numbers more generally as part of the usual exceptional in-year growth process.

Enrolments after R04

Learners that are enrolled on eligible qualifications above the individual provider baseline and recorded after R04, with a planned end date on or before March 2022, will attract the £400 uplift. We will pay the uplift alongside the 2021 to 2022 academic year allocations.

Counting learners

We will count 18 year old learners enrolled after R04 in lagged student numbers. In addition to the uplift, which will be paid in 2021 to 2022, the provider will therefore receive their normal programme funding for these students in the 2022 to 2023 academic year allocation. This includes those 18 year old learners on a qualification from the list of 450 GLH or more with a study programme of more than 540 planned hours.

Large qualifications

To reflect the additional costs of large qualifications, 18 year olds on qualifications of 450 hours or more will be funded at the (higher) rate that usually applies to 16 and 17 year olds, where they are on a programme of 540 planned hours. In all instances the funding will be included as part of the lagged student number process and will be allocated in 2022 to 2023 allocations.

16 to 19 retention factor

The 16 to 19 funding formula recognises that there is a cost to institutions in delivering programmes of study to learners who do not complete their learning. For provision for 18 year olds under this offer, we have amended the usual retention rules to provide assurance to providers. However, where possible we ask providers to support young people to finish their studies part time or through flexible learning where the learner withdraws early to take up employment or an apprenticeship.

18 year old learners enrolled on one of the eligible qualifications will count as retained in the retention calculation if they withdraw early from their study programme to secure an apprenticeship or sustained employment.

Maths and English condition of funding

For 18 year olds students the maths and English condition of funding will apply.

Progression

We usually expect providers to demonstrate educational progression when enrolling learners on qualifications. On this offer, we accept that some learners may study a qualification that is at the same level as previous qualifications.

High needs

For the high needs funding element, we will provide additional detail at the beginning of the academic year.

16 to 19 bursary funding

We are exploring how best to ensure that Bursary Funds are allocated appropriately as part of this offer and will provide additional detail at the beginning of the academic year.

For 19 year olds

We will be responsible for funding learners resident in non-devolved areas, and a proportion of the funding will be devolved to mayoral combined authorities (MCAs)/greater London authority (GLA) who will be responsible for funding learners resident in their areas.

Learner eligibility

We will fully fund AEB learners as part of this offer. Eligible learners are those that:

  • are aged 19 on 31 August within the 2020 to 2021 funding year
  • enrol on one Level 2 or Level 3 qualification from the list of eligible qualifications
  • already hold a Level 2 or Level 3 qualification or this is their first Level 2 or Level 3 qualification

Providers will need to ensure that learners have a clear understanding on how this provision is linked to future employment, and record this as part of the Learner Agreement.

Funding and payments

We will allocate the additional ESFA AEB funding by the end of August 2020. The additional funding will be ring-fenced which means it will be performance managed separately and details are provided in the ESFA AEB 2020 to 2021 Funding and Performance Management Rules.

Uplift

We will pay the uplift monthly as part of the AEB funding formula details of which can be found in the AEB funding rates and formula guidance 2020 to 2021.

Increased job outcome payment

We will make a full achievement payment, rather than the usual 50% where a learner leaves their course early and takes up employment or an apprenticeship before achieving the learning aim. This is subject to meeting requirements as set out in the AEB funding rules 2020 to 2021. The detailed payment methodology can be found in the AEB funding rates and formula 2020 to 2021.

Maths and English

Where a 19 year old learner does not hold a Level 2 in maths and/or English and they wish to study these subjects, providers will be able claim full funding for English and maths, up to and including level 2 through the AEB.

Monitoring the offer

We will closely monitor this offer to track spend, increased participation and outcomes in these specific sectors/subjects for 18 and 19 year olds. We will monitor delivery against the subject areas traditionally attract lower levels of enrolment from female students.

We will do this as part of our ongoing monitoring. We will continue to contact providers where data, audit feedback or other feedback indicates that they are operating outside of normal rules.

Providers have a responsibility to provide courses that prepare learners for their future ambitions and that means they must take account of the local or regional circumstances when designing their programmes and providing guidance to learners. Ofsted make it clear in the further education and skills inspection handbook what inspectors look at when evaluating the curriculum. Specifically that ‘the curriculum offers learners the knowledge and skills that reflect the needs of the local and regional context’ and ‘the curriculum intent takes into account the needs of learners, employers and the local, regional and national economy, as necessary.

Evaluation

The government will work closely with the sector to evaluate and review this approach to make sure it is delivering improved outcomes for young people. In addition to existing data collections, researchers may contact a sample of providers to better understand how the policy has worked.

ESFA enquiries

ESFA enquiries

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Updates to this page

Published 16 July 2020
Last updated 4 August 2020 + show all updates

  1. We have updated the eligible qualifications section to include information from the qualifications manual that clarifies which qualifications will not be included in the one-year offer

  2. We have published details about how the high value courses for school and college leavers one-year offer for 18 and 19 year olds will work for 16 to 19 students and adult education budget (AEB) learners in 2020 to 2021

  3. First published.

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