Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 28 October 2020

Published 28 October 2020

This correspondence was withdrawn on 29 December 2021

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Read the latest editions of ESFA Update for up to date news and information.

Applies to England

1. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Reminder: funding claims 2019 to 2020 – final claims

Your 2019 to 2020 final claim form is now available on Submit learner data and will close at 5pm Tuesday 3 November.

You must sign your claim digitally on Manage your education and skills funding by 5pm on Wednesday 4 November. This needs to be completed by your principal or a delegated authority. You need to submit and sign a claim if you receive funds through:

• grant funded - adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, 19 to 24 traineeships and community learning)
• learner support for AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
• grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)
• 16 to 19 education

Once you have submitted your claim on Submit learner data, you will be able to view it and sign it on Manage your education and skills funding within 15 minutes.

You can find the updated funding claims guidance on GOV.UK which includes a section on the reconciliation business case process. There is separate guidance for 16 to 19 education funding.

The user guide to help you complete the form is also now available.

If you have any queries about this, please contact your Territorial Manager.

3. Information: academies accounts return 2019/20 guidance and resources

We have published guidance and resources to support trusts completing their academies accounts return (AAR) 2019/20.

This includes:

• guidance documents to help complete the form
• guidance on providing pensions information
• tutorial videos on navigation around the form, validations, the questionnaire at the beginning of the form and benchmarking
• the schedule for MS Teams dial-ins and web chat

The AAR online form will be available on Tuesday 10 November 2020. The deadline for submitting the AAR is Tuesday 23 February 2021.

4. Information: 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations for 2020 to 2021

We have published the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations for academic year 2020 to 2021 on GOV.UK.

The publication covers schools, academies and further education institutions funded by ESFA for 16 to 19 year olds and 19 to 25 year olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

We publish 16 to 19 allocations data annually in the interests of transparency.

5. Information: updated good practice guide for going concern in academy trusts

We have updated our good practice guide for going concern in academy trusts. The guide highlights the role of trustees in preparing the going concern assessment for the academy trust’s accounts and highlights the link between this and their role in overseeing the financial health and sustainability of the academy trust. The guide is also likely to be useful to accounting officers, chief financial officers and clerks of academy trusts.

This updated guide can be found in the full list of available good practice guides, which aim to support trustees, accounting officers, principals/executive leaders and chief financial officers (CFOs) to develop good practice in their trust. This list includes the following guides that may be of particular relevance to you at this time, such as:

• Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)
• Academy trust management letters
• Internal scrutiny in academy trusts

6. Information: view my financial insights (VMFI) tool update is now live

We have updated the view my financial insights (VMFI) tool, a data insights tool used by finance teams in academy trusts. The VMFI tool provides academies with rapid feedback from their financial data submitted to the Department for Education, offering guidance and advice on a range of key financial indicators.

New features added to the tool include:

• forecasts and risks – view metrics based on your budget forecast return data and get specific recommendations to tackle risks
• integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) – by adding a few extra data cells into VMFI you can create a high-level dashboard of ICFP metrics
• data modelling – the ability to edit data locally to model different scenarios
• commercial resources – specific commercial resources will be recommended depending on your financial position
• new access to some services– governors will soon have the ability to log into the VMFI tool and view read-only data

View my financial insights (VMFI)