Guidance

Guide to the higher technical education provider growth fund

Updated 5 July 2021

Applies to England

Updated 18 June 2021

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of this document

This guidance is for eligible providers who wish to apply for the Higher Technical Education (HTE) Provider Growth Fund 2021/22. The fund is to support capacity-building and readiness to deliver new approved Digital Higher Technical Qualifications from September 2022, and cycle 2 Digital, Construction, and Health and Science Higher Technical Qualification routes from September 2023.

1.2 Expiry date

The deadline for submitting applications under this guidance is 11.59pm Friday 9 July 2021.

1.3 Policy Context: Higher Technical Education reforms

The government is committed to reforming higher technical education so it supports people to get the skills our economy needs throughout their lives, wherever they live in the country. In the government response to the higher technical education consultation (July 2020), the Department for Education (the Department) set out the government’s plans to make higher technical education a more popular and prestigious choice that provides the skills employers need. This supports the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, ensuring everyone is given the chance to gain the skills they need, when they need them.

The reforms include a new national approval scheme to show which Higher Technical Qualifications meet employers’ skills needs, improving the quality of higher technical education, and encouraging more people to take higher technical education courses.

1.4 The role of providers

Along with employers and learners, Level 4 and 5 providers are central to growing the quantity and quality of higher technical education. We want to build on the success of Further Education, Higher Education, and independent training providers already delivering good higher technical education. Additionally, we want to support further education colleges to expand their higher technical education provision, and more higher education providers to extend their offer at Level 4 and 5 by offering approved Higher Technical Qualifications.

The government response to the higher technical education consultation July 2020 stated that we will support providers to offer high-quality higher technical courses, and provide funding ‘to help providers improve the quality of their courses and increase the number of places available for learners’.

1.5 Aim of the Provider Growth Fund 2021/22

We are launching the Provider Growth Fund as part of these reforms with a total budget of £18 million (£12m capital for specialist equipment and perpetual software licence costs, and £6m resource) available to providers who meet the eligibility criteria detailed below.

The aim of the fund is to support providers to build and create additional capacity to grow high quality provision and raise the prestige of approved Higher Technical Qualifications amongst learners and employers. In the long-term, we want to ensure the quality of higher technical education provision is sustainable, as we build the foundations for the Lifelong Loan Entitlement.

1.6 Who is eligible to apply?

The Provider Growth Fund is open to applications from Further Education Colleges, Higher Education Providers, independent training providers, Institutes of Technology, and consortia.

As a provider, you must signal your intention of offering:

  • a cycle 1 approved Digital Higher Technical Qualification from September 2022, and / or
  • a cycle 2 approved Higher Technical Qualification in Digital, Health and Science, or Construction from September 2023

Digital, Construction, Health and Science are referred to within this context as “Target Subjects”, and each as a “Target Subject”. We reserve the right to reclaim grants if you decide not to offer an approved Higher Technical Qualification in a Target Subject.

In addition, you must meet the following eligibility criteria to apply for funding:

  • Currently (i) delivering Level 4 and/or Level 5* technical qualifications (such as Foundation Degrees, HND/HNC) in the relevant Target Subject(s) that are regulated by Ofqual or the Office for Students**; or (ii) delivering T Levels and have developed plans to offer Higher Technical Qualifications as a progression route from T Levels

    *Please note, providers will not be permitted to base their predicted learner numbers on the first or second year of a Level 6 qualification. The qualification selected to base the predicted learner numbers on, must be a destination qualification in itself and not part of a Level 6 qualification.

    **Apprenticeships are not in scope as part of the eligibility for applying for the Higher Technical Education Provider Growth Fund. However, we recognise there are Level 4 and/or 5 qualifications that are regulated by Ofqual or the Office for Students within apprenticeships which would meet the eligibility criteria.

  • If you are eligible for an Ofsted inspection, either as a:
    • Further Education college; or a
    • Higher Education Provider (for example a university) for your apprenticeship provision, you must have a rating of ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’.
  • If you are not eligible for an Ofsted inspection or you do not yet have an Ofsted rating, you must be registered on the Office of Students register.

  • Have a financial health rating of ‘satisfactory’ or above. This means you are not in receipt of a published notice to improve, unless this will be lifted prior to the grant letter being signed.

The funding is for the financial year 2021-2022, so we will require providers to spend all allocated funding (for both September 2022 and/or September 2023 roll-out dates) by March 2022. For this reason, we welcome applications from providers who are in a strong position to meet the aims and objectives of the fund, alongside the eligibility criteria.

To note, funding can only be applied for to support the delivery of a Target Subject Level 4 or 5 qualification, although we recognise support may indirectly benefit students studying other qualifications or as part of an apprenticeship.

Please see section 5 for details of the conditions under which funds may be subject to clawback.

Providers may be aware of the Skills Accelerator that launched on 20 April 2021. As part of this, a development fund will provide capital and programme grant funding for projects within a number of pilot areas across the country aimed at building providers’ capacity to meet locally agreed skills priorities. This could include the expansion of Level 4 and 5 technical provision.

As well as the Skills Accelerator, providers may also be aware of the IoT in-work skills pilot. The purpose of this fund is to deliver high quality, higher technical short course/ modular provision (STEM subjects) at Levels 4 and 5 to in-work adults in response to immediate skills gaps and needs as the economic recovery continues.

Providers are welcome to submit separate applications for all of these different funds where you feel they can complement each other. You will need to set out how the Provider Growth Fund allocation will be used separately and discretely from those other funding routes to support your Higher Technical Qualifications provision. If successful, we will discuss this when we are negotiating final programmes of work.

1.7 Important dates for the Provider Growth Fund 2021/22

These dates are indicative of the expected timeline and we will keep providers informed of any changes to these dates.

Date Timeline
June 2021 Growth Fund launched

Providers develop applications. If you have questions on this guide or application form, please email team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk, allowing up to 3 days for a response. Depending on the nature of your query, we may update the published guidance on gov.uk in response.

The Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education announce approved Digital Higher Technical Qualifications as per their timeline.
July 2021 Providers submit applications by 11.59pm, Friday 9 July 2021, via email to team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk
July 2021 The Department will review applications received from providers
August 2021 The Department will confirm funding allocation to providers via grant offer letters
September 2021 Signed grant offer letters returned by 6 September and funding allocated to providers. If grant letters are returned after 6 September, payment will not be allocated to providers until October.
October 2021 – March 2022 Providers spend allocated funding on capital and resource and provide monitoring reports (see section 5 for further details)
April – June 2022 Providers complete and return evaluation reports detailing spend confirmation and impact of funding. Please see section 5.3 below for details of the conditions under which funds may be subject to clawback.
September 2022 First roll out of Digital Higher Technical Qualifications

The Department will confirm with providers if they are offering Higher Technical Qualification(s) and number of students enrolled to inform clawback.
September 2023 Cycle 2 Digital, Construction, and Health and Science Higher Technical Qualifications available

The Department will confirm with providers if they are offering Higher Technical Qualification(s) and number of students enrolled to inform clawback.

2. What funding is available and what activities can it support?

We have a total budget of £18 million funding available to providers who meet the eligibility criteria. We have used feedback from our provider readiness survey and provider focus group to identify the following areas of expenditure that will help providers successfully deliver approved Higher Technical Qualifications for the Target Subjects. We would like to thank the providers who engaged with us for their valuable input into this guidance.

When deciding how you will use the funding, please consider how it could support the government’s priorities in boosting economic growth, such as those mentioned in the Plan for Jobs and the Build Back Better: our plan for growth publications, including supporting our transition to net zero.

2.1 Capital funding (specialist equipment)

We have a total budget of £12 million for capital funding, which must be spent on specialist equipment and perpetual software licence costs only. The equipment which you spend this funding on must fulfil the criteria within your own capitalisation policy.

2.1.1 What capital funding can be spent on

We want to allow providers to make the right decisions about what will benefit your learners, and the needs of your local employers. Therefore, provided your purchases meet your capitalisation policy criteria, you can use your capital allocation on whatever specialist equipment and perpetual software licence costs will make a difference to you delivering Target Subject Higher Technical Qualifications. Please note, if your software licence cost is for one year only, this would be classed as ‘resource’. You will be asked in your application form to let us know how you plan to use your capital funding and what outcomes you expect from this expenditure. We will be monitoring these outcomes.

For example, feedback from one provider indicated that they might purchase Cyberlab or Raspberry Pi basic programming related software/equipment with their capital allocation for their Digital Higher Technical Qualifications.

If you have applied for or previously received DfE/ESFA capital funding via other funding routes, such as the IoT or T Level programmes, you must explain how this funding allocation will be used separately and discretely from those other funding routes to support your Higher Technical Qualifications provision. In short, we want to understand what additional value this funding will provide, over and above other funding already received. The Department will assure and cross-reference bids, and will come back to you if further information is required.

2.2 Resource funding

We have a total budget of £6 million for resource funding, and it can be used across any combination of the below categories, as best fits your local needs.

As with the capital funding, you will be asked in your application form to let us know how you plan to use your resource funding and what outcomes you expect from this expenditure. We will monitor you during the funding period to ensure you are making progress towards your intended spend and impact and may contact you for further discussions if required.

If you have applied for or previously received DfE/ESFA resource funding via other funding routes, you must explain how this funding allocation will be used separately and discretely from those other funding routes to support your Higher Technical Qualifications provision. In short, we want to understand what additional value this funding will provide, over and above other funding already received. The Department will assure and cross-reference bids, and will come back to you if further information is required.

2.2.1 What resource funding can be spent on

The resource funding categories are:

  • Develop local employer partnerships to support learners: Examples of this could be employers supporting you with designing and developing the curriculum, helping to determine the specification for the equipment, or getting involved with career events and raising awareness of these Higher Technical Qualifications.
  • Support and upskill teaching and technical staff: Examples of this could include peer support, attending training courses, shadowing local employers or sector specialists, mentoring, and coaching. Please note, this funding is intended to be used for developing staff knowledge and skills. This can include paying for supply cover if staff are attending training courses but should not be used to directly pay staff salaries.
  • Support curriculum planning and development: Examples of this could be understanding sector changes and applying these to keep the curriculum cutting edge, and developing skill-based content and flexible delivery models (such as blended learning) to support the learning and training objectives.
  • Promote and raise awareness of higher technical education: Examples of this could be events to promote the Target Subject Higher Technical Qualifications, recruiting learners, and transitioning them successfully onto those courses, particularly adults who may have been out of education for a while.

Feedback from providers suggested that they might spend resource funding on:

  • providing CPD to staff in support roles such as technician support, rather than lecturers
  • reskilling staff with one-week industrial placements
  • digital resources for teaching to use in classrooms
  • remote learning resources

Providers also spoke about using employers to advise and provide briefings for curriculum development, and they welcomed the chance to use the fund to engage employers on this again.

3. How the funding will be allocated

As outlined above, we have an overall budget of £18 million for the Provider Growth Fund; £12m capital and £6m resource.

The funding will be based on a funding formula where the funding allocated to each provider will be directly proportional to the number of students you have predicted in your application form for approved Higher Technical Qualifications in the Target Subjects. Funding will be capped at a maximum of £5,000 per learner. Please note, this is not an indication of the final amount likely to be received as this will depend on the number of successful applications.

The funding available for each provider will be determined following receipt of all applications. The final allocation will only be agreed once we know the full number of predicted eligible learners across all the applications.

Learner number predictions will be interrogated when applications are received, and you may be asked to provide additional information if further evidence is required.

3.1. How the funding formula works

We will use a funding formula to calculate the capital and resource allocations for each provider. The allocations will be directly proportional to the number of students you predict will participate in the qualification.

The funding formula will be used to calculate separate capital and resource allocations:

(Total amount of funding ÷ total number of learners)

x learner numbers per subject per provider

3.2 Calculating your predicted learner numbers

There are no minimum predicted learner numbers for your Target Subject Higher Technical Qualifications(s) that need to be met in order to apply for the Provider Growth Fund.

However, we want the funding to be used for a viable cohort, which will help you create demand, promote Higher Technical Qualifications, build employer relationships and enhance the learner experience.

You should provide student number projections for each approved Target Subject Higher Technical Qualification that you will be offering and that you are requesting funding for. Your student number projections must be based on the number of students you are expecting to start each approved Higher Technical Qualification, aligning to the cycle start dates, either 2022 or 2023. Please see section 5 for details of the conditions under which funds may be subject to clawback, including where you do not meet up to 80% of predicted learner numbers.

To identify these students, you should use 2019 to 2020 end-year data from either the Higher Education Statistic Agency (HESA) or the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) and include these in your justification.

Should this data not be available, please add a narrative to explain the reason for this and advise how learner numbers have been predicted as accurately as possible.

Relevant qualification types used to identify qualifying students

As part of our HTE reforms, new approved Target Subject Higher Technical Qualifications will relate to one or more published occupational standards at Level 4 or 5.

Predicted learner numbers should be based on existing technical qualifications that align as closely as possible to the following occupational standards.

Digital

Construction

Health and Science

We expect that the number of learners taking Higher Technical Qualifications will grow over time. You will need to provide a robust justification case on your proposed starts for the Target Subjects, (for Digital, this could be either 2022 or 2023). This should include an explanation on how you will engage with students in scope to take a Target Subject Higher Technical Qualification.

You will need to explain and justify your student number growth plans. This should consider demographic growth, any structural changes (within your organisation or mergers), and your plans to engage students in Higher Technical Qualifications, including learners from BAME backgrounds and other protected characteristic groups.

3.3. Applications for more than one Higher Technical Qualification

We welcome applications from providers who are planning to offer any of the Digital, Construction, and Health and Science Higher Technical Qualifications. If you plan to offer more than one approved qualification from the same occupational route, or different routes, you can submit these on one application form. This should cover each of the Higher Technical Qualifications you plan to deliver, along with the supporting evidence on how the funding will build capacity and improve the quality of provision. For each qualification, you would be expected to set out the predicted student numbers.

3.4. Applications from Institutes of Technology (IoTs)

IoTs are welcome to submit an application for funding as a collaboration under the terms of your licence agreement. In doing so you must be clear in your application about how this funding will be used separately and discretely to any previous IoT funding received. All IoT applications will be cross referenced and assured against what you have already received through Wave One capital funding.

As an IoT, we would expect you to offer Higher Technical Qualifications that relate to your specialism. However, as set out in 3.4.1, we will allow you to expand your provision outside of your current IoT specialisms.

If you are applying for more than one Higher Technical Qualification that relates to your specialisms, then we would expect one application on behalf of the IoT covering all routes and providers.

If applying as an IoT, we would expect:

  • at least one provider in the IoT collaboration to have OfS registration
  • the core provider to set out the predicted learner numbers for each provider against each Higher Technical Qualification that the IoT plans to offer in the application form

When applying as an IoT, the funds should be allocated to the providers that will be offering an approved Higher Technical Qualifications, although the IoT may decide to purchase shared equipment or resources that will benefit all members. To note, the funding will only be allocated based on predicted learner numbers for approved Higher Technical Qualifications.

3.4.1. Applying as an IoT for a route outside of your IoT specialism

As part of the process of applying to be an IoT, you will have declared the specialism and courses against which your licence has been awarded. However, we know that often partners within an IoT have specialisms and courses at Level 4 and/or Level 5 that are not part of the IoT. Through the Provider Growth Fund, we want to support IoTs to expand their provision outside of their declared specialisms.

We expect this to work in the following way:

  • If an IoT specialism is for example, Digital, but partners within that IoT are offering Construction and want to expand this across the IoT, we will allow those providers to submit their predicted Construction learner numbers to secure funding to support the IoT expanding. Predicted learner numbers can only be based on providers within the IoT that are currently offering provision outside of the IoT specialism

  • We would expect the IoT to share the funding and share delivery to support the wider expansion of higher technical education

  • In agreement with the Department’s IoT policy team, we do not need the IoT to get agreement to apply for the funding to expand their provision outside of their current licence agreement. If IoTs wish to add the learners to their Key Performance Indicators they will need to seek approval from the Department in the normal way, however this can be done at any time before the learners start.

3.4.2. Applying as part of an IoT and as an individual provider

As an IoT, we would expect you to offer Higher Technical Qualifications that relate to your specialism. However, if an IoT decides not to offer a route that relates to your specialism, you can submit a separate application on an individual basis. In addition, you can also plan to deliver a different route outside of the IoT’s licence agreement and delivery plan, and submit a separate application for this route on an individual basis (you cannot apply for the same route as an individual provider and as part of an IoT).

3.5. Franchising arrangements

We recognise that providers may be working in a franchising arrangement.

Franchise arrangements are used when a lead provider (the franchisor) enters into an agreement with another provider (the franchisee). Under this agreement, the franchisee will deliver a course on behalf of the lead provider. The franchisee may deliver all or part of a programme that the franchisor approves and owns.

In this situation, we would expect the franchisee (the provider delivering the course), to meet the relevant eligibility criteria and apply for the funding as an individual provider, unless otherwise stated in their franchise arrangement.

3.6. Consortium applications

We welcome applications from consortia, perhaps to share resources, or to engage with employers or specialists as a group. Please note, all delivery partners within a consortium will need to meet the eligibility criteria in order to apply.

The application will need to list all delivery and support partners in the consortium and clearly state how the funding will be used by each partner, along with brief details of the consortium governance structure and how the funds will be managed. As part of the application, you would need to set out the predicted learner numbers for the delivery partners against each approved Higher Technical Qualification that you are applying for.

Partners cannot submit an individual application for the same route as the consortium bid, although a provider who plans to deliver a different route outside of a consortium’s delivery plan can apply for this on an individual basis.

When applying as a consortium, the funds should be allocated to the delivery partners that plan to offer approved Higher Technical Qualifications. We recognise that in some circumstances, where a member of a consortium is not planning to deliver some of the approved Higher Technical Qualifications that the whole consortium is applying for, they can still benefit from consortium purchases such as shared equipment or resources. However, the funding will only be allocated on the basis of predicted learner numbers for approved Higher Technical Qualifications.

4. How to apply for the Provider Growth Fund

4.1. Completing the application form

To apply for the funding, you must:

  1. Meet the eligibility criteria (set out in section 1.6).
  2. Provide data on predicted learner numbers with some reasoning of how you have arrived at those numbers, providing a clear justification on any growth in your numbers.
  3. Provide supporting evidence on how the funding will build capacity and improve the quality of provision.
  4. Include information on:
    • why you are projecting these learner numbers
    • how you intend to spend the funding
    • how the funding will help build capacity and improve the quality of provision
    • which specific groups or individuals will benefit from the funding

Once you have read this guidance and are ready to complete your application, the form is available to download from GOV.UK.

You must adhere to the word limits stated on the application form and provide full answers for each question. Any words over the word limit will not be counted or read as part of assessing your application. You should provide focused responses, supported by robust and quantifiable information.

We may check your responses against information we already hold and contact you if further information is required.

If you have questions on this guide or application form, please email team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk, allowing up to 3 days for a response. Depending on the nature of your query, we may update the published guidance on gov.uk in response.

4.2. Submitting your application

Please email your completed application form to team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk no later than 11.59pm Friday 9 July 2021.

Once you have emailed your application, if you have not previously registered your bank details with the Education and Skills Funding Agency, please do so using the online form. The process can take time for you to be set up, and we will not be able to make any payments until you are registered, so please do this as soon as possible after submitting your application to avoid any delay in payment.

4.3. How we will assess your application

The Department will review your application against the eligibility criteria and your responses to the questions in the application form. You may be contacted for further information if this is required.

Information provided on the application form, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes, primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), respectively.

Following receipt and assessment of all eligible applications to the Provider Growth Fund, predicted learner numbers from all successful applications will be used in our funding formula to allocate the appropriate amount to each provider.

4.4. If your application is successful

If your application is successful, we expect you to enter into a grant agreement with us. You will receive a letter from us confirming this and setting out the terms of the grant. These will be based on an amended version of the Department’s standard terms and conditions to reflect Provider Growth Fund specific clauses, such as the payment terms and the additional clawback requirements as detailed in section 5.3 below. The agreement will confirm the funding allocation and outline what the grant is to be used to fund and will include other conditions, including restrictions. You will need to demonstrate that funding spend will be incurred within the period we agree with you to receive the money you have been allocated.

We will ask you to review and accept the terms by signing and returning a copy of the grant offer letter within two weeks of receipt.

We reserve the right to recover funds from you if there is evidence you have not used them for the agreed purposes and/or within the agreed timelines.

We reserve the right to delay our decision on the outcome of application(s). If our decision on your application is going to be significantly delayed, we will inform you of this.

If you decide not to deliver an approved Higher Technical Qualification in a Target Subject, we reserve the right to recover any grant funding we have paid. If you are not able to offer your chosen Higher Technical Qualifications(s) for reasons beyond your control, we will discuss this with you on a case-by-case basis. Please see section 5.3 Clawback below.

Please note that funding is only confirmed once we have received a signed copy of your grant offer. You must not issue communications regarding the success of your application until you receive confirmation from us that you can do this.

The funding must be used to support the roll out of approved Higher Technical Qualifications in the Target Subjects for which you are applying for funding.

5. Monitoring and evaluation

Providers must return monitoring data during this process and assist with an evaluation of the Provider Growth Fund in terms of spend and value generated.

5.1. Monitoring

We will provide a monitoring form and providers must confirm how they have spent the funding and how it has contributed to improving the quality of higher technical education.

We will ask providers to provide a return in:

  • November 2021 to demonstrate spend progression
  • January 2022 to confirm spend to date and planned spend between January and March 2022.

5.2. Evaluation

We will also ask providers to provide a final return in April / May 2022 setting out how the funding has supported building capacity and improving the quality of higher technical education.

This will help us to build an evidence base and enable us to share good practice as we build towards the roll out of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

5.3. Clawback

Once the funds have been allocated, we will monitor the spend throughout the grant period and will ask providers to confirm actual student numbers in September 2022 and 2023. We will claw back funds in the following situations:

  • funds that have been misspent (i.e. not in accordance with grant agreements) or not spent by March 2022.
  • a provider decides not to deliver an approved Higher Technical Qualification in Digital, Construction and Health and Science.
  • where the provider fails to reach 80% of their predicted learner numbers, we would claw back the difference between their actual number and 80%. For example, if they had 70% of predicted learner numbers, we would claw back 10% of funds.

If you are offering more than one Higher Technical Qualification, the clawback clauses will be relevant for each individual course.