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Guidance

Adult education budget (AEB) funding rules 2023 to 2024

Sets out the rules that apply to ESFA funded AEB provision for the 2023 to 2024 funding year.

Updates to this page

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency and Department for Education
Published:
8 March 2023
Last updated:
14 May 2024
Show all updates

  1. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have announced an increase in the Universal Credit Administrative Earnings Threshold amounts for single and couple claims with effect from 13 May 2024. For individuals, the increase will be £892 per calendar month (pcm) and for couples £1,437 pcm. This is in line with the National Living Wage increase. We have updated the AEB funding rules for 2023 to 2024 to reflect this change.

  2. We have updated the AEB funding rules for 2023 to 2024 to reflect the increase to the National Living Wage (NLW) rate which came into effect from 1 April 2024. The new NLW is £11.44 and this increase makes the low wage threshold increase from £20,319 to £22,308. We’ve made the updates in the learner in receipt of low wage section, the glossary and low wage threshold section.

  3. We have updated the performance management section in the AEB funding rules to confirm that the level 3 free courses for jobs over delivery threshold has changed from 10% to 50%.

  4. We have updated the ‘individuals with certain types of immigration status and their family members’ section of the AEB funding rules with clarification on individuals who have visa status expiry dates of no later than December 2024 regarding the biometric residence permit (BRP).

  5. We have added the performance management rules to the guidance for 2023 to 2024, which includes an extra review for AEB, for a small number of grant providers whose allocation for 2023 to 2024 was significantly reduced due to delivery in 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022, and meet the criteria set out in the rules.

  6. We have updated the funding rules providing details on how we will integrate the core elements of the traineeship programme, and on the innovation fund. We have also clarified some residency eligibility criteria and confirmed that the HGV offer will continue for the 2023 to 2024 academic year and added additional residency eligibility criteria.

  7. We have corrected an error in the summary of main changes section under the residency eligibility section.

  8. We clarified the details on learning support under section 3 - traineeships

  9. First published.

This publication was withdrawn on

You can find the latest information in the adult education and skills funding collection.

Applies to England

Documents

Adult education budget: funding and performance management rules 2023 to 2024

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Adult education budget: level 3 qualifications flow charts

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Details

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow these rules.

For the 2024 to 2025 funding year (1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025), see the ESFA adult skills fund: funding rules. These rules replace ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding rules.

We have published an update to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) adult education budget (AEB) funding rules for the 2023 to 2024 funding year (1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024).

The rules apply to all providers of education and training that receive AEB funding from the Secretary of State for Education acting through ESFA.

If you have any questions or feedback about the funding rules guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre or speak to your territorial lead.

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