College debt return
Guidance for sixth form and FE colleges on preparing and submitting the requested borrowing and financing arrangements information to ESFA
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Update: Friday, 24 June 2022 at 2:00pm
We have updated the consent letter to reflect a validity period of 12 months.
Update: Wednesday, 8 June at 9:50am
We have received some initial feedback from the lenders on the ‘College consent letter to disclosure of information’ following colleges contacting them.
We have updated the primary lender name and addresses on page 3 and instructions to assist on completing the schedule on page 2 in the letter template as at 9:50am on the 8 June 2022 based on feedback received. Please would you ensure that you use this updated version going forward with the primary lender name shown on page 3 being used consistently in the address and main body inserts on page 1.
If you have already submitted a consent letter, please would you check that the primary lender name and registered office address and the schedule content are correct as per the updated letter version. If any details need refreshing, please could you re-submit the letter with the updated details.
Please would you ensure that there is no missing information and all brackets have been completed or lines are deleted if n/a and are not left in the letter before you submit and that you have competed all sections as per the instructions in the guidance. If you have submitted a letter with brackets left in or missing information, please would you re-submit the letter with the information amended as the lender will not accept this.
Finally, please would you ensure the letters are returned via Document Exchange (see submission process in the guidance) and not emailed or posted direct to the lender.
In view of the above, the deadline for submission of the letter is being extended to 24 June 2022.
College debt return
Colleges are being asked for immediate assistance to provide a college debt return, following the recent announcement by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to review the classification of colleges in England for statistical purposes. The request is for:
College consent letter to disclosure of lender information (submission by 24 June 2022)
A consent letter is required for each primary lender allowing us to contact the lender and discuss the college debt, if needed.
This letter is only for primary lenders i.e. commercial lenders and local authorities (not finance lease lenders). Please provide a separate letter for each lender. The signed letters should be printed on college headed paper and should be returned via Document Exchange (see submission process below) and not emailed or posted direct to the lender by the college. ESFA will forward to the lender with any request for further information, as required.
College borrowing and finance arrangements (submission by 24 June 2022)
Colleges are requested to complete an excel template providing details of all college borrowing & financing arrangements as at 31 May 2022 and also details of future financing needs currently known.
If a college has any concerns about meeting the submission deadline, they should contact their Region & Providers team contact as soon as possible and prior to the submission deadline.
Copies of supporting financing documents (submission by 24 June 2022)
A supporting document is required for each debt as detailed in the excel template.
Colleges will need to directly submit all required documents by following the submission process below.
Further guidance and submission information is provided for reference in the excel template.
Submitting your documents
The above documents should be submitted to the ESFA via Document Exchange DfE Sign-in (education.gov.uk) using the college unique sign-in details.
Once a college has logged in to Document Exchange they will be able to upload their documents by selecting the appropriate document type for each (College Consent Letter, College Debt Template, College Debt Documentation). If there is only one consent letter, this can be uploaded as a PDF file, if more than one please upload each one individually under the appropriate document type. Each supporting documentation again, should be uploaded as an individual file.
Please contact us using the email address FE.Classification@education.gov.uk and the header ‘FE college sector debt return query’ if you have any questions regarding the request.
Last updated 24 June 2022 + show all updates
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Updated the consent letter to reflect a validity period of 12 months.
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Updated the College consent letter to disclosure of lender information. The deadline to submit has also been extended.
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We have updated the information on this page based on feedback. We have also updated the College borrowing and finance arrangements file and the College consent letter to disclosure of lender information.
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First published.