Correspondence

DfE Update further education: 16 July 2025

Published 16 July 2025

Applies to England

1. Information: How to report fraud or financial irregularity

If you suspect fraud in the sector, you can find advice on GOV.UK which explains how to report fraud or financial irregularity to us.

Stay informed about the ever-changing fraud landscape and get tips to protect yourself and the sector by registering for future fraud news and alerts from the Counter Fraud team.

2. Information: Apprenticeships technical funding guide 2025 to 2026

We have published the apprenticeship technical funding guide from August 2025 which explains how funding works, including how we will calculate provider payments.  

We have added information about:

• foundation apprenticeships which have their own occupational standards; details of these can be found on the Skills England website. This includes different timings for the required days to be eligible for the additional payments for the final care leaver bursary, and a new section for employer incentive payments
• shorter by design apprenticeships, where the published typical duration of the apprenticeship standard is less than 12 months. This includes different timings for the required days to be eligible for the additional payments for the final care leaver bursary

If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.

3. Information: Interactive post-16 school census tool

We have updated our post-16 interactive tool  to support the return of accurate post-16 school census data.

Some institutions risk not getting the funding they should because of inaccurate data.

This tool will help you understand:

• how your data is used to calculate your post-16 funding
• how common data errors affect your funding

We have noted that providers have had issues recording T Level data correctly, including:

• recording programmes that only last for 1 year, rather than 2
• recording planned hours that fall below the minimum for T Level funding

The tool has information on how we use T Level data, and how incorrect data will affect funding. There is also specific information on recording T Level data.

A suite of post-16 funding reports will be available in COLLECT (Collections online - learners, education, children and teachers). when the autumn census opens in October.

They will show you how your data looks in relation to our post-16 funding calculations. Institutions should use these reports to help with quality assurance of census returns.

If you have any questions, use the customer help centre.

4. Information: Grant funding for the early career teacher entitlement (ECTE) year 2 time off timetable and mentor support: conditions of grant

We have published the grant funding for early career teacher entitlement (ECTE) year 2 time off timetable and mentor support: conditions of grant for the 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 academic year (cohort 2025).

From 1 September 2025, for all ECTs undertaking induction, irrespective of start date, settings that choose to follow the delivery option to design and deliver their own training will be required to register their ECTs on our manage training for early career teachers service to receive the funding.

The grant funding payment schedule can also be found in the ECTE grant information guidance.

Eligible settings do not need to make an application for funding.

We will collect funding eligibility evidence through our  early career teachers service and the induction periods recorded by the ECT’s appropriate body.

5. Information: Early career training programme for mentors (ECTPM): conditions of grant for 2025 to 2026 academic year

We have published the early career training programme for mentors (ECTPM): conditions of grant for 2025 to 2026 academic year.

The grant funding payment schedule is available at grant funding for ECTPM.

Eligible schools and establishments do not need to make an application for funding.

We will collect funding eligibility evidence through our manage training for early career teachers service.

If you have any queries on any of the above, contact continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk.

6. Information: R10 in-year qualification achievement rates (QARs) 2024 to 2025

Following the release of the 2024 to 2025 guidance for qualification achievement rates (QARs) we can confirm we have now released your first in-year QAR data for 2024 to 2025, which can be accessed through view your education data.

As previously communicated in the refreshed guidance and sector webinar, please note some key changes to the 2024 to 2025 Education and Training dataset:

• Tailored Learning aims and historic Community Learning aims are now included in QAR
• We will now produce three headline rates within the education and training dataset, these are the: Overall QAR, Regulated Provision QAR, Non-regulated Provision QAR. These can be viewed using the toggle on your VYED dashboard.
• Traineeships are no longer included in QAR

Due to migration to a new data infrastructure we have not yet been able to include historical data for apprenticeships in your extracts for R10, but this will be available in future releases.

To access this data, please use your 2023 to 2024 R14 extract.

If you have any queries in relation to QARs, please contact us using the customer help portal and selecting the “data and MI” query option.

Further advice and support can also be found under the help centre articles and communities section for peer support.

7. Information: Enter learning data

Enter learning data (ELD) is replacing the learner entry tool (LET) for creating individualised learner record (ILR) files.

Apprenticeship-only providers and providers delivering care to learn funded courses will be first to use the new service and manage their learning data.

Creating ILRs is much easier and quicker with ELD due to:

• reduced data duplication when entering learners
• real time validation to improve data quality
• guided user journeys
• improved self-service with links to guidance
• web-based service which allows multiple users for the same organisation
• storage of data in the DfE environment
• links to other DfE services

ELD is available from Monday 11 August 2025.

Additional funding models will be added over the coming year so more providers can switch from LET to ELD.

Apprenticeship-only providers currently using LET will be emailed further details at the end of July.

8. Information: FE senior pay approval

The guidance on senior pay controls for colleges and how to apply for FE senior pay approval have been updated in line with the recently updated HMT guidance for approval of senior pay. 

Government values the important work that senior managers and executives perform in the public sector.

The senior pay controls allow the government to ensure that senior pay is set at an appropriate level to enable colleges to recruit, retain and motivate the best people, whilst ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.  

This guidance sets out the process for approving total remuneration over £174,000 and bonuses of more than £25,000.

9. Information: Further education mastery specialists programme

Maths hubs, supported by the national centre for excellence in the teaching of mathematics (NCETM), offers the further education mastery specialist (FEMS) programme.

This is a fully funded professional development opportunity for state funded further education institutions for level 2 16 to 19 maths teachers.

It is designed for practitioners teaching GCSE maths resit and/or functional skills up to level 2 in state-funded institutions.

This two-year programme equips participants with the knowledge and skills to implement highly effective, mastery-based teaching approaches to support students to achieve a level 2 mathematics qualification.

To learn more about becoming a lead FEMS for your institution and to access the full programme details, visit the NCETM website for more information.