Correspondence

DfE Update FE: 17 December 2025

Published 17 December 2025

Applies to England

1. Action: View your devolved continuing learners adult skills fund allocation for academic year 2025 to 2026

As set out in the allocations guidance, we have calculated the continuing learner funding required for learners who started learning before 31 July 2025 and meet the following criteria:

• live in devolved authority areas for the strategic authorities East Midlands, Cornwall and York and North Yorkshire
• were enrolled in procured institutions where delivery has transferred to local authorities set for devolution in 2026 to 2027
• procured institutions whose contract has ended

The amended allocations will be available by Friday 19 December in Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, visit our customer help portal.

2. Information: 16 to 19 funding arrangements for high value courses premium for academic year 2026 to 2027

We have previously published details on how the high value courses premium (HVCP) will work for academic year 2026 to 2027. 

This explained that for academic year 2026 to 2027, there will be both a HVCP and a HVCP for construction.  The HVCP guidance explains how HVCP will apply to qualifications in SSA5.2 building and construction in academic year 2026 to 2027.

We have published the list of qualifications attracting high value courses premium for the 2026 to 2027 allocations.

There are 2 lists of qualifications in the workbook that attract HVCP funding:

• HVCP
• HVCP for building and construction

We have removed any construction qualifications in SSA 5.2 that attract HVCP from that list and created a separate list called ‘building and construction’ for level 2 and level 3 construction qualifications.   

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, contact our customer help portal.

3. Information: 16 to 19 funding allocation and outturn statement R14 2024 to 2025

Final outturn statements are now available on Document exchange for all providers who have submitted a final 16 to 19 individualised learner record funding claim and data return.

If you have any queries, contact us through the customer help portal.

4. Information: 2025 to 2026 funding claims guidance

We have published the 2025 to 2026 funding claims guidance.

We have removed the requirement to sign the final funding claim in the Manage your education and skills funding service.

This change applies to all providers and means that 16 to 19 funding is no longer included in the funding claims process. Providers delivering grant-funded adult provision must still submit mid-year, year-end, and final claims through the Submit Learner Data (SLD) portal by the deadlines in the published guidance. 

The guidance also sets out changes to the exceptional adjustments process and the deadlines for submitting claims.

5. Information: Apprenticeship funding rules 2025 to 2026 – Version 3

We have published version 3 of the apprenticeship funding rules for 2025 to 2026.

This is to reflect the changes to the funding of Level 7 apprenticeships as well as a small number of other clarifications. These are detailed in the accompanying summary of changes document.

We have also published rules and guidance that explain the current arrangements for privately funded learners.

The off-the-job training: minimum requirement for each apprenticeship standard (known as Annex C) has been updated to include any new / changed / revised standards approved since 8 July 2025. 

Providers are reminded that all transition arrangements end on Wednesday 31 December 2025.

All new starts from Thursday 1 January 2026 must comply with the minimum requirement for the standard as shown in the Annex.

6. Information: 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding 2026 to 2027

We have published our maths and English condition of funding guidance for academic year 2026 to 2027 to help you plan your maths and English delivery.

We will update the funding calculation and interactive tool sections when we publish details on 16 to 19 funding for 2026 to 2027.

Key points:

No substantial policy changes, the core requirements introduced last year remain:

• minimum teaching hours for English and maths
• 2.5% tolerance unchanged

Updates focus on clarity and usability, including:

• terminology update: ‘stepping stone qualifications’ replaced with ‘level 1 and entry level’ qualifications to avoid confusion with the new level 1 progression-to-GCSE qualifications, that we committed to developing in the white paper
• clarification for excluded students: students excluded under the tolerance must still include literacy and numeracy in their study programmes, in line with 16 to 19 study programme guidance and Ofsted’s inclusion pillar
• improved layout: reorganised guidance for easier navigation based on sector feedback

7. Information: 2026 to 2027 high needs place change process – updated student numbers for 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic year

We have updated the high needs student and pupil numbers for the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic years.

This data now includes 2024 to 2025 Individualised Learner Record (ILR) R14 data and place numbers for the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic years, for further education providers, 16 to 19 academies and free schools and independent learning providers.

This workbook also includes data for special post-16 institutions for information. The ILR R14 data for SPIs is not used to determine place numbers.

This data will be used to determine the outcomes of ‘not agreed’ cases submitted by local authorities, as part of the 2026 to 2027 place change process, in line with the published guidance. The outcomes will be published in February 2026.

You can also use this to inform local discussions about commissioning arrangements for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

8. Reminder: Further education workforce survey - final chance to share your views

We are administering a new survey of teachers, leaders and managers in Further Education. The survey will capture vital evidence on topics such as workload, recruitment and retention, pay and professional development.

The survey deadline is Monday 5 January 2026.

Our contracted researcher, the National Foundation for Educational Research, emailed all eligible providers a unique link to the survey on Thursday 6 November. Please share the survey link with your staff, especially teachers, and encourage them to complete it.  

The survey will ensure the voices of the FE workforce are heard, directly informing DfE’s future policy and funding decisions for the sector. Colleges/providers with 10 or more survey respondents will receive a tailored feedback report. 

Please contact m.walker@nfer.ac.uk if you need further information or didn’t receive the survey link.