Correspondence

DfE Update further education: 24 June 2026

Published 24 June 2026

Applies to England

Action: College financial data service portal now available

 
The college financial data service portal is now available for colleges to submit their completed College Financial Forecasting Return (CFFR).

Colleges must submit their completed CFFR and associated documents, including commentary, using the portal on or before Friday 31 July 2026.

You will need a DfE Sign-in account to login. If you do not already have one, you can create a DfE Sign-in account and request access.

This is a mandatory return that is a part of our ongoing review of college financial health and budget forecasting.

We have also published a CFFR user guide that includes updated information on completing your return.

Action: Register for Taking Teaching Further 2026 by Monday 6 July 2026  

Further education (FE) providers can register for the next round of Taking Teaching Further (TTF) to request places. If you have recruited new teachers since February 2026, or plan to in the future, you can apply for funding. 
TTF is a 2-year programme that helps providers recruit people with industry experience and retrain them as teachers. It also funds early career support, including a reduced timetable. The funding is available for technical subjects, English, maths, science and Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) specialist roles.

Providers can claim up to £15,200 or £21,200 per recruit, depending on the training route. You can request up to 2 places and express interest in more.  Places are limited and may be allocated based on availability.

Read our Taking Teaching Further programme guidance.

Register your interest by Monday 6 July 2026 through the Customer Help Portal.

If you have questions or need help, email TTF.Enquiries@education.gov.uk.

Action: Submit Care to Learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for defined vulnerable groups funding claims

The third submission window is now open for academic year 2025 to 2026. Use our Care to Learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for defined vulnerable groups guidance when completing the form. 

You must submit new funding claims using our form on or before Wednesday 1 July 2026 for the:

• Care to Learn scheme 

• 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for defined vulnerable groups 

You can also use this window to submit late claims for both schemes or adjust previous claims.  

Local authorities are responsible for submitting defined vulnerable group bursary claims on behalf of maintained special schools and for eligible students they place in independent provision. 

Submit end of year data 

If you claimed Care to Learn funding in the first or second submission window, then you must also submit end of year data using the same digital form as your funding claims on or before Wednesday 1 July 2026. We will recover funding in full if you do not provide this data. 

You do not have to submit end of year data for 16 to 19 bursary fund for defined vulnerable groups. 

Information: Adult funding allocations for 2025 to 2026

We have published the latest adult funding allocations for academic year 2025 to 2026 for training providers on GOV.UK.

The publication covers the funding values for colleges, training organisations and employers with an adult skills funding, apprenticeship carry in or advanced learner loan contract for 2025 to 2026.

We publish this updated data annually for transparency purposes.

Information: Year-end forecast funding claim for funding year 2025 to 2026 – indicative reconciliation statement(s)

Following submission of your year-end forecast funding claim we will upload your indicative year-end reconciliation statement(s) through Manage your education and skills funding in July for the following grant funding streams:

• Adult Skills Fund (adult skills and tailored learning)
• Free Courses for Jobs
• Advanced Learner Loans bursary

These statements are indicative and based on your recent year-end forecast claim and R10 ILR data return, so that you are aware of the indicative reconciliation position before we publish your final reconciliation statements in November 2026.

Where appropriate, we will show any post-16 monitoring errors within your indicative reconciliation statement. This is so you are aware of the potential impact before final claim reconciliation statements.

If you have any queries, contact us through our Customer Help Portal.

Information: Updated subcontracting funding rules for post-16 education and training 2026 to 2027 guidance

We have updated the subcontracting funding rules for post-16 education and training 2026 to 2027  to reflect:

• updates to the academic year dates
• clarity around the 16 to 19 funding stream when applying for whole programme or distance learning exemptions

These updates apply to all providers in scope of the subcontracting funding rules for the 2026 to 2027 funding year. We advise you to read the full guidance for further details and contact your DfE case manager or the Customer Help Centre if you need further support.

Information: 16 to 19 education (non-apprenticeship) market entry guidance

We have updated the 16 to 19 education (non-apprenticeship) market entry guidance  to clarify that local authority gap cases will be used for intelligence and to inform strategic planning. This may not lead to immediate approval of new provision, market entry or additional funding.

Feedback: Help us improve the 16 to 19 business case process

We are improving our 16 to 19 business case process. If you have experience completing or submitting these business cases, we would like to speak with you to learn what works well, and what challenges you face as education providers.

We will be running a series of online interviews between Wednesday 8 and Tuesday 14 July. Sessions will take place through Microsoft Teams and will last up to 45 minutes.

If you would like to take part, please complete our short sign up form and a researcher will be in touch to book a session with you.

Feedback: Tell us about your experience of our funding service

If you receive education and skills funding, we want to hear about your experience.

Please complete this 5 to 10 minute survey by Wednesday 22 July 2026.

We aspire to run an excellent education and skills funding service that gives providers as much certainty as possible.

 The survey runs once a year and asks whether we deliver:

• certainty on what we pay you and when
• clarity on how to comply with funding rules
• services that are accessible and easy to use
• answers when you have funding-related queries

We will keep your personal data confidential, and your feedback will help us to improve the service.