Correspondence

DfE Update further education: 25 March 2026

Published 25 March 2026

Applies to England

1. Action: Submit your actual subcontracting declaration for the 2025 to 2026 academic year

Post 16 providers must submit an actual subcontractor declaration for the 2025 to 2026 academic year using the Manage your education and skills funding (MYESF) service.

You must send your actual subcontracting declaration by Tuesday 30 June 2026.

Providers who still have a DfE contract   but no longer subcontract must submit a nil return. Schools and academies do not need to submit a declaration.

For more information, read the guidance on how to declare subcontracting for post-16 education and training.

If you need help, contact us through the customer help portal.

2. Information: 16 to 19 funding allocations for 2026 to 2027

We are uploading 16 to 19 funding allocation statements to Document exchange and aim to release the majority of these by the end of March 2026. You will receive a notification when your statement is available in the ‘documents you’ve received from DfE’ section.

Your statement includes a detailed breakdown of our calculations and you can read our  allocation statement guides to help you understand it.

If you have made a significant data error in your 16 to 19 school census or your individual learning record (ILR) data that affects your 2026 to 2027 allocation, you must submit a business case within 20 working days of receiving your statement. The working day count pauses during non-term time.

We will only accept business cases that affect academic year 2026 to 2027. Submit your case on or before the deadline because we will not accept late business cases.

If you have any questions, contact us through our customer help centre.

3. Information: Update on adult skills funding for 2026 to 2027

We know it’s important to confirm funding as soon as possible to help you with financial planning. 

We expect to issue individual provider-level allocations for advanced learner loans, adult skills fund and adult skills fund contracts for services by the end of April 2026. 

We will issue all allocations through MYESF. Your MYESF user will receive an email alert when your statement is available.

4. Information: Inclusive mainstream fund for schools and 16 to 19 providers, and the inclusive early years fund

In the Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, we announced the inclusive mainstream fund and the inclusive early years fund – over £500 million each financial year for three years – to give schools, colleges and early years settings funding to prepare and deliver improved inclusion practice.

We have published separate methodology documents to explain how we will distribute funding to schools and colleges through the inclusive mainstream fund and to early years settings through the inclusive early years fund.

To allow school leaders to plan, we have provided a calculator of indicative funding amounts – ahead of funding allocations for all sectors being confirmed in May. For early years, our calculator tool provides local authorities with their total funding allocation, informing their plans to pass funding on to early years settings.

Within the inclusive mainstream fund, schools will receive £400 million in 2026 to 2027 and mainstream settings delivering 16 to19 provision will receive £83 million. The inclusive early years fund will give local authorities £47 million in 2026 to 2027 to distribute to providers, supporting a more inclusive early years sector and a more coherent early years special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) funding system.

5. Information: Withdrawal of government funding from 16 apprenticeship standards 

The department will withdraw funding from 16 apprenticeship standards from September 2026 to focus investment on priority skills. We are doing this as part of the £725 million Growth and Skills Levy.

Start limits will apply during the notice period to support stability for learners and employers. Existing learners can continue and complete their apprenticeship as normal.

Employers can still use the standards by funding them privately.

We have contacted all providers impacted by the changes. If they have not received communications, they should contact the apprenticeship service support helpdesk.

For more information, read the Streamlining apprenticeships helpdesk article.

6. Information: Foundation apprenticeships

From April 2026, foundation apprenticeships will expand to two new sectors: catering and hospitality; and retail service, supply and administration. These join construction, digital, engineering and manufacturing, and health and social care.

Foundation apprenticeships offer Level 2 jobs with training for young people aged 16 to 21, or up to 24 for those with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), care leavers or prisoners and prison leavers. They run for at least eight months. Employers can receive up to £2,000 to support the costs of taking on a young person.

For more information, read the Foundation apprenticeship helpdesk article. 

7. Information: Apprenticeship units

Apprenticeship units will launch in April 2026 to help employers upskill staff in critical shortage areas. Units last between 30 and 140 delivery hours and draw on existing apprenticeship occupational standards.

Units will be available in artificial intelligence (AI), leadership, electric vehicle charging, electrical and mechanical fitting, solar PV installation and welding (mechanised).

Delivery will begin with a targeted group of existing providers that already show strong performance in relevant standards. Units will be fully funded for non‑levy paying employers. Levy payers can use their levy funds.

We will contact eligible providers at the end of March to invite expressions of interest.

For more information, read the Apprenticeship units helpdesk article.

8. Information: Apprenticeship incentives for employers for hiring a young apprentice

The department will introduce a new incentive of up to £2,000 for non-levy paying employers that hire apprentices aged 16 to 24. The incentive applies to apprentices starting from Thursday 1 October 2026 who joined their employer within the previous three months.

This forms part of wider reforms to increase young apprenticeship starts and create 50,000 more apprenticeships for young people.

The incentive is in addition to existing support, including no employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under 25 and fully funded training for eligible under‑25s.

For more information, read the Non-levy incentive for hiring a young apprentice helpdesk article.

9. Information: Updates to the college accounts direction and the framework and guide for external auditors

We have published updated versions of the college accounts direction (CAD) and the framework and guide for external auditors and reporting accountants of colleges.

The CAD sets out DfE financial reporting requirements for colleges for the financial year ending Friday 31 July 2026.

The framework and guide is primarily for external auditors and the reporting accountants of colleges and sets out obligations and requirements in relation to the audit opinion and regularity review.

10. Reminder: Support staff survey

We are conducting a short survey to understand the role and needs of support staff in general further education colleges and sixth form colleges. We emailed the survey link to college leads on Monday 16 March 2026.

Human Resources leads or senior staff should complete the survey. Your response will help us collect high level evidence on workload, recruitment and retention, pay, and professional development. This insight will help inform future policy for the further education (FE) sector.

Complete the voluntary survey on or before Friday 17 April 2026.

If your organisation has not received the survey invitation or you have a question, email furthereducation.research@education.gov.uk.

11. Feedback: Adult funding communications research, Monday 13 April to Wednesday 15 April 2026

We are improving the view of adult funding information including:

• allocation statements
• payment schedules
• payment history
• GOV.UK guidance
• calculation information

We welcome your feedback on the design currently in development and encourage participation from all roles that work with these documents.

Online Microsoft Teams feedback sessions will run from Monday 13 April to Wednesday 15 April 2026 and will last up to 60 minutes.

We will contact you to confirm your session date and time once we receive your expression of interest. Register your interest to take part.