Correspondence

DfE Update further education: 9 September 2026

Published 9 September 2026

Applies to England

1. Action: Care to learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund, defined vulnerable groups element, funding claim forms

The Care to Learn scheme and the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund, defined vulnerable groups element, funding claim forms are now live.

The deadline for your submission is 5pm on Wednesday 11 November 2026.

Use our Care to Learn and 16 to 19 Bursary Fund for defined vulnerable groups funding claims guidance to help you complete your submission, which includes the link to the form. 

We are unable to accept funding claims that miss the closing date. These must be submitted in the second claims window in January 2027.

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

We have issued revised 16 to 19 allocation statements. The statements reflect the additional funding announced in July 2026. You can view your allocation statement in Document exchange. Read the updated guidance to understand the changes. 

Funding increases apply to: 

• national funding rates and disadvantage funding rates 
• components 2 and 3 of the post-16 National Insurance contributions grant 
• free meals in further education 

In July 2026, the government announced that teachers’ pension scheme (TPS) employer contribution rates will reduce from 28.6% to 17.6% from April 2027. As a result, further education TPS employer contribution grant funding for colleges and other eligible providers will also reduce from Thursday 1 April 2027.  

Although your September contract variation will show reductions in both October 2026 and April 2027, we will make a manual adjustment in October to correct this. As a result, the reduction will apply only to the April 2027 payment. Your October remittance advice will show the adjustment.

Read the further education teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant guidance for full information. If you need support, contact us through the Customer Help Portal.

3. Information: R12 in-year qualification achievement rates 2025 to 2026

Your R12 in-year 2025 to 2026 qualification achievement rates (QARs) can now be accessed through view your education data. 

Individualised Learner Record R14 closes at 6pm on Thursday 22 October 2026, therefore please examine your data carefully and resolve potential data issues, as adjustments cannot be requested after this date.

The issue affecting the 2025 to 2026 R10 qualification achievement rate data released on 16 July 2026 has now been corrected and is reflected in the R12 data release. 

If you have any queries in relation to QARs, contact us using the Customer Help Portal (select ‘Data and MI’ query). Further peer support can also be found on the Customer Help Centre.

4. Information: Financial assurance monitoring post-16 funding guidance for 2026 to 2027

Financial assurance: monitoring post-16 funding guidance for 2026 to 2027 is now available. We are continuing to monitor the same areas as last year, with 3 changes: 

• we have removed FRM37 ‘Apprenticeship off-the-job training hours below the minimum’ as this report only covered apprentices who started before 1 August 2025 
• we have updated FRM01 ‘Learners repeating a previously achieved learning aim’ to reduce duplication with another report 
• we have changed the process for repaying funding for FRM27 ‘Continuing or completed learning aims that are now reported as withdrawn on or before 31 July of the previous funding year’ 

For more details of these changes please see the guidance.

We will publish the funding rules monitoring reports through the post-16 monitoring dashboard on view your education data. The first dashboard will be available from December 2026.

5. Information: Update on the review of apprenticeship subcontracting rules

A full review of the subcontracting section of the apprenticeship funding rules is underway. 

The review was originally expected to conclude by September 2026, but it will now take longer than planned. 

Engagement with sector representative bodies will begin towards the end of this year. Wider comment from the sector will follow shortly afterwards, in early 2027. 

Any changes resulting from the review will now take effect from August 2027. This later date will give providers sufficient time to adjust to the changes.

6. Reminder: Applications remain open for Cohort 8 of the Teacher Mentoring Programme in Further Education

We would like to remind further education (FE) providers that there is still time to apply for Cohort 8, the final cohort, of the ‘Teacher Mentoring Programme in Further Education’. Managed by Cognition Learning Group, the programme aims to strengthen mentoring within your organisation, particularly for early career teachers. If you have staff who would benefit from mentor training, apply now to avoid missing this final opportunity.

Fully funded by the DfE, eligible FE providers can apply for an optional grant of up to £3,300 per participating mentor, for up to 10 mentors (totally a maximum of £33,000). This grant supports mentors’ remission time to complete 27.5 hours of guided learning and at least 18 hours of mentoring practice. 

Cohort 8 will run from Monday 2 November 2026 to Friday 12 February 2027.  

To express your interest or apply, visit Teacher Mentoring Programme.  

For further information, email tmpenquiries@cognitioneducation.com.