Correspondence

DfE Update local authorities: 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: 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 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have changed the process for repaying funding for FRM27 ‘Continuing or completed learning aims that are now reported as withdrawn on or before 31 July of the previous funding year’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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Reminder: Complete your PE and sport premium digital expenditure reporting return by Wednesday 30 September 2026

Please share this article with your local authority maintained schools.

As a requirement of the 2025 to 2026 PE and sport premium 2025 to 2026 PE and sport premium conditions of grant, all schools must complete and submit a digital expenditure reporting return outlining how it has used its funding and the impact it has had on achieving the aims and objectives.

Should schools fail to comply with the terms and conditions, this may in some circumstances result in the Secretary of State recovering some, or all the PE and sport premium grant.

If you have not already completed and submitted your report you have until 5pm Wednesday 30 September 2026. Please note, the return is significantly reduced from previous years.

If, after reading the guidance, you have any questions, contact us through the Customer Help Portal.

6. Events and webinars: Risk protection arrangement members only – competent person workshop

Thursday 24 September 2026, 10am to midday. Register via Teams