Correspondence

EFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 15 October 2015

Published 15 October 2015

This correspondence was withdrawn on 13 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.

1. Information: new academy revenue funding video

EFA has published a short video explaining academy revenue funding arrangements for 2016 to 2017.

EFA recommends you watch this video and would welcome any feedback on it. The video highlights important information to help everyone including academies and free schools understand revenue funding for 2016 to 2017.

2. Information: schools financial benchmarking

EFA has updated the Schools Financial Benchmarking website with the Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) data collected for the financial year 2014 to 2015.

This website allows maintained schools to compare their income and expenditure profile against similar schools as directed in the ‘Value for money’ section of the Schools Financial Value Standards (SFVS) assessment.

3. Information: publication of schools block and 16 to 19 funding allocations for 2015 to 2016

EFA has published schools block allocations for individual maintained schools for financial year 2015 to 2016, and academies for academic year 2015 to 2016.

EFA has also published post-16 allocations for individual schools, academies and FE institutions funded by the EFA for 16 to 19 education.

4. Information: reconciliation statements for commercial and charitable providers

EFA has issued R13 reconciliation statements for commercial and charitable providers for the 2014 to 2015 funding year.

These can be found on the EFA Document Exchange in the following folder: Revenue Funding > AY 2014-15. Support and further information about the EFA Information Exchange is available on GOV.UK.

5. Reminder: helping you make accurate post-16 census returns

The school census return window is open until Wednesday 28 October. We encourage all institutions returning data to use the post-16 census tool to help make accurate returns.

The tool helps you understand how your data is used to calculate your post-16 funding, as well as helping you understand common errors and how they impact on the funding the EFA calculate. Your institution could be underfunded if you do not return accurate census data.

Please ensure macros are enabled when using the tool. If you have any feedback or questions, please get in touch via our enquiry form.

6. Information: how to return 2014 to 2015 EFA Individualised Learner Record (ILR) final funding claims to the EFA

All final EFA ILR claim returns should be created with data from your institution’s final R14 submission for 2014 to 2015.

You must complete the declaration on the final page of the Funding Implementation Service (FIS) EFA funding claim report. You should return a PDF copy of the signed report to the EFA via the EFA Document Exchange. Please read the technical advice on GOV.UK before submitting the return through Document Exchange.

All institutions which have an SFA contract (other than sixth-form colleges) should check their EFA FIS Funding claim report to ensure any students included in “Row D” are recoded to SFA, as these are not funded by EFA.

7. Reminder: update your contact information

Please remember that you should inform the EFA of any changes to your contact details using ‘My Contact Information’ in the EFA Information Exchange.

This is a requirement for certain roles in academy trusts as defined in the Academies Financial Handbook and important for all institutions. Information about My Contact Information is on GOV.UK.

8. Information: school-led conference in Manchester

Colleagues in the north west may be interested in the Creating Possibilities conference on 20 October.