EFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges and other 16 to 19 providers: 23 January 2014
Published 11 March 2014
© Crown copyright 2014
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/efa-e-bulletin-23-january-2014/efa-e-bulletin-for-schools-colleges-and-other-16-to-19-providers-23-january-2014
1. Information: EFA wall planners and timeline published
EFA has published the EFA business cycle for 2014. It sets out important, useful information that will help you and your institution plan ahead.
The cycle is available as a wall planner, both for academies and for other institutions (including local authorities) and as a timeline. The timeline includes links to relevant information on the EFA website.
Some timings are indicative and may change. Updates on the delivery of the business cycle and further information on each of the milestones will be available in the e-bulletin. Revised versions of the wall planners and timeline will also be published at the beginning each term.
We have tried to be as precise as possible but if you have any comments regarding this cycle, please contact academy.questions@education.gsi.gov.uk for academies or enquiries.EFA@education.gsi.gov.uk for all other types of institution.
2. Information: changes to EFA web pages
EFA has made some changes to its website. It has restructured some existing content. and archived a lot of old material, making the structure of the pages simpler.
Everything is still available through www.education.gov.uk/efa, and any old pages will redirect automatically to either their new version or the National Archives website.
EFA has changed ‘funding 16 to 19 education’, which has absorbed all the learner support material, including the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.
There are also new sections for ‘capital funding’, including the Priority School Building Programme, and ‘schools building design and maintenance’.
The ‘academies funding and finance’ section will remain largely unchanged.
These changes have all been made in preparation for the closure of the Department for Education website by the end of March. All content will be transferred to the single website for government, GOV.UK, and EFA will tell you when its material is moving.
3. Information: student support provider helpline update
In October 2013 EFA informed you the Learner Support Service provider helpline number had changed to 0300 303 8610 and if you dialled the old number (0845 600 7979), you would be asked to redial using the new number.
From 1 February 2014 the old number will no longer be in use. From this date, all calls to the provider helpline should be made using the new number only.
The provider helpline deals with calls from institutions relating to:
- application queries on Care to Learn and the Residential Support Scheme
- queries on the Dance and Drama Awards scheme (for students who are continuing on courses in the 2013 to 2014 academic year only)
- 16 to 19 Bursary Fund vulnerable student bursary funding claim forms
Using the new number will reduce the cost of calling the helpline.