EFA e-bulletin for academies: 26 March 2015
Published 26 March 2015
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/efa-e-bulletin-26-march-2015-issue-84/efa-e-bulletin-for-academies-26-march-2015
1. Information: academies 2015 to 2016 budget forecast return
Education Funding Agency (EFA) has published guidance and a workbook to help academy trusts prepare their 2015 to 2016 budget forecast before completing the online form, which will be available to use from 1 June 2015.
If you are from an academy trust that opened recently and your 2014 to 2015 budget forecast remains due, you will need to refer to the 2014 to 2015 budget forecast guide.
2. Information: Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) outcome
The Minister of State for Schools, the Rt Hon David Laws MP, has announced the Condition Improvement Fund 2015 to 2016 outcome.
The announcement confirms funding of £367 million for 1,366 projects across 1,089 academies and sixth-form colleges. A further 79 projects have been asked to resubmit their bids.
We will provide feedback to unsuccessful projects by 20 April.
3. Information: pupil premium funding allocations
The Department for Education has issued pupil premium final allocations for 2014 to 2015, which includes an additional £23 for primary pupils on top of the original £1,300 per pupil allocation.
Provisional pupil premium allocations for 2015 to 2016, including conditions of grant, are also available.
4. Information: UIFSM funding allocations
The Department for Education has confirmed arrangements for funding universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) for 2015 to 2016, including the small schools allocation. You can use the UIFSM grant calculator to estimate your likely allocation for 2015 to 2016.
5. Information: risk protection arrangement (RPA) for academy trusts
If you want to join the RPA at any point from now to the end of the 2015 to 2016 academic year, you can use the online form on GOV.UK.
The RPA membership rules set out the full scope of the arrangement. The Department for Education expects RPA members to have full knowledge of the rules and abide by them.
There is now a version of the membership rules for church academies. If existing RPA members want to transfer to the membership rules for church academies, you must first get permission from your trustees and then contact the EFA enquiry service.
The form for opting in to the RPA asks trusts which of the scheme membership rules they will follow.
6. Information: efficiency toolkit - new training modules
We have added 2 modules to our efficiency toolkit training videos. ‘Financial Efficiency in Schools - A Strategic Approach’ considers approaches to developing a strategic plan and is presented by Sam Ellis, Funding Consultant with the Association of School and College Leaders.
The second module is a discussion on workforce planning with Toby Salt, Chief Executive of Ormiston Academies Trust.
7. Information: funding guidance for young people aged 16 to 19 in 2015 to 2016
We have now published 2 key elements of the funding guidance for young people aged 16 to 19 for the 2015 to 2016 academic year.
There are small changes and clarifications in both documents from the 2014 to 2015 guidance. However, institutions should note one substantive change in the rates document that, from 2015 to 2016, the qualifying period for all students on programmes of 450 hours or more is 6 weeks.
8. Information: removing section 96 approval for level 3 personal development and/or transferable skills qualifications
Approval for level 3 personal skills qualifications for 16 to 18 and 18+ age groups is being revoked from August 2015. This will affect qualifications that only develop or assess personal skills in areas such as team working, communication or careers development. Further information and a list of affected qualifications are available on the section 96 website.
9. Information: students meeting the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding
We are providing information to all institutions that use the ILR, to show their students’ compliance with the maths and English condition of funding.
To access the information on the EFA Information Exchange, go to the ‘Other Submissions’ folder then look under ‘Academic Year 14/15’.
School and academies will not receive similar reports from the school census, because we do not receive this data during the year. However we encourage schools and academies to check their data to ensure all students who should be studying maths and/or English are doing so.
For those students not meeting the condition of funding, there is still time to enrol students on appropriate maths and/or English courses before the end of the academic year to avoid losing funding in 2016 to 2017.
10. Information: EFA Information Exchange calendar
The EFA Information Exchange online calendar now lets you filter different entries by event type, download information straight to your own email calendars, and to print.
The updated calendar joins other features already live such as our growing suite of online forms, and the Document Exchange, which has been well-used during the allocations period.
Future updates to the EFA Information Exchange include allowing users to amend their contact information. More information, including how to get help accessing the EFA Information Exchange is on GOV.UK.
11. Information: post-16 national course database
The Department for Education expects all post-16 education and training providers funded by EFA to supply information about their planned study programmes from September 2016. This includes academies and maintained schools with sixth-forms, colleges and training providers.
A national course database will store the information. Any organisation will be able to use the information to help young people and their advisers make informed choices about post-16 options.
The department will ask you to supply your data from June to September 2015 and has published a post-16 courses database operational guide, which includes information about how you can prepare to submit your information.