EFA e-bulletin for academies: 30 April 2014
Published 1 May 2014
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1. Information: Academies Capital Maintenance Fund (ACMF) 2014 to 2015 round 1
The ACMF 2014 to 2015 round 1 was open to academies to apply for up to 2 projects to tackle building condition or to expand facilities.
In total, 2,015 academies applied for 3,300 projects worth over £1.4 billion. Following the assessment and moderation process, 1,388 projects at 1,134 academies have been awarded approximately £393 million (£363 million in 2014 to 2015 and £30 million in 2015 to 2016).
The full list of successful academies and further information about ACMF is available on GOV.UK.
2. Information: Primary PE and sport grant payment
EFA will issue the second of 2 payments for the primary PE and sport grant for the 2013 to 2014 academic year on 1 May. If you have not yet received any payment and have grown and added new year groups since September 2013, you will receive your full 2013 to 2014 allocation on 1 May.
3. Information: Education services grant (ESG) consultation
The Department for Education is seeking views about how local authorities and academies can achieve ESG savings in the 2015 to 2016 financial year. The consultation is open until 19 June 2014.
4. Reminder: Academy funding allocation packs
There are 2 guides to help academies understand their funding allocations:
- mainstream academies, free schools, special academies and alternative provision open before 1 April 2014
- mainstream academies, free schools, special academies and alternative provision open between April and August 2014
5. Consultation: Simplifying the administration of academies funding
On Thursday 1 May the Department for Education is launching simplifying the administration of academies funding. This is a consultation on converting non-recoupment academies to recoupment academies and amending the funding of local authorities for pupils in free schools from 2015 to 2016.
6. Information: Funding guidance for young people 2014 to 2015 - sub-contracting control regulations
EFA’s sub-contracting control regulations for 2014 to 2015 are now available. The main changes reinforce its expectations that directly funded institutions should exercise appropriate management, monitoring and control over their sub-contracted arrangements.
EFA will not normally fund provision for a young person’s whole programme that is sub-contracted by institutions outside their normal recruitment areas, where an institution believes there is good reason for this it must secure EFA’s agreement in advance of delivery.
Colleges and commercial and charitable providers will also be asked, for this year only in advance of data availability, to provide an estimate of the volume and value of sub-contracted provision at the start of the 2014 to 2015 contract year.
7. Information: 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide - 2014 to 2015 academic year
The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide for the 2014 to 2015 academic year has been published on GOV.UK.
The guide provides advice for institutions on administering the bursary fund. It incorporates the bursary fund questions and answers document and good practice guide that we published alongside the scheme guide in previous academic years.
The guide for 2014 to 2015 has been updated to reflect findings from the on-going bursary fund evaluation. It responds to questions and issues raised by institutions and students during the evaluation.
A guide for young people will be published separately. Questions about the fund should be sent to:
EFA questions
Contact form https://form.education...
For schools, local authorities, other education institutions and providers, accountants, auditors and other professional advisers with queries for the Education Funding Agency
8. Information: 16 to 19 Bursary Fund process evaluation - year 2 report
The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund process and impact evaluation year 2 report has been published on GOV.UK. The report commissioned to Natcen Social Research presents findings of the second year of the independent evaluation of the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.
The year 2 report has investigated the number and characteristics of young people who have applied for and/or received Defined Vulnerable Group and Discretionary Bursaries. It has also evaluated the perceived impact of the fund, and reviewed its administration by institutions.
The report follows on from the year 1 interim report published in 2013. The evaluation’s final report is scheduled to be published in 2015.
Questions about the evaluation should be sent to Jonathan.Johnson@education.gsi.gov.uk.
9. Action: Finance and assurance webinars
EFA has launched a series of online presentations and interactive webinars to help you complete your financial returns.
You can register now for webinars on the March accounts return (15 May, 2pm), the budget forecast (9 June, 2pm) and the financial framework (15 July, 11am). There is also a session aimed at academy auditors on 15 July at 2pm.
Two narrated presentations are also available.
10. EFA survey: Tell us what you think
The latest EFA customer survey is now open for you to give us your views about the service EFA is providing to you.
Your comments in our last survey really helped us make improvements to EFA enquiries handling and the content on GOV.UK.
EFA also make sure that more of its material is checked and tested by customer reference groups.
The survey should take up to 10 minutes to complete, and EFA would be grateful for all contributions.
11. Information: Updated EFA business cycle wall planners available
The EFA business cycle 2014 sets out important, useful information for the 12 months from April 2014 to March 2015 to help institutions plan ahead.
The cycle is available as individual wall planners for academies and free schools, local authorities, schools, commercial and charitable providers, FE colleges and sixth-form colleges.
EFA has tried to be as precise as possible but some of the timings are indicative and may change. Some of the guidance information linked to in the timeline relates to the current academic or financial year and will change when announcements are made throughout the year. EFA will update the planners at the start of each term.
12. Link: New national curriculum support and resources
If you are teaching the new national curriculum from September, there is a range of resources to support implementation on GOV.UK.