Guidance

EFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges and other 16 to 19 providers: 30 April 2014

Published 1 May 2014

This guidance was withdrawn on 13 May 2015

This is an old edition of the EFA e-bulletin, so has been archived. Please view our most recent e-bulletins and web pages for up-to-date information.

1. 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 1619bursaryfund.efa@education.gsi.gov.uk.

2. 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.

3. 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 commerical 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.

4. Information: Further education free meals: advice for FE-funded institutions

FE-funded institutions will be required to provide free meals to disadvantaged students who are aged 16 and over, starting in September 2014. School and academy sixth-forms already have to provide free meals to disadvantaged students who are over 16. We know students do better in their studies when they have access to proper, regular meals, and this new requirement means that disadvantaged students will have the same support wherever they study.

EFA will send institutions their allocations statements for free meals in FE in May 2014.

In the academic year 2014 to 2015, funding will be based on the number of students who have previously received free meals at 15. We will pay the funding in 2 parts: two-thirds in September 2014 and one-third in April 2015.

The further education free meals guide is available and further updates will be published on GOV.UK.

5. Information: High needs students in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR)

EFA is reviewing the data submitted on high needs students (HNS) by institutions that return the Individualised Learner Record (ILR).

There are significant differences between ILR data at February 2014 (R06) and the latest data EFA has collected from local authorities as part of the high needs place review, where it asked local authorities to declare actual places commissioned in institutions in 2013 to 2014.

The 2013 to 2014 ILR Specification provides information about the Learning Support Funding and Monitoring field. This field should only be used where a local authority has paid element 3 ‘top-up’ funding for an EFA funded student whose agreed support costs are greater than £6,000.

EFA will provide links to further technical guidance through the e-bulletin, its website and other communications in the coming weeks. Please look out for these and review your approach to recording HNS in the ILR ahead of your R10 return as required.

6. Action: Local authorities to submit grant returns by 30 April

Local authorities are reminded that they were required to submit 16 to 19 grant returns for the 2013 to 2014 financial year to EFA by 30 April 2014.

You will need to use the published templates and submit your returns as signed PDFs by email to externalassurance.EFA@education.gsi.gov.uk.

7. Action: Sixth-form colleges - financial planning handbook, template and data published

The Skills Funding Agency and EFA have jointly published the 2014 to 2015 financial planning handbook and template for sixth-form colleges.

Colleges are required to complete the financial planning template by 31 July 2014 and email it to EFA at externalassurance.EFA@education.gsi.gov.uk.

You will need to include the current year estimated outturn along with a budget for 2014 to 2015 and forecast for 2015 to 2016.

SFA and EFA have also published college financial records data for 2012 to 2013.

8. Information: Implementing a new 0 to 25 SEN and disabilities system in FE

On 13 March the Children and Families Act (2014) received Royal Assent. It will reform the systems for adoption, looked after children, family justice and special educational needs.

On 8 April, Edward Timpson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, and Matthew Hancock MP, Minister for Skills and Enterprise, wrote to college principals about implementing new arrangements for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

The letter requests that they ensure their institution is prepared for these fundamental changes. An implementation pack accompanies the letter, which outlines a summary of the changes to the statutory framework for SEN, an implementation timeline and other useful information to support further education providers prepare for implementation of the reforms.

The Minister for Children and Families is also writing to parents, schools and local authorities about the reform.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Link: New national curriculum

If you are teaching the new national curriculum from September, there is a range of resources to support implementation on GOV.UK.