Guidance

Guidance: how to update your contact details step by step

Updated 1 April 2021

This guidance was withdrawn on 4 May 2021

This page has been withdrawn as ESFA Information Exchange has been replaced by a new Document exchange service. Read our guidance on how to use the new service.

Applies to England

1. We’re closing ESFA Information Exchange

ESFA Information Exchange will no longer be accessible after Friday 30 April.

A new Document exchange service is now live.

We’ve automatically given ESFA Information Exchange users access to the new service.

We’ve also uploaded any 2021 to 2022 academic year documents to it.

1.1 What ESFA Information Exchange users need to do

ESFA Information Exchange users should now:

• access the new Document exchange service using their existing DfE Sign-in credentials
• follow the steps on the DfE Sign-in help page in the unlikely event of any access issues
• read the guidance for information about how to use it
• use the new service to view, manage and submit documents, rather than ESFA Information Exchange
• view, download and save any older documents they wish to keep from ESFA Information Exchange before 23:59 on Friday 30 April 2021

Any documents not downloaded and saved before 23:59 on Friday 30 April 2021 will no longer be accessible from ESFA Information Exchange.

1.2 Contact us

If you need help with DfE Sign-in, access our help page.

If you have any other questions, please contact us.

2. Audience

This guide applies to schools, colleges, local authorities and other post-16 institutions.

This guide does not apply to academies or academy trusts. We explain how academies and academy trusts (including free schools, university technology colleges and studio schools) can update their contact information on get information about schools.

3. Access the system

You must have an account, be set up as a user and logged in to update your contact details.

4. Contact roles

You will need to assign a contact role to a contact. The roles vary depending on your organisation type. These cover all areas we expect to contact you about. You don’t need to inform of us about any contact roles other than those listed. The contact role might not be the same as your job title, please chose the one that matches most closely.

4.1 Add or remove a role on an existing contact

To add a new role to the existing contact, click ‘add new role to contact’ and follow the instructions. To remove a role, click ‘remove role from contact’ and follow the instructions.

Sometimes you can have several contacts for a single role. The system will alert you if another contact is already listed in a role restricted to just one entry. In these cases, you must delete the existing contact so you can enter a replacement.

You can use the same person as a contact in many roles.

5. Add a new contact

To add a new contact, click the ‘create new contact’ button and follow the instructions. A red asterisk means a field is mandatory.

6. Update an existing contact

To change someone’s contact information, click ‘update’ against the contact role. You can then enter your changes. Click ‘update’ again to save your changes.

7. Delete a contact

To delete a contact and their role, click ‘delete contact’ and follow the instructions. Please give the reason for the deletion.

8. Update institution details

The ‘institution details’ section shows the information we hold about your institution. It’s really important that these details are accurate.

If the information is incorrect, please tell us what needs changing using our online enquiry form.

9. Getting support

If you have any issues using ESFA Information Exchange, please see our guidance.