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Guidance

DfE assurance work on post-16 funding

Guidance on DfE's post-16 funding assurance process for further education and new apprenticeship providers.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education and Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published:
11 June 2019
Last updated:
30 September 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated to reflect more current guidance, information, rules and results from audits.

  2. Updated the 'Internal control questions' spreadsheet – added a missing value to cell F2 on the 16-19 tab.

  3. Updated 'Post-16 funding assurance review guidance'. The document lists the updates in 'What has changed'.

  4. Added 'Common findings from assurance work on post-16 education providers: 2023 to 2024 assurance year', 'Apprenticeship: new training provider or employer control questions', 'Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: step by step process 2024 to 2025' and 'Internal control questions'. Updated 'Post-16 funding assurance review guidance' and 'Funding assurance review: step by step process' to remove reference to ESFA and improve accessibility.

  5. Added 'ESFA Post-16 funding assurance review guidance', 'Funding assurance review: step by step process', 'Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: step by step process 2023 to 2024' and 'Apprenticeship: New training provider or employer control questions'.

  6. We've published information on ESFA's funding assurance work in 2022-23 relating to the funding assurance reviews of providers’ 2021/22 post-16 funding claims.

  7. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Post-16 funding assurance review guidance 2026

PDF, 399 KB, 23 pages

Funding assurance review: step by step process (accessible)

HTML

Funding assurance review: procedure process flow diagram

PDF, 180 KB, 5 pages

Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: step by step process 2025 to 2026 (accessible)

HTML

Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: process flow diagram 2025 to 2026

PDF, 379 KB, 11 pages

Apprenticeships: new training provider or employer control questions 2025 to 2026

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 45.2 KB

Internal control questions 2025 to 2026

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 49.4 KB

Common findings from funding assurance work on post-16 education providers: 2024 to 2025 assurance year

HTML

Details

This guidance is for DfE-funded:

  • further education providers
  • new apprenticeship providers

It includes:

  • information on what to expect if you are chosen for an audit
  • step by step processes to help you collect evidence
  • controls and processes you should have in place to avoid non-compliance

The process flow diagrams ‘Funding assurance review: procedure process flow diagram’ and ‘Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: process flows’ may not be suitable for users of assistive technology, but there are HTML versions, which are accessible:

  • Funding assurance review: step by step process (accessible)
  • Evidence requirements for apprenticeships funding: step by step process 2025 to 2026 (accessible)

Use ILR data: provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT) for information on PDSAT and reports to help FE providers make accurate ILR data returns.

Previous documents and common findings from earlier years are available on the National Archives.

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