Correspondence

ESFA e-bulletin for academies: 5 October 2017

Published 5 October 2017

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.

Applies to England

1. Action: 2017 autumn school census

The 2017 autumn school census opened today, with the deadline for submissions being Wednesday, 1 November. All local authorities and academies should have received a ‘final readiness bulletin’ earlier this week. Please complete a service request form if you did not receive the bulletin.

The school census guide for the 2017 to 2018 academic year has been updated in advance of the 2017 autumn school census and is now available on the school census website. We have also published COLLECT user guides to assist colleagues.

As always, if you have any queries about any of the points covered in this article, COLLECT or school census in general, please use the data collections service request form.

2. Information: academies accounts return/land and buildings collection tool

The online forms for the academies accounts return and the land and buildings collection tool are now live.

We require academy trusts preparing financial statements as at 31 August 2017 with open academies at any point during the year ending 31 August 2017 to prepare and submit the accounts return (AR). The deadline for the AR is 19 January 2018.

We require all trusts with open academies as at 31 August 2017 to prepare and submit the land and buildings collection tool (LBCT). The deadline for the return is 31 October 2017.

We’ve updated the guidance for both returns, which you can find on GOV.UK at:

• Academies accounts return
• Academies land and buildings collection tool

You can now view a recording of the LBCT webinar held on 3 October. You can also register now for the land and buildings collection tool further guidance session on 19 October (not 9 October as stated in our recent email to trusts).

2.1 Registering and accessing the online forms

Once registered and set up, users can access both online forms on IDAMS.

Please note, when registering with IDAMS for the first time, you must use the unique trust UPIN number that we included in the registration letter we sent to accounting officers last week. Because the AR and LBCT are collected at a trust level, it’s important that you register against the trust UPIN reference and not the organisation UPIN used by individual academies.

You can read more information about online form registration.

If you have any difficulties accessing or completing the online forms, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

3. Action: academy trust audited financial statements 2016 to 2017 submission arrangements

We’ve published our guide to submitting your audited financial statements for 2016 to 2017. You should read the guide before completing the online form and uploading your documents.

This year, we have simplified the submission process by enabling you to upload your audited financial statements and auditor’s management letter within the accounts submission coversheet. You no longer need to access ESFA’s Document Exchange to submit these documents.

We have also added an additional section to the coversheet to collect some information about trusts’ approach to efficiency and financial health. This aims to inform how we work with you to improve what we offer and to what extent trusts use the current tools, products and commercial deals.

All academy trusts that had a signed funding agreement and had an open academy at any point during the accounting period to 31 August 2017 must submit audited accounts (annual report, financial statements and auditor’s management letter) to ESFA. This includes free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs). The deadline for submitting accounts is 31 December 2017.

4. Information: high needs place change notification arrangements for 2018 to 2019

The process to notify the ESFA of changes to high needs place numbers for 2018 to 2019 in ESFA funded institutions will launch on Tuesday, 10 October. The technical note for high needs place change notifications describes how this process works. We’ve also published a data workbook with place and pupil numbers to inform the place change process.

Institutions should engage with their home local authority directly if they wish to discuss changes to their high needs place numbers, even where a change in place numbers relates to commissions from another local authority.

Your local authority is required to submit the completed place change notification workbook by 17 November 2017. The workbook can be accessed via ESFA’s data collection portal.

5. Information: national funding formula reports on COLLECT

We’ve published the local authority reports that show the step by step calculations for the schools national funding formula. These are available via the COLLECT system. We’ll publish the reports for schools shortly.

Please also see the schools block technical note for a detailed explanation of each step of the national funding formula calculation.