Correspondence

ESFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 9 November 2017

Published 9 November 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This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2019

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. The EFA e-bulletin has been replaced by ESFA Update.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: November school workforce census 2017

The November school workforce census 2017 is open.

The deadline for submitting data is 1 December 2017. Please submit your data as soon as possible. You will find all the guidance you need to submit the school workforce census on GOV.UK.

If you do not have a management information system, or you cannot provide data in the correct format for COLLECT, you can ask for XML generator tools from the data collections helpdesk. Please advise whether you require the local authority central generator or the academy generator.

1.1 Important checks:

• academies are responsible for returning their data direct to the department via COLLECT, please submit your return once the data has been loaded

• every school return, apart from those for special schools, should include a teacher with a role of SENCo. More than one role can be added to each contract

• please ensure that there is at least one contract for each staff member in the individual level return

• if you get the message 7240Q, please use the minimum notepad entry guide

If you have any queries about COLLECT or school workforce census, please use the data collections service request form.

2. Reminder: Information Exchange - document exchange file expiry

All files held in document exchange are automatically removed 13 months after they are uploaded. Please ensure you check Information Exchange regularly to download and save any documents you need before they expire.

Please be aware that 2014 to 2015 folders will be deleted by the end of November.

3. Information: FE residential accommodation - national minimum standards consultation

The Department for Education is proposing revisions to the national minimum standards for residential accommodation for 16- to 18-year-olds in the further education (FE) sector and 16 to 19 academies, to bring the minimum standards up to date.

A consultation was launched on 7 November 2017 inviting views on the proposals. The consultation is open until 26 January 2018.

4. Information: high needs national funding formula import and export data now available

Local authorities are now able to access the detailed data set driving the calculation of the import and export adjustment in the high needs national funding formula used for the provisional 2018 to 2019 allocations of high needs funding. This dataset is available via the Information Exchange.

The import and export file is saved in the document exchange ‘other submissions’ folder under the 2016 to 2017 academic year. The spreadsheet shows institution-level data relating to pupils and students in special schools, special academies and special post-16 institutions, and those in other institutions attracting top-up funding for their institution. The spreadsheet also shows how the detailed data has been aggregated to provide the adjustment in the formula.

More information on the import and export adjustment can be found in the high needs place change notification: technical note. A video explaining the import and export adjustments is also available. It’s important that local authorities review this data and work directly with institutions to ensure that timely and accurate information on high needs pupils and students is captured in the school census return in January 2018 and the R06 individualised learner record (ILR) in February 2018. This is important as these data returns will be used to update the import and export adjustment calculation next year.

5. Information: high needs funding videos for local authorities

We’ve published 3 new videos for local authorities relating to high needs funding. Others with an interest in high needs funding may also find them useful. The videos we’ve published are:

• 2018 to 2019 high needs funding arrangements: what’s changed?

• changing 2018 to 2019 high needs place numbers

• import and export adjustments