ESFA Update further education: 12 June 2019
Published 12 June 2019
Applies to England
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1. Action: submit your year-end final funding claim for 2018 to 2019 by 5pm today
This is to remind you that the deadline for submitting your year-end forecast funding claim is by 5pm today (Wednesday 12 June 2019).
The claim form is available on Submit Learner Data.
Once you have submitted your claim you will be able to view it on Manage your education and skills funding.
If you have any queries, please contact your Territorial Manager.
2. Reminder: independent learning providers
On 17 May 2019, we wrote to independent learning providers (ILP) that had, according to our analysis, recorded students of compulsory school age on their individualised learner record (ILR) return.
An ILP delivering education to this age group may meet the criteria to be an independent school. If it does, then it is required to register as an independent school with the Department for Education (DfE). DfE guidance about independent school registration and what settings must register is available on GOV.UK.
A copy of the letter can be found on GOV.UK. We require each ILP that received the letter to assess their own position in relation to the criteria and to submit a completed annex by Monday 24 June 2019 to Unregulated.SCHOOLRESPONSE@education.gov.uk.
3. Information: EU student funding for the 2020 to 2021 academic year
On 28 May 2019 the Universities Minister Chris Skidmore announced that EU nationals who start a higher education course in England in the 2020 to 2021 academic year will remain eligible for undergraduate and postgraduate financial support, Advanced Learner loans as well as FE and apprenticeships support, whether a deal for leaving the EU is in place or not.
This means EU students starting in academic year 2020 to 2021 will continue to be guaranteed FE funding for adults aged 19+ for the duration of their courses in England and will be eligible for apprenticeship funding, providing other eligibility criteria are met (such as, right to work).
Work to determine the future fee status for new EU students after the 2020 to 2021 academic year is ongoing as the government prepares for a smooth and orderly exit from the EU as soon as possible. The government will provide sufficient notice for prospective EU students and FE providers on funding eligibility arrangements ahead of the 2021 to 2022 academic year and subsequent years in future.
4. Information: common findings from assurance work on post-16 providers and institutions from 2017 to 2018
We have completed our annual programme of assurance work on post-16 funding claimed by providers on the following programmes:
- 16 to 19 study programmes
- apprenticeships
- adult education budget (AEB)
- Advanced Learner Loans
- European Social Funding (ESF)
The report shares details of common issues arising from the programme of reviews relating to 2017 to 2018 funding year.
We are publishing this assurance work to raise awareness with providers and improve compliance with the relevant funding rules.
5. Information: change in payment dates from August 2019
We are changing the date on which we make payments from August 2019.
We are combining the adult payment dates into one and will pay the following funding streams on the 14th working day of the month:
- adult education budget (AEB)
- apprenticeships
- Advanced Learner Loans Bursary
- European Social Fund (ESF)
- National Careers Service
- 16 to 18 traineeships
- career learning pilots
Any payments relating to these funding streams will reach bank accounts on 20 August 2019, and then on the 14th working day thereafter.
If you have any questions, please contact us via email at payment.queries@education.gov.uk.
6. Your feedback: can you help us improve our remittance advice?
We are looking for volunteers to inform our on-going user research into the payment reports and remittance advice that ESFA provides.
We have identified a number of pain points around the remittance advice and would like to invite user feedback on the potential solutions that we are developing.
If you are interested in taking part in any of the pre-release trials over the next 4 weeks please email our User Researcher.