Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 12 May 2021

Published 12 May 2021

This correspondence was withdrawn on 23 December 2022

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date. Read the latest editions of ESFA Update for the latest news and information.

Applies to England

1. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)

The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Reminder: deadline to access support to deliver T Levels in 2023 to 2024 academic year approaching

Are you planning to deliver T Levels for the first time in 2023 to 2024 academic year?

Please register before 30 July 2021 to access support to help you prepare. This includes:

• support for implementation planning so that you are ready to deliver T Levels
• any support made available for the development of T Level Transition Programmes
• conversations with the T Level support team
• regular updates on the latest T Level news
• guidance on capital funding when this is available
• engagement in the development of the qualifications
• access to up-front funding for additional T Level delivery hours and industry placements
• access to networks of providers delivering T Levels and preparing to deliver T Levels
• access to the full range of T Level professional development resources and support

Providers not registered before this deadline will not receive this extra support to help them prepare to deliver T Levels for the first time in 2023 to 2024 academic year.

Please see the registration guidance for more information.

3. Reminder: year-end forecast funding claim for 2020 to 2021

The year-end forecast funding claim window will open at 9am on Tuesday 8 June 2021. We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, and time and resources are under strain. However, we will require you to submit an accurate year-end claim as this will enable us to inform you of your indicative reconciliation figure prior to final claim submission in October 2021.

Please submit your year-end funding claim by 4pm on Friday 11 June 2021.The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data.

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:

• grant funded – ESFA adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and COVID-19 skills offer)
• learner support for ESFA AEB procured (adult skills and 19 to 24 traineeships) – paid-on-profile
• 19 to 24 traineeships 2020 procurement - learner support – paid-on-profile
• grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)
• 16 to 19 education

Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any queries, you can get help with ESFA services.

4. Reminder: business case deadline for adult allocation is 14 May 2021

Allocation statements for adult funding for 2021 to 2022 have been issued.

If you believe that your data was incorrect and there is an error in your allocation, you can raise a business case by completing the business case template and send it to us using our online enquiry form.

The deadline for submitting your business case is 14 May 2021. Where cases have been received with full information before the deadline we aim to communicate outcomes in June 2021. Complex cases can take longer to investigate, where this is the case we aim to communicate outcomes for these cases before 1 August 2021. If successful, changes will be reflected in contracts from the start of the funding year.

5. Information: college financial forecasting return (CFFR)

Later this week, ESFA will publish, on GOV.UK, a July college financial forecasting return (CFFR) template for colleges to complete and return, via the (Identity and Access Management System) (IDAMS) online portal, by 31 July 2021.

As this is a statutory return and part of the ESFA’s ongoing review of college financial health and budget forecasting, we will provide ongoing support and guidance to ensure the sector is confident when completing and submitting the returns. The benefit of the CFFR versus previous returns, is that it has been simplified and is now easier to use.

The new CFFR template has been designed, produced and rigorously tested with a representative group of college finance colleagues.

If the person responsible for submitting these documents does not have access to the IDAMS system they can request an account using the ‘I don’t have an account’ link on the login page.

6. Information: Secretary of State approved list of independent special schools in England and Wales and special post-16 institutions

The Secretary of State approved list of independent special schools in England and Wales and special post-16 institutions that parents and young people can express as a preference for when their EHCP is being agreed can be found on GOV.UK.

The annual application process opened on 7 May 2021. Guidance and supporting information is available on GOV.UK.

Enquiries about this process should be made to HNSSoS.EFA@education.gov.uk.

7. Information: guidance published on termination of ESFA funding agreements for providers, employers and learners

We have published guidance on the termination of ESFA funding agreements for providers, employers and learners.

The guidance specifically relates to apprenticeships and post-19 provision, primarily delivered by independent training providers. However, it is also relevant to colleges and other provider types depending on the reasons for contracts/agreements being terminated. This guide should be read in conjunction with existing contracts/agreements, funding rules and policies.

This guide is not being published because of any new policies or any changes to existing policies. It sets out how ESFA manages the termination of provider contracts/agreements and the how ESFA supports affected training providers, employers, apprentices, and learners through this process.

8. Information: opportunity for education and skills training providers to bid for European Social Funding in eight Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas

In January 2019, ESFA completed a European Social Funding (ESF) procurement, where ESF funded providers secured a total of £309 million of contracts to deliver ESF activity to 31 July 2021. Contracts were extended to March 2023 supported by additional funding of £137 million.

There are eight LEP areas of the country where learning provision was not extended or existing provision will finish significantly ahead of March 2023, therefore ESFA intends to run a new £17 million procurement to ensure that gaps in provision are filled and learners supported. The procurement is subject to funding being secured from the ESF Managing Authority.

Any invitations to tender for this ESF procurement will be published in line with the Public Contract Regulations 2015, it is anticipated that this will be mid-June 2021. The finalised procurement timeline will be available at the time of tender.

Training providers who are successful in the bidding process will have the opportunity to provide a flexible support and respond to COVID-19 recovery for learners most affected by the pandemic (NEETs, Unemployed and low skilled workers in employment).

The proposed eight LEP areas include:

• Worcestershire LEP
• York North Yorkshire & East Riding LEP (More Developed & Transition Areas)
• London LEP – South
• London LEP – North & East
• Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP
• South East LEP
• South East Midlands LEP
• North East LEP
• Solent LEP

All tenders are undertaken via the DfE e-sourcing portal, interested parties need to follow the on-screen instructions to register.

Once the procurement has concluded, ESFA will send award notifications to successful providers. We will then enter a 10-day standstill period, in accordance with procurement practise. It is anticipated any resulting contracts will commence mid-October 2021.

9. Information: new Advanced Learner Loans funding letter templates

We have updated the learning and funding information letters for 2021 to 2022. You must issue these to learners, including for offenders in custody, who are considering funding their qualification with a loan.

We have also published guidance on how to complete the letters.

10. Information: qualification achievement rates

High level national summaries of qualification achievement rates (QARs) for the 2019 to 2020 academic year were made available in the further education and skills, and apprenticeships and traineeships statistics publications for March 2021.

We previously confirmed, for 2019 to 2020, that we will not publish any institution-level QARs in the national achievement rate tables for the 2019 to 2020 in response to COVID-19. We also announced that data will not be used by others, such as Ofsted, local authorities or devolved authorities or within ESFA and DfE, to hold institutions to account. Therefore, we will not supply 2019 to 2020 QARs for institutions to use internally themselves.

For 2020 to 2021, the approach for QARs will align with that for school and college performance tables.  Further detail will be provided in the following documents to be published by the end of May on the QAR webpage:

• qualification achievement rates business rules 2020 to 2021
• apprenticeship qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021
• traineeship qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021
• education and training qualification achievement rates technical specification 2020 to 2021

11. Information: ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding and performance management rules 2021 to 2022 and ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding rates and formula 2021 to 2022

We have published version 1 of the AEB funding rules and the main changes are below:

• devolution of adult education functions’ section updated to reflect two new orders and the end of the transitional period for providers which met the criteria to be funded nationally for two years (2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021)
• ‘Who we fund’ section has been updated to reflect the current position regarding ‘continuing learners’
• ‘Residency eligibility’ section has been updated for EU and EEA learners
• contracting section has been removed. The Register of Training Organisations is being formally decommissioned on 31 July 2021 and the subcontracting rules will be published separately in the spring term in our post-16 education subcontracting: using funding to offer education and training guidance
• the government contribution table has been simplified and information is now presented by the different age groups (19-23 and 24+)
• references to the ‘High value courses for school and college leavers: a one-year skills offer for 18 and 19 year olds’ have been updated to clarify that the offer will not be available for new learner starts from 1 August 2021

We have also published version 1 of the AEB funding rates and formula and the main changes are below:

• we have changed the disadvantage uplift factors in 2021 to 2022 compared to 2020 to 2021 as we will be using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019, rather than the older 2015 IMD
• there can be no new starts in 2021 to 2022 on the high value courses for school and college leavers: a one-year offer for 18 and 19-year-olds policy. However, we will continue funding these courses that started in the 2020 to 2021 funding year and are continuing into 2021 to 2022.
• the new AEB procured contracts start from 1 August 2021. You must have completed all delivery on the old AEB procured contracts by 31 July 2021 as we will not fund any delivery in 2021 to 2022 under these contracts.

If you have any questions, please contact us using our enquiry form.