Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 26 August 2020

Published 26 August 2020

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-26-august-2020/esfa-update-further-education-26-august-2020

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.

There is also guidance on the apprenticeship service about COVID-19.

Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.

2. Information: Letter from Eileen Milner to college corporation accounting officers

ESFA’s chief executive, Eileen Milner, has written a letter to college corporation accounting officers. The letter explains that, due to COVID-19, the deadline for colleges to submit financial statements to ESFA for the year ending 31 July 2020 has been extended by one month to 31 January 2021.

3. Information: ESFA/HMRC debt and fraud data sharing pilot

ESFA has entered a data sharing pilot with HMRC supported by Cabinet Office using the powers provided by the Digital Economy Act. The aim of the pilot is to use data held by HMRC to verify data submitted by learning providers in their 2018 to 2019 ILR submissions. Our analysis of the data received from HMRC identified a small number of common inconsistencies between the data submitted in the ILR and data held by HMRC.

These included:

  1. Apprentices were paid by a different organisation to that submitted in the ILR as their employer
  2. HMRC data suggests the apprentice was not employed by the company identified in the ILR as their employer at the start of their apprenticeship
  3. HMRC data suggests the apprentice was not employed for the full duration of the apprenticeship by their employer at the start of their programme and that the corresponding change to an apprentices employment status may not have been reported in the ILR

We will write to a small number of providers we have identified with apprentices meeting those criteria during the next 6 weeks.

In respect of current data, all providers should ensure the employer and employment status are reported correctly throughout the programme and, if necessary, update their ILR ahead of R14.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

4. Information: Wave 4 T Level awarding organisation events

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (the Institute) is planning several events for awarding organisations interested in bidding for wave 4 of the T Level qualification. Details of the events are outlined below, including how to confirm your attendance.

Prior to attending these events, awarding organisations are encouraged to watch pre-recorded presentations on wave 4 T Levels and the procurement process. Links to the videos will be made available via the virtual data room on ProContract.

  1. Live Q&A panel session on 3 September 2020. The live Q&A session will provide an opportunity for potential suppliers to ask the panel questions regarding wave 4 T Levels, and information given as part of the pre-recorded presentations and the procurement process.
  2. 1:1 session on 3 September 2020. If a high demand for the 1:1 session is received, further slots will be available on 4 September 2020. The 1:1 session will give organisations an opportunity to discuss more in-depth aspects of the wave 4 T Level programme. This will also be an opportunity for any further feedback potential suppliers may wish to give to the Institute.
  3. Consortia & Sub-contracting workshop will take place virtually on 9 September 2020.
  4. ‘How to bid for public sector contract’ workshop will take place virtually on 30 September 2020 and 7 October 2020.

Details on how to book a space at any of these events can be found in the information memorandum available on ProContract.

5. Information: Making data collections via the Submit Learner Data portal

We are updating our advice with regards to making data collections via the Submit Learner Data portal. From now, all returns need to be year to date complete. This applies to the collection period 13 and 14 for 2019 to 2020 academic year and to all mandatory returns for 2020 to 2021.

6. Information: 2019 to 2020 Year End for grant funded providers with Adult Education Budget delivery

Following helpful feedback from the sector we continue to consider the 2019 to 2020 year-end arrangements for grant-funded providers. This includes ongoing active dialogue with sector representative bodies to inform our thinking. We recognise 2019 to 2020 has been a challenging year and our primary concern remains the stability of providers going into 2020 to 2021, alongside ensuring the proper use of public funds through an approach that will be fair, open, and transparent.

We will continue to test options for an appropriate mechanism to recognise the lower delivery across the programme whilst considering value for money. This will enable us to assess impact more accurately across the provider base.

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