ESFA Update academies: 28 September 2022
Published 28 September 2022
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2022
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-28-september-2022/esfa-update-academies-28-september-2022
1. Action: autumn schools census 2022, Thursday, 6 October
The 2022 autumn school census date is Thursday, 6 October. The deadline for approved submissions is Wednesday, 2 November.
The school census data will be used to finalise funding allocations. It is important that you run and check your reports carefully to ensure the data submitted is correct. Submitting inaccurate data risks your funding allocation being lower than it should.
For academies with sixth forms, our post-16 interactive census tool will help you understand how your data is used to calculate your 16 to 19 funding, along with the post 16 funding reports in COLLECT.
For the 2022 to 2023 academic year the school census will be collecting data about all tuition provided through the national tutoring programme (NTP).
Full guidance to help with completing the census is available on GOV.UK.
If you have any queries about the school census, please use our service request form.
2. Action: coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund 2022 to 2023 claim form
The coronavirus (COVID-19) 16 to 19 tuition fund 2022 to 2023 opt in/out digital form will be live from 3 October 2022.
The deadline for your submission is 11:59pm on 21 October 2022.
We’ve published guidance to access and help you complete the form.
You can read more in our guidance on GOV.UK.
3. Reminder: extension of the school-led tutoring year-end statement to 30 September 2022
The deadline to submit your year-end statement is 6:00pm on Friday, 30 September 2022. This includes an extension of 2 weeks following the mourning period for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
This is a mandatory return. You need to complete this form if your institution received school-led tutoring funding in the 2021 to 2022 academic year, even if you have not used it.
Failure to submit your form will result in full recovery of your school-led tutoring grant by ESFA.
The schools and academies form can be accessed online.
We have published technical and policy guidance (which includes frequently asked questions and scenarios). We strongly encourage you to watch this tutorial video which shows how to complete the form.
Embed video used in previous updates here.
We also recommend that you sense check your responses before submitting the year-end statement. For example:
- double check you have put the correct figures in the relevant boxes – we ask you to submit the total spend on tutoring and the total number of tutoring hours delivered. Please ensure you do not enter the same figure for both (unless your spend and hours delivered were equal)
- check how much you spent on school-led tutoring – your total spend should include both the funding we provided and your school’s contribution. If you used all your funding from DfE, the amount you enter will be higher than your school’s allocation
You can read more about the school-led tutoring grant on GOV.UK.
4. Reminder: participate in the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) data collection pilot
The deadline for schools to register to be part of the NTP data collection pilot is Friday 7 October.
To find out more, please read the FAQs before signing up.
5. Reminder: unspent PE and sport premium funding from 2021 to 2022 academic year must be returned to the Department for Education (DfE)
The deadline for using PE and sport premium allocated in the 2021 to 2022 academic year was 31 July 2022.
The exceptional permissions for schools to carry forward PE and sport premium funding which was granted during the COVID-19 pandemic has now ended.
Any schools with unspent funding from 2021 to 22 academic year should make arrangements to return this to the Department. Please contact us if you require advice on how to do this.
DfE will continue to sample school PE and sport premium reports. Where unspent 2021/22 funding is identified, DfE will seek to recover any monies which have not already been returned.
6. Information: coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium allocations now available
School level allocations for the first payments of the September coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium for academic year 2022 to 2023 have now been published.
You can access this publication on the recovery premium allocations page of the GOV.UK website.
7. Information: updated good practice guide for streamlined energy and carbon reporting (SECR)
We have updated our good practice guide for streamlined energy and carbon reporting (SECR) to reflect the latest emissions conversion factors. The guide will help chief financial officers, accounting officers and trustees of academy trusts to comply with their legal obligations to report energy consumption in their 2021 to 2022 accounts.
8. Information: Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) members – regulatory mock trial
The Department for Education, in conjunction with Willis Towers Watson, has developed a bespoke training seminar, ‘The Regulatory Mock Trial’. This training event covers court proceedings following a health and safety incident in a school.
Health and safety law places duties on schools and their governors, trustees, directors and employees can be held personally liable when these duties are breached.
Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and will be limited to one place per member academy:
9. Information: join these webinars on approved frameworks and see how you could save money for your school
Are you responsible for buying goods and services for your school? The Schools Commercial Team (SCT) within the Department for Education is leading on the Buying for Schools programme; delivering services to support schools to buy goods and services.
The team are hosting free webinars on how using our approved frameworks could save you time and help your school get value for money. Click on the links to find out more and book your place:
- Buying catering services for your school through YPO – 4 Oct
- Buying cleaning services for your school through YPO – 4 Oct
- Buying or leasing multifunctional printing/scanning devices for your school – 5 Oct
- How we can help your school save water – 5 Oct
- How the Get help buying for schools service can support your school buying – 5 Oct
- Buying financial support to cover you for staff sickness or absence – 6 Oct
You can find the full programme of webinars for the autumn term on the Autumn 2022 webinar page. Visit the page to find out more and book your place.
10. Information: grounds maintenance workshop for RPA members
Willis Towers Watson is providing risk management support for all RPA members through audit, guidance and advice. As part of the risk management support, RPA members are invited to a workshop covering:
- the key risk areas that are associated with the maintenance of school grounds with a particular focus on fencing/boundaries and trees
- legal requirements in relation to grounds maintenance
The workshop will include a case study and will show how risks can be appropriately controlled to limit the possibility of civil and criminal action.
Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis and will be limited to two places per member school:
11. Information: post-16 capacity fund registration deadline
The post-16 capacity fund will deliver the government’s 2021 Spending Review commitment to invest £155 million in capital over three years (2022 to 2025), to accommodate upcoming demographic increases in 16 to 19 year olds.
The guidance instructs applicants to register to the application portal by 30 September 2022. Whilst the department still encourages providers to register as soon as possible, to allow sufficient time to access the application form and relevant templates, we have extended the deadline to 14 October 2022.
Further information about the programme and how to apply can be found on the GOV.UK website. Deadline for applications is 11 November 2022.