Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 29 January 2020

Published 29 January 2020

This correspondence was withdrawn on 29 December 2021

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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

Applies to England

1. Action: qualification achievement rates (QAR) 2018 to 2019 – provisional data now live

We have published your provisional QAR 2018 to 2019 data. All the data is available through the View Your Education Data portal. There will no longer be any data on the Hub.

You have until 5pm on Friday 31 January to inform us of any concerns about how we have implemented our published methodology. You cannot request fixes or adjustments to your 2018 to 2019 individualised learner record (ILR) data.

If you have any queries with the provisional data, please complete a data query form, email this to sde.servicedesk@education.gov.uk and ask us to assign your query to ‘ESFA Business Operations QAR’.

The in-year QAR guidance and QAR webpage provide details about this data release and accessing the dashboard.

To access the data, please ensure you have the correct IDAMS user access. Please see the IDAMS user guides for creating access or checking your user permissions.

Please check the latest versions of the business rules, data set specifications and data extract guides on the QAR 2018 to 2019 webpage.

For further information, refer to the QAR webpage.

2. Reminder: R06 individualised learner record (ILR) data return closes Thursday 6 February 2020

The R06 ILR data return closes on Thursday 6 February. We encourage you to make your return now, don’t wait until the deadline. It’s critical that your return is accurate and on time.

We use your R06 data return in several ways, particularly to:

• calculate 16 to 19 funding allocations for academic year 2020 to 2021. We use this return to calculate student numbers for FE institutions, including high needs student numbers for special post-16 institutions. Any inaccuracies in your data will affect your funding allocation
• calculate local authority import/export adjustments for financial year 2020 to 2021 by looking at high needs students recorded in the data. It is important these adjustments are accurate so local authorities can fund agreed high needs placements in institutions. We share this data with local authorities to ensure it is accurate and reflect the high needs places they have commissioned at institutions
• monitor 16 to 19 funding reconciliation for independent learning providers as set out in our ILR funding returns guide for 2019 to 2020

3. Information: mid-year funding claims for 2019 to 2020

The mid-year funding claim window will open at 9am on Monday 10 February 2020.

You must submit a mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Thursday 13 February 2020. The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data. Failure to submit the form will be a breach of your agreement.

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

• adult education budget (AEB) (Adult Skills and Community Learning) – grant-funded
• Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB) – grant-funded
• Learner Support for AEB Procured (Adult Skills and 19-24 Traineeships) – paid-on-profile

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

For colleges due to submit the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC) at the end of February, please ensure figures in the mid-year claim are used to inform the financial planning you are currently undertaking.

If you have any queries about this please contact your territorial manager.

4. Information: off-the-job training ILR field change - actual hours field

We are committed to ensuring that apprentices receive the minimum of 20% off-the-job training that legislation requires. To ensure learning plans reflect this, from 1 August 2019, we started collecting planned hours data. To provide further assurance on delivery we are now introducing a field capturing the actual hours delivered.

From 1 August 2020 providers must input the total hours of off-the-job training that have been delivered to apprentices who started new apprenticeships from 1 August 2019 into the ILR. The actual hours field should be populated with the amount of off-the-job training delivered over the apprenticeship (up until the apprentice reaches gateway) and must be entered once, at the end of the programme.

The actual hours ILR field will be used by ESFA in conjunction with the planned hours field to monitor delivery of the off-the-job training. It is our intention that the new field will support the work of audit, as providers must be able to supply evidence to support the figure entered during the audit process.

We will release more detailed information on this change in the next version of the ILR specification, and the 2020 to 2021 apprenticeship funding rules.

5. Information: further education data security

We have reviewed the requirements for data security in the Education and Skills Funding Agreements and will update them to support a progression route to the more robust controls.

For the 2020 to 2021 funding year, the requirement will be to meet the requirements for Cyber Essentials, with progression to Cyber Essentials Plus from the 2021 to 2022 funding year. The requirement for preparatory work towards ISO27001 will be introduced later and so does not need to be considered now.

If you have any questions about our contract, please contact us using our online enquiry form. If you need support with data security there are many consultancies available and your sector association may be able to sign post you.

6. Information: recording of residential provision for FE colleges and special post-16 providers

The move from EduBASE to Get Information about Schools (GIAS) has resulted in some data inaccuracies relating to FE colleges and special post-16 providers (SPIs) in respect of the recording of residential provision.

We will write to all colleges and those SPIs in scope directly now for the 2019 to 2020 academic year, and on an annual basis thereafter, to gather this information on the age and status of residential learners. It is important that we have accurate data to support Ofsted in meeting its responsibilities. Ofsted is required to inspect residential provision in colleges and some SPIs for all student residents under the age of 18 or under the age of 25 for those with an education health and care (EHC) plan and rely on our data collection to ensure that they schedule inspections appropriately.

All FE colleges and SPIs should continue to self-report information on GIAS and complete the appropriate fields on the ILR.

7. Information: the integrated financial model for colleges (IFMC)

Over the next 2 weeks we are hosting Q&A webinars to answer your queries regarding population of the new model. The webinars are on:

• Friday 31 January 2020, between 12 and 1pm
• Wednesday 5 February 2020, between 12 and 1pm

To sign up to attend a webinar, please email financial.model@education.gov.uk.

8. Information: small employers using the apprenticeship service

From 9 January small employers that do not pay the apprenticeship levy are now able to use the apprenticeship service to access funding to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment delivered to their staff.

Using the service, employers must reserve funding and agree delivery details with their chosen training provider. The first payments to providers, for these employers through the service, will be in February, subject to providers signing their apprenticeship agreement variation by Thursday 6 February.

Providers claiming funding for these employers must ensure that apprentice records in the individualised learning record (ILR) are coded as ACT1. You should continue to use ACT2 for all apprentices who are funded using a non-levy contract allocation for funding from the Agency, and you must not amend previous records for starts not being funded through the apprenticeship service.

Information about this can be found in the latest technical funding guide published in January 2020.

We will be updating the provider support manual when it is next re-published. If you have any queries please contact the apprenticeship support team on 08000 150 600 or by email at helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk.

9. Information: upcoming provider roadshows

ESFA will host the second series of Provider Roadshows in February and March 2020 for main providers on the register of apprenticeship training providers (RoATP). Once again, the events will be collaborative and consultative.

These roadshows build on your feedback from our last events. The insight and information we collected has informed our planning to help make sure we bring you - our providers - on this change journey with us and we want to share this with you.

Most of the day will focus on the transition of smaller employers that do not pay the apprenticeships levy to the apprenticeship service, and on the full withdrawal of apprenticeships frameworks.

We will provide you with opportunities to network with other providers, and to feedback around key themes so that we all have a chance to share good practice and learn from experiences of others.

Main providers on the RoATP will receive an email to register for the events over the next few weeks. We suggest you check the email address connected to your Bravo account is up to date. We will write to you in February with more details about the agenda.

In the meantime, our roadshow dates are as follows:

• Tuesday 25 February – North East – East Durham College
• Tuesday 3 March – North West – Haydock Park Racecourse
• Thursday 5 March – London – Holiday Inn, Wembley
• Tuesday 24 March – Midlands – The Citrus Hotel, Coventry
• Thursday 26 March – South Central – Farnborough College of Technology
• Tuesday 31 March – South West – Taunton Conference Centre at Taunton RFC

For any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at apprenticeship.providers@education.gov.uk.

We hope to see you at one of the events!

10. Information: building safety advice

The Department for Education (DfE) wish to draw the attention of building owners to advice published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 20 January 2020, as part of its Building Safety Programme (BSP).

This consolidated note is written for owners of multi-occupied residential buildings, and brings together in a single document and supersedes the existing BSP Advice Notes 1 to 22.

The consolidated advice, which sets out the actions that must be taken, can be found on GOV.UK.

11. Your feedback: apply to join the DfE Star Chamber scrutiny board

DfE is currently seeking applications for membership of the Star Chamber scrutiny board from suitably qualified and experienced individuals based in schools.

This advisory board helps the DfE review data collection proposals to ensure that they are possible, necessary, good value and as quick and easy to complete as possible.

Membership of the board would provide an opportunity for head teachers, senior business managers or other data specialists and to influence and understand the necessity for the data burden placed on schools, and offers personal and career development.