Correspondence

ESFA local authorities: 5 January 2022

Published 5 January 2022

This correspondence was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as it’s out of date.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. Information: 16 to 19 funding arrangements for 2022 to 2023

In December, we published details on how 16 to 19 funding will work for academic year 2022 to 2023.

We have confirmed that the national funding rate for band 5 16 and 17-year-olds, students aged 18 and over with high needs will increase to £4,542. Our publication also confirms funding rates for T Levels and other students.

We have also provided information on funding for:

  • disadvantage block 2
  • advanced maths premium
  • high value courses premium
  • programme cost weightings
  • teachers’ pay grant and teachers’ pension employer contribution grant

We have published the timeline for delivering allocations. If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

2. Information: financial assurance, monitoring post-16 funding for 2021 to 2022

The post-16 monitoring dashboard is available, following the close of the R04 ILR data submission. View the dashboard online using View your education data. Thanks to feedback from providers, we’ve made changes to the dashboard so it displays information in a more streamlined and user-friendly format.

We are still moving historic data over to our new model following the close of R14 for the 2021 to 2022 funding year, and this will be available in the dashboard in January. We’ve published a known issues log in the dashboard itself, rather than as a separate document, making it easier to identify any issues or changes being made to data in-year.

Over the coming months we will post hints and tips for getting the most out of the dashboard and will use a wider range of media to support providers, training organisations and employers.

3. Information: latest Local Authority and School Expenditure publication

The latest edition of the annual Local Authority and School Expenditure publication was released on Thursday 16 December.

This release relates to the 2020 to 2021 financial year and is the first to include information on coronavirus (COVID-19) grants.

This follows the Planned Local Authority and School Expenditure publication and Schools Financial Benchmarking Service maintained schools update.

Key findings from this edition include:

  • in 2020 to 2021, maintained school income was £23.8 billion; comparable to 2019 to 2020; and total gross expenditure was £23.1 billion; 3% lower than in 2019 to 2020 (£23.7 billion)
  • 50% of maintained school expenditure was on teaching staff
  • the proportion of schools in deficit decreased to 8.4% from 12.0% in 2019 to 2020; the biggest decrease since records began in 2003 - this is believed to be due to the impact of COVID-19

Thank you to all those involved in the collection of financial data, who have made this publication possible.

The cost of the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) is reviewed annually to ensure breadth of cover and value for money are balanced. The department can confirm that the RPA deduction will be £21 per pupil:

  • from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 for local authority maintained schools (LAMS)
  • from 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023 for academies

While this year’s price takes into account recent increases in the cost of meeting claims and the additional introduction of cyber related cover, the RPA continues to provide value for money for schools.

You don’t need to do anything as your 2022/23 membership will renew automatically on 1 April 2022 for LAMS and 1 September 2022 for academies at £21 per pupil.

The RPA continues to offer excellent value for money and all schools classified as public sector schools can join – sign up and join today.

If you have any questions or would like more information, contact RPA.StakeHolderRelations@education.gov.uk.

5. Information: School Workforce Census

Thank you to all who have submitted data and are engaged with the ongoing school workforce census validation process.

We are aware that there are currently a large number of 6260Q queries still outstanding (“SENCOs should have a NASENCO qualification unless they had been practicing in that role for a year or more prior to 1 September 2009”). If your school/LA has a return with this query outstanding and you require assistance adding the qualification to the appropriate staff record in COLLECT, or with resolving any other outstanding errors or queries on your return, please contact out service desk team, who can provide detailed advice on how to make the required amendments.

Please contact the service desk team via the data collections service request form.

Guidance for the November 2021 School Workforce census is available.