Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 6 July 2023

Published 6 July 2023

Applies to England

1. Action: submit your 2022 to 2023 16 to 19 tuition fund spend and tell us how you have used your additional hours

You will need to submit a digital form if your organisation either received 16 to 19 tuition fund for the academic year 2022 to 2023 and/or received the additional hours baseline data report, which was based on returns your institution made in academic year 2020 to 2021, and we supplied to you in June 2022.

Please note: failure to submit a report on 16 to 19 tuition fund spend will result in recovery of 100% of your academic year 2022 to 2023 tuition funding.

We have produced a digital form so you can tell us:

• how much tuition fund you have spent in the 2022 to 2023 academic year
• what your institution used additional hours for and account for how you delivered the expected average increases in hours above your academic year 2020 to 2021 baseline

You will need to submit the form as soon as you can confirm your full year’s tuition fund expenditure, and no later than 11:59pm on 13 October 2023.

Guidance on how to complete the form can be found on GOV.UK.

2. Action: contact us if you made T Level data errors in your R04 or autumn census that are impacting your 2023 to 2024 allocations

We will consider business cases if data errors have an impact on 5 or more of your T Level carry on students in next year’s allocation.

What you need to do:

• Contact us through our online enquiry form, clearly stating the nature of your business case.
• Have authorisation from the head or institution

Please do not upload business cases to the Document Exchange without first submitting an online enquiry form as these will not be retrieved automatically.

3. Information: high quality trust commissioning guidance

Today, the department has published high quality trust commissioning guidance, one of the key commitments set out in the academies regulatory and commissioning review.

The commissioning guidance increases transparency around how Regions Group makes decisions about the creation, consolidation and growth of academy trusts: It covers decisions:

• for schools to join or form a new academy trust
• to move underperforming schools to new trusts
• to approve applications to merge trusts or transfer schools
• to approve which trusts can open new free schools

Alongside the guidance are the trust quality descriptions, which set out what we want trusts to deliver for students, parents and areas, and trust quality evidence, which sets out the quantitative and qualitative information that Regions Group will use to inform its decisions.

4. Information: prepare to complete your Year End Statement for the 2022 to 2023 National Tutoring Programme (NTP) grant

All organisations that received the 2022 to 2023 NTP grant are required to complete a Year-End Statement, which will be available at the start of September. This is a mandatory return and you must complete the form, even if you did not use any of your NTP funding.

To prepare, we encourage schools to collate clear and accurate records of all tutoring delivered this academic year. This should include:

• how much your school spent on tutoring – the total amount you spent on tutoring (the portion funded by the NTP grant and the contribution from your school)
• how many hours of tutoring your school delivered – every hour delivered per pupil (for example, if you delivered a 15-hour course to 3 pupils, you would count it as 45 hours)
• how many pupils in your school have received tuition – if pupils received tutoring in multiple subjects, you should only count each pupil once.

Schools can continue to use this year’s NTP funding until 31 August 2023, including tuition delivered in the summer term and school holidays to help pupils prepare for the next academic year. Any unspent funding will be recovered.

5. Information: DfE Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Guarantee

We’ve extended the DfE Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Guarantee to cover LGPS liabilities where academy trusts are outsourcing services such as cleaning and catering.

The extension to the Guarantee now provides cover for employees who were excluded under the previous policy.

By agreeing to a ‘pass-through’ arrangement, academy trusts will benefit financially through reduced set up costs and simpler administration processes. Academy trusts will no longer be expected to provide a bond to cover LGPS liabilities as they have the financial backing of the Guarantee.

Our full policy paper can be found on GOV.UK.

6. Information: section 251 outturn data collection exercise for 2022 to 2023 now live

The section 251 outturn data collection exercise for 2022 to 2023 is now live.

The deadline for the submission of the section 251 outturn collection 2022 to 2023 is Friday, 25 August 2023.

We have published guidance and the XML generator for you to begin completion of your outturn statement.

COLLECT will be available for use in mid-July. We will contact you when it is live.

You can find more information about how to complete the section 251 outturn collection 2022 to 2023 on GOV.UK.

7. Information: 2022 to 2023 year-end forecast funding claim – indicative reconciliation statement(s)

Following submission of your year-end forecast funding claim we will upload your indicative year-end reconciliation statement(s) through Manage your education and skills funding by mid-July 2023 for the following ESFA grant funding streams:

• AEB (Adult Skills and Community Learning)
• 19 to 24 Traineeships
• National Skills Fund (Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs)
• Advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)

These statements are indicative and based on your recent year-end forecast claim return, so that you are aware of the indicative reconciliation position before we publish your final reconciliation statements in November 2023.

Where appropriate, we will show any funding monitoring return errors and the indicative earnings boost value within your indicative reconciliation statement. This is so you are aware of the potential impact before final claim reconciliation statements.

You can find the original ESFA Update article relating to earnings boost on GOV.UK.

If you have any queries, please contact the Enquiry Service.

8. Information: crime, fire safety and Health & Safety workshops 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:

• overview of the crime, fire safety and Health & Safety resilience programme
• information/advice on maintaining internal fire doors and fire compartmentation

Place will be allocated on a first come first served basis:

• 13 July 2023

9. Information: Buying for Schools still have some great webinars running – book your place now

If you buy goods and services for your school or trust, come and join one of our free webinars.

Our final webinars of the summer term will be taking place week commencing 10 July. Click the links below to book your place:

• Risk protection arrangement, an alternative to commercial insurance – 13 July
• Arranging leasing and loan finance for your school – 13 July

10. Information: book a 1:1 chat to discuss your school’s buying needs – spaces available 11 July

The Schools Commercial Team are offering the opportunity for a free, virtual 1:1 conversation with a member of the team to see how we can support you.

You can speak to us about anything you like to help you make informed buying choices for your school.

There is no pressure or obligation to take any of our recommendations forward following the conversation.

Book your 1:1 conversation now.

11. Information: my experience of buying catering and cleaning using Get help buying for schools

In our latest Buying for Schools blog post, Jason Murgatroyd, Executive Head at Grangetown Primary School in Middlesbrough, shares his positive experience of using Get help buying for schools to buy catering and cleaning, and how it could help you with your buying too.

I will definitely use Get help buying for schools again now that I know it exists. I would be daft not too! I’m not a businessman, I’m a teacher. We are a small trust, we don’t have a huge infrastructure, and so it comes down to me. I need that specialist support when it comes to big spend contracts, to ensure compliancy and save time.

You can read the full blog post on GOV.UK.