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ESFA Update academies: 6 September 2023

Published 6 September 2023

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2023

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-6-september-2023/esfa-update-academies-6-september-2023

1. Action: submit your 2022 to 2023 year-end statement by Friday 29 September

Organisations that received the 2022 to 2023 National Tutoring Programme (NTP) grant must submit the year-end statement by 2pm on Friday 29 September. If you don’t submit the form, we will recover your funding allocation in full.

We’ve published guidance for schools and local authorities on how to complete the form, and a short video for schools.

DfE is also hosting webinars to support schools to deliver tutoring, which will include guidance on the year-end statement. Please register using one of the links below (both webinars will contain the same content, so you only need to attend one):

If you experience technical issues with the year-end statement, contact the ESFA Help Centre.

For any other tutoring queries, email the NTP support desk.

2. Information: opportunity to feedback on the Academy Trust Handbook

In July, we published the Academy Trust Handbook 2023, which is now in effect as of 1 September 2023.

The digital handbook has also now been updated and, following sector feedback at our ESFA Academies Finance Professionals power hour, we have added a feedback form to the ATH 2023 page. This form is for feedback on the content of the ATH. Please continue to send case specific questions through the ESFA enquiry form.

We are interested to hear your views on the content of the ATH and the supporting good practice guides. We will continue to review responses throughout the year, but any feedback received before Friday 27 October 2023 has the potential to be considered as part of the ATH 24 review.

3. 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 DfE 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 approved frameworks could save you time and help your school get value for money.

The autumn programme begins on Wednesday 20 September with the webinars listed below. Click on the links to find out more and book your place:

You can find the full programme of webinars for the autumn term on the Autumn 2023 webinar page. Visit the page to find out more and book your place.

4. Information: book a 1:1 chat to discuss your school’s buying needs – spaces available on Thursday 21 September

The Schools Commercial Team is offering the opportunity for a free, virtual 1:1 conversation with a member of the team on Thursday 21 September to see how they can support you.

You can speak to them about anything you like, to help you make informed buying choices for your school. There is no pressure or obligation to take any of the recommendations forward following the conversation.

Book a conversation now.

5. Information: discounted Microsoft Windows products – check if your school is eligible

The Microsoft Shape the Future initiative provides discounted Windows products and licenses for eligible schools. Check if your school is eligible.

6. Information: Academies Accounts Return 2022 to 2023 guidance and resources are now published online

The Academies Accounts Return (AAR) 2022 to 2023 guidance and resources have now been published. Here you will find:

  • guidance documents to help when completing the form
  • pension guidance
  • tutorial videos on navigation around the form, validations, the questionnaire in the overview section of the form and benchmarking
  • MS Teams dial-ins and web chat schedule for queries

The deadline for the submission of the AAR is Tuesday 30 January 2024. The AAR workbook will be published the week commencing 11 September 2023.

7. Information: conditions of grant for early years supplementary grant (EYSG) 2023 to 2024

In July, we published information about the £204 million additional early years funding for 2023 to 2024 for local authorities through the early years supplementary grant (EYSG).

The methodology guidance and the EYSG hourly rate increases enables local authorities to uplift the funding rates for their childcare providers from September 2023 for delivering the existing early years entitlements.

We have now published the EYSG conditions of grant, setting out how local authorities can use EYSG to fund their childcare providers. We have also updated the published EYSG methodology guidance, setting out further clarification about the key principles of the grant.

We will publish the initial EYSG allocations for each local authority in late September 2023.

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