ESFA Update local authorities: 9 February 2022
Published 9 February 2022
Applies to England
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1. Reminder: mid-year funding claims for 2021 to 2022
The mid-year funding claim window opened at 9am on Tuesday 8 February 2022.
Please submit your mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Friday 11 February 2022.
The claim form will be available on Submit Learner Data. For more information, please see the 2021 to 2022 funding claims guidance.
You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:
- grant funded - ESFA funded Adult Education Budget (AEB) (Adult Skills, Community Learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and National Skills Fund Level 3 Adult Offer)
- grant funded - Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB)
Once you have submitted your claim you will also be able to view it on the Manage your education and skills funding.
If you have any queries about this, please contact your Territorial Manager.
2. Reminder: school resource management webinars
The DfE funded school resource management webinars covering key elements of school resource management and integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP) are still available, but spaces are filling fast.
The webinars are delivered virtually, and are suitable for school business professionals, school senior leadership teams, curriculum leads, members of governing boards and local authority staff. Do not miss your chance to attend and sign up now.
The webinars will help schools to integrate their curriculum goals and financial resource management, providing a holistic and proactive way of planning and using resources efficiently and ensuring collaborative decision making across the leadership team.
You can book now for each of the 6 different webinars listed below with a choice of dates up to March 2022.
- ICFP metrics
- ICFP tools
- introduction to benchmarking
- estate management
- introduction to procurement
- joined up leadership for effective school resource management
3. Information: teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant for further education providers – details for 2022 to 2023
We have confirmed the arrangements for the teachers’ pension scheme funding allocations for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.
If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.
4. Information: additional hours in study programmes
In December, we said we would allocate funding for additional hours in 16 to 19 study programmes from academic year 2022 to 2023. This investment is part of the government’s commitment to a long-term education recovery.
This, alongside other education recovery programmes such as the 16 to 19 tuition fund, will help ensure gaps in learning caused by disruption to education can be filled. Today, we have published guidance to support providers to understand the new requirement for additional hours.
5. Information: the next round of the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) is now open
The SRP will carry out 500 major rebuilding and refurbishment projects at the worst buildings in the school and sixth form college estate across England over the next decade. We have previously announced the first 100 schools in the programme. Details of these and the programme are available on GOV.UK.
DfE consulted over summer and early autumn 2021 on the future prioritisation of schools in the SRP. Our consultation response is available on GOV.UK.
If you would like a school to be considered for the rebuilding programme action is required before 3 March 2022.
We have published guidance on how to nominate a school for consideration, and the portal for responsible bodies to nominate school buildings for consideration is now open. Any schools, and the specific buildings in need of rebuilding, must be nominated before 3 March 2022. The window for submitting supplementary evidence, where relevant, will remain open until 31 March 2022.
6. Information: 3000th school visited in the Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme
Running to 2026, the CDC2 programme is collecting building condition data on all government-funded schools in England. Our surveyors have now visited the 3000th school. The data will inform future condition allocations and target investment where most needed.
Following a visit, the collected data is validated and undergoes rigorous quality assurance, after which a report on the findings is shared with the school and responsible body. Although CDC2 reports are less detailed than a full condition survey, they highlight condition issues which may need attention or further investigation.
Schools that have not been visited will be contacted by one of our surveying organisations (Aecom, Faithful+Gould and Rider Levett) in due course. The surveying organisation will also contact the responsible body about the visit. Further details about the programme and the visit schedule can be found on GOV.UK.
7. Information: join these webinars on approved frameworks and see how you could save money for your school
The Department for Education (DfE) is hosting webinars on how using our approved frameworks could help your school get value for money.
If you are responsible for buying goods and services for your schools check out the range of informative webinars that could help you save time and money.
All sessions are free, use these Eventbrite links to join the Schools Commercial Team and take the opportunity to ask providers the questions you may have about buying gas and electricity, and purchasing new heating systems.
- Catering services – multiple dates
- Print Market place – 15 February 2022
- Heating systems and renewable technology - 3 March 2022
- Buying gas and electricity - 3 March 2022
For the latest on our wide range of webinars, check out the events tab on our Buying for schools LinkedIn page.
8. Your feedback: reminder to complete the Sustainability and Climate Change Survey
DfE is running an anonymous survey to gather feedback on our Sustainability and Climate Change Draft Strategy. We will use the results from this survey alongside feedback from focus groups and working groups to inform the final developments of the strategy before publication in April 2022.
Please read our draft strategy and then take part in our anonymous survey. Responses must be submitted by 23:59 on 20 February.
By submitting your response, you are consenting for us to use your answers as part of our analysis of the public’s opinion on the draft strategy.
We encourage you to share the survey amongst your networks in line with your own data privacy notices, as well as through social media.