Update: issue 361 (5 July 2017)
Updated 26 July 2017
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2017
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-july-2017/update-issue-361-5-july-2017
1. Closure of the contracts and finances area of the Hub
Action
Decommissioning of the contracts and finances area of the Hub began this week, with the archiving of documents held in the service.
You have until 2pm on Friday, 14 July to download and save any documents you want to keep, at which time the service will close.
The contracts and finances area was set up to give providers online access to their contract, payment and performance information, including:
- contracts
- funding statements
- funding claim forms
- reconciliation statements
- subcontractor declaration forms
- apprenticeship grant for employers (AGE) reports
Many of these services are now available in the Skills Funding Service (SFS) and others that need to be retained will be available in SFS by the end of the year.
If you have any questions, please contact servicedesk@SFA.bis.gov.uk.
2. Apprenticeship grant for employers (AGE) 16 to 24
Information
2016 to 2017 year
Please ensure that all data for starts relating to 2016 to 2017 is submitted by the R12 data cut off (Friday, 4 August), following this all contracts will be reduced (where applicable) to earned values. Data submitted following this will be capped and only funded where affordable.
2017 to 2018 year
The AGE Programme ends for starts on 31 July 2017. The last date to flag learners as requiring an AGE grant will be the R14 ILR return due by 19 October. Please ensure that any learners starting prior to 1 August are recorded with the correct LDM code by this date.
Please note, no AGE payments will be made on the 2017 to 2018 ILR data and final growth for 2017 to 2018 must be submitted by Monday, 31 July.
If you have any queries, please contact providerAGEfacilitymanagement@sfa.bis.gov.uk.
3. Post-16 further education funding agreements
Information
Following the formation of the ESFA, we will publish all post-16 further education funding agreements and contracts for 2017 to 2018 through the Skills Funding Service (SFS) so that they can be signed online.
The 16 to 19 funding agreements and contracts will be published on SFS for the first time and if you haven’t used SFS before, we will contact you to explain what you need to do to set yourself up on the service.
If you have any questions, please contact servicedesk@SFA.bis.gov.uk.
4. Withdrawal of frameworks by issuing authority
Information
The issuing authority, Skills for Care, announced in April that they are withdrawing these apprenticeships frameworks to new starts from 29 December 2017:
- health and social care (framework code 444)
- care leadership and management (framework code 584)
These frameworks are being replaced with these standards:
- adult care worker (equates to level 2)
- healthcare support worker (level 2)
- senior healthcare support worker (level 3)
- lead adult care worker (level 3)
- lead practitioner in adult care (level 4)
- leader in adult care (level 5)
Any apprentices starting on the health and social care or care leadership and management frameworks before the withdrawal date will be able to continue on the framework until completion. Successful apprentices will then be able to claim their certificate using the current system.
5. Customer engagement user research
Information
As we said last week, as a new agency, we are looking at how we engage with our customers. We want to understand your experience of engaging with us, identify what works well for you and where we may need to make improvements.
To achieve this aim we would like to speak with you directly. We have a series of focus groups planned and are now looking for volunteers who would be able to take part in these. Volunteers should ideally be people who have the most contact with ESFA within your organisation.
If you are able to take part, please contact us at ESFA@education.gov.uk by 12pm on Friday, 14 July.
| User group(s) | Host and area | Date and time |
|---|---|---|
| Local authorities, maintained schools and academies | Kent County Council, South East – Swanley | Tuesday, 18 July at 11.30am to 2pm |
| Local authorities, maintained schools and academies | Tupton Hall School, North - Chesterfield | Thursday, 20 July at 10am to 12.30pm |
| FE colleges and sixth forms | College of North West London | Wednesday, 19 July at 10am to 12.30pm |
| FE colleges and sixth forms | Prior Pursglove and Stockton Sixth Form College (Stockton Campus) | Monday, 17 July at 2pm to 4.30pm |
| Training providers (independent and charitable) | Appris Management Limited, North East – Bradford | Tuesday, 25 July at 2pm to 4.30pm |
| Training providers (independent and charitable) | Qube learning, Midlands – Abingdon | Monday, 31 July at 10am to 12.30pm |
We are also looking for volunteers to take part in one to one telephone interviews with a researcher during July. These will last no more than one hour. If you would be willing to help with this please contact ESFA@education.gov.uk by 12pm Friday, 14 July.
6. Adult education budget funding rules 2017 to 2018
Information
A reminder that we have now published version 1 of the adult education budget funding rules 2017 to 2018.
These rules apply to all providers of education and training who receive adult education budget funding from the ESFA. Please note the performance management rules for 2017 to 2018 will be included in version 2.
We will be holding three webinars during July to support the publication.
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, 11 July | 10am to 11.30am |
| Friday, 14 July | 10am to 11.30am |
| Wednesday, 19 July | 2pm to 3.30pm |
Please email to book your place aebrulesfeedback@sfa.bis.gov.uk.