Guidance

Import/export adjustments 2023 to 2024: for local authorities to notify ESFA of data errors

Updated 8 June 2023

Applies to England

1. Summary

The school and college level data used to calculate the 2023 to 2024 financial year import/export adjustments to the high needs national funding formula (NFF) is now available to local authorities. You may use this information to review the calculation of their total net import/export adjustment.

As last year, you can notify us if the January 2023 school census or February 2023 individualised learner record (ILR) R06 data used in the import/export adjustment was incorrect at the time returns were submitted by the school or college. This guidance explains the process for you to notify us of data errors which may impact on their funding.

Queries relating to this process should be sent to highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk. You must submit notifications of data errors to us, via GalaxKey, by Friday, 28 July 2023.

2. Expiry or review date

This guidance will be reviewed before May 2024.

3. Who is this publication for?

This guidance is for local authorities.

4. Changes for 2023 to 2024

The process remains largely unchanged from last year. We will send the import/export data, data error template and documents relating to this process to you using the GalaxKey secure email system, rather than Document Exchange. Templates must also be submitted via GalaxKey. GalaxKey is a secure data system for sharing sensitive information.

5. Accessing 2023 to 2024 import/export data and related documents

We will email the following documents to local authority contacts from highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk and they can be accessed securely through the GalaxKey system:

• ‘2023-24 import/export data’
• ‘Import/export data error template’
• ‘LA import/export contacts’

We have written to finance officers and high needs contacts at each local authority with information on how to register with GalaxKey and access the above documents. If you are not sure who these contacts are at your local authority for this exercise, please email highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk.

6. Import/export adjustment: how it works

Most high needs funding is allocated to local authorities based on children and young people who live in their area, regardless of where they are educated. We intend the import/export adjustment to reflect the movement of high needs pupils and students between local authority areas, where they live in one authority area and attend a school or college in another, creating an additional financial cost to the latter authority, known as the provider local authority . It is calculated as a net figure based on:

• the number of high needs pupils and students educated at a school or college in the local authority area, minus
• the number of high needs pupils or students living in their area
• the net number of pupils and students, either positive or negative, is then multiplied by £6,000

In the import/export adjustment, we consider the provider local authority for non-maintained special schools (NMSS), special post-16 institutions (SPI) and a small number of centrally funded further education (FE) institutions (see ESFA funded institutions section).

If your net import/export adjustment is positive, we consider you to be a net importer. This is because you provide education to more pupils or students than live in your area and so may face higher costs (for example, because you pay for more high needs places at schools and colleges in their area).

If your net import/export adjustment is negative, we consider you to be a net exporter. This is because you have more pupils or students living in your area attending schools and colleges in other areas and so may face lower costs (for example, because you do not pay for their high needs places at providers outside their area). This is explained in the high needs funding: 2023 to 2024 operational guide (section 7.2)

7. Import/export data

Data used in the calculation of the import/export adjustment is based on the local authority in which the pupil or student lives (known as the resident local authority) and the local authority in which the school or college is based (known as the provider local authority). This data is taken from:

• the January 2023 school census (age 2 to 18) for pupils and students:
  • with top-up funding in mainstream schools and academies
  • in special schools and academies (including special free schools)
  • in NMSS
• the 2022 to 2023 ILR R06 for students aged 14 to 18 and those aged 19 to 24 with education, health and care (EHC) plans who receive top-up funding in:
  • SPIs
  • further education (FE) colleges and independent learning providers (ILPs)

8. Identifying a data error

School and college level data is available to local authorities for information, to see how the total net import/export adjustment is calculated. While local authorities may decide to review and check data, there is no requirement for them to do so.

Data errors tend to be where a school or college has not correctly identified a pupil or student as being in receipt of top-up funding in their data return. In very rare cases, they may have missed off all high needs pupils or students, or not submitted a data return.

As last year, you may wish to apply a threshold before investigating potential data errors.

The following would not be considered data errors:

• in-year changes - the import/export data is based on school census and ILR data collected in January and February 2023 respectively. No change will be made if data was correct at the time of the return, but subsequently changed, for example, to reflect new admissions or leavers
• pupils in alternative provision settings - pupils in alternative provision (AP) settings are not included in the import/export adjustment. This is because the school census data we would use for such an adjustment is not accurate enough. The pattern of admissions and placements in AP can vary significantly at different times and a school census snapshot does not necessarily capture pupil movement in the same way as for special schools
• the local authority where the pupil or student lives is different to that paying top-up funding - the dedicated schools grant (DSG) allocates most high needs funding to local authorities based on data for children and young people living in their area. Consequently, the import/export adjustment is based on data using the local authority area where a pupil or student lives

In most cases the responsibility for maintaining an education, health and care (EHC) plan and for paying the top-up funding will rest with the local authority where the child lives. Exceptionally, however, the local authority where the child lives may be different to the local authority paying the top-up funding. For example, in cases where a pupil or student has moved and an EHC plan has not yet been transferred to the new authority, a pupil or student can be recorded as living in a local authority area, but the local authority has no record of providing top-up funding. In such cases the import/export data (based on where the child lives) may be correct, but another local authority is paying the top-up funding. These cases would not be regarded as a data error. Further information about the responsibility for pupils and students who move between local authorities is available in the high needs funding: 2023 to 2024 operational guide.

Where a potential data error is identified, local authorities will need to provide evidence from the relevant local authority or provider to support this before a funding change can be considered by ESFA. We recommend early engagement and expect local authorities to co-operate where requests are received. Local authority lead contact details for this process have been sent to local authorities though GalaxKey. If you are having difficulty obtaining a response from another local authority, please advise ESFA at: highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk. Contact details for schools and some post-16 providers should be available on Get Information About Schools (GIAS), or from the school or college website.

9. Requesting pupil and student information from ESFA

Where you are unable to identify a pupil or student in the import/export data, you may request the pupil or student Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNs) or Unique Learner Numbers (ULNs) from us. Requests for this information should only be made after contacting the school or college responsible for completing the school census/ILR return.

We will contact you with details on the information required, and documents to be completed, to ensure data is shared securely and in-line with data sharing protocols.

You should submit data requests to us no later than 11:59pm on Wednesday, 28 June 2023. This is so that we can provide the data requested by Friday, 7 July 2023. This is to allow you sufficient time to follow-up, where necessary, with the relevant school or college and other local authorities before the final deadline.

We reserve the right not to provide information if we do not consider a request is reasonable, or the data sharing agreement and/or individual declaration form has not been correctly completed and/or returned.

10. Requesting a funding change

You can notify us if you identify an error in the census or ILR return which impacts on the net import/export adjustment amount. We require evidence to support any changes from the relevant local authority or school or college as funding may be transferred between the local authorities’ DSG. As in previous years, requests may be submitted as either agreed or not agreed between the relevant local authorities, using the import/export data error template. Different information and evidence is required depending on whether the changes have been agreed or not, or for providers that we fund centrally. This is explained in more detail below.

We expect local authorities to co-operate and ensure that any requests for confirmation of changes between authorities are reasonable and allow sufficient time for response. Read the ‘Supporting Evidence’ section for more information on the evidence we require.

10.1 Changes agreed between local authorities

Where a change is agreed with another local authority, we require written evidence from that authority clearly confirming the net pupil/student number change to the import/export adjustment data and funding transfer to the 2023 to 2024 DSG. We have provided the following text to help ensure the information provided is sufficient:

Example evidence: local authority Y responding to local authority X agreeing change

Y local authority confirms the data error(s) relating to the import/export adjustment and that a total net import/export change for -21 pupils, from Y local authority to X local authority should be made. This is in addition to the data issued in May and we understand this may lead to an adjustment to our 2023 to 2024 DSG.

10.2 Changes not agreed between local authorities

Where you are unable to agree a change with the other local authority, we will consider evidence from the school or college, clearly confirming:

• the number of pupils/students attending the school or college that were living in the exporting local authority area
• for mainstream schools, ILPs and FE providers only; that the provider was receiving top-up funding for those pupils/students (as explained above, the local authority paying top-up funding may be different to the local authority in whose area the child lives)
• the above was correct at the time of the January 2023 school census or 2022 to 2023 ILR R06 return

We also require evidence that:

• you requested this information from the other local authority, but a response was not received. This may be an email you sent to the local authority, or
• communication from the other local authority advising it does not agree the change

10.3 Threshold

• We apply a threshold where a request for a change is not agreed between local authorities. We will not consider requests where the total change at school or college level relates to between 0.5 and 3 pupils or students. The threshold will be applied as illustrated below:

Provider type	Total pupil/student change at provider	Requested change submitted as not agreed	ESFA consideration of request
FE college	+12	+2	Yes - The college has a data error relating to 12 students living in 4 different local authorities. As the total change for the college is above the 3 student threshold, we would consider a request not agreed with a local authority relating to 2 students. A reference to the total number change should be entered in the template.
Special school	+5	+5	Yes - The data error relates to 5 pupils and therefore above the threshold
Mainstream school	+1	+1	No - The total change at the school is less than 3 pupils and below the threshold. We would not therefore consider this request as a change not agreed with the other local authority

• The threshold only applies to requests not agreed with another local authority. It will not be applied where a request is clearly agreed with another local authority and evidence provided, or we are the provider local authority and evidence of a data error provided from the school or college.

We may not consider requests above the threshold where there is no evidence a local authority was contacted, or the initial communication to the local authority was sent after 14 July 2023. This is to ensure that local authorities have sufficient time to consider the data errors before the final deadline for submitting the data error template of 28 July 2023.

Where the local authority has not agreed to the change, we recommend you request evidence from schools and colleges in the following format to be included in your local authority template:

Example evidence: special school responding to local authority where pupils live

I can confirm an error in our January 2023 census data, at this time we had [*], rather than [#] pupils living in [X] local authority who were main or sole registered at our school (we understand this relates to the pupils living in your authority, rather than those for which you may fund top-up).

Example evidence: college to ‘provider’ local authority, relating to several local authorities

I can confirm an error in our 2022 to 2023 ILR R06 data, due to incorrect reporting of high needs pupils in receipt of top-up funding. At this time the following students were in attendance, and should have been recorded on the ILR R06, this is broken down by the local authority where they live as requested:

• local authority A: 7 (+2, from 5 recorded in ILR)
• local authority B: 2 (-1, from 3 recorded in ILR)
• local authority C: 14 (+12, from 2 recorded in ILR)

10.4 ESFA Funded Providers

As mentioned earlier, we act as the provider local authority for SPIs, NMSS and the following FE providers;

• Catch 22
• Ixion
• Nacro
• Newcastle College Group (NCG)
• Nova Training
• South Thames Colleges Group

Any requests relating to these providers needs to include evidence from the relevant providers in the ‘ESFA funded’ worksheet.

11. Completing the import/export adjustment data error template

This section explains how to navigate and complete the import/export data error template. Notes on how to complete the template are contained in the workbook.

You must submit the template by 28 July 2023 to notify us of an error in the census or ILR return from a school or college. We may not consider submissions received after this date.

The template includes six worksheets

‘Notes’ sheet

This includes detailed guidance for you on how to complete the template.

‘Summary’ sheet

There are two sections on this sheet. In the first section you need to provide contact details.

The second section is prepopulated to show a summary of the changes requested in the second and third sheets.

We will only make changes where the relevant local authority or provider agrees with the data error. You should only submit notifications where this evidence is available.

‘Agreed change’ sheet

This sheet relates to changes which have been confirmed in writing with another local authority, and for which evidence is provided.

The relevant local authority number and name must be entered, with the net change pupil/student number, the funding amount is automatically calculated. You must also attach evidence from the relevant local authority confirming agreement to the change.

‘Not agreed change’ sheet

This sheet relates to the changes which have not been agreed between the local authorities, and schools or colleges where we are the provider local authority.

Changes entered here must be supported with evidence from the relevant institution, and that a request was sent to the corresponding local authority. This will be taken into account when considering ‘not agreed’ requests.

‘ESFA funded’ sheet

This sheet relates to the changes at schools or colleges where we are the provider local authority.

Changes entered here must be supported with evidence from the relevant provider.

‘Adding attachments’ sheet

This sheet explains how to attach evidence to the template.

11.1 To submit a return to ESFA

Once you have completed the template, sign into GalaxKey. Make sure the template has your 3-digit local authority code at the start of the file name. Open the email we sent to you relating to the 2023 to 2024 import/export process. Reply to this email, attaching your completed template including the required evidence.

We will be in contact if we need to discuss your template with you.

12. Next steps

The deadline for returns is Friday, 28 July 2023 at 11:59pm. This is intended to allow sufficient time to obtain supporting evidence from the relevant local authority or provider. We recommend early engagement with other authorities to allow sufficient time for response and expect local authorities to co-operate where requests are received. We expect to confirm the outcomes of the data error requests by the autumn, with adjustments to the DSG reflected in the November 2023 update.

13. Indicative timetable

The following table includes key dates, for example deadlines for returns. It also includes a suggested timeline to help you plan. These suggestions allow time to request, receive and collate information from other local authorities, schools and colleges before the 28 July 2023 deadline:

Week commencing	Key dates	Suggested local authority activity
5 June 2023		Review import/export data and guidance, identifying possible data errors
12 June 2023	13 June 2023 at 2pm – Import/export Webinar	Review import/export data, identifying possible data errors and early engagement with other local authorities, schools and colleges
19 June 2023		Engage with other local authorities, schools and colleges about possible data errors; consider submission of data request if pupil/student identification required
26 June 2023	28 June 2023 - deadline for submitting data request form for pupil or student identifiers and signed Data Sharing Agreement	Request agreement and supporting evidence from local authorities and providers
3 July 2023	7 July 2023 – we will issue responses to requests for pupil or student identifiers	Consider requests from other local authorities and seek more information if appropriate
10 July 2023	14 July 2023 - we are unlikely to consider requests not agreed with other local authorities if there is no evidence they have been contacted before this date	Consider requests from other local authorities and seek more information if appropriate
24 July 2023	28 July 2023 - deadline for requests. The template must be submitted via GalaxKey with the required evidence	Finalise requests and supporting evidence to be returned to us

You can also contact us at highneeds.esfa@education.gov.uk if you need the spreadsheets in an alternative format or are unable to use the template and need assistance.