Guidance

16 to 19 funding: information for 2020 to 2021

Details for 16 to 19 funded institutions on how funding will work in academic year 2020 to 2021

Purpose and latest updates

The purpose of this guide is to show all the changes we are making for 16 to 19 funding for the academic year 2020 to 2021 and to provide you with the latest updates.

We confirmed details on the national funding rate, T Level rate and advanced maths premium on 11 September 2019.

The sections on High Value Course Premium, Level 3 programme maths and English payment, programme cost weightings and advanced maths premium are new for 31 October 2019.

Changes for 2020 to 2021

On the 31 August 2019, the Chancellor announced an additional £400m for 16 to 19 education for academic year 2020 to 2021. This page explains what the announcement means for 16 to 19 funding.

We set out the changes in the following sections. As usual, we will provide further information about the funding allocations process for academic year 2020 to 2021 during November and December.

National funding rate for academic year 2020 to 2021

The national funding rate for full-time 16 and 17 year olds and students aged 18 and over with high needs will increase by 4.7% to £4,188.

We determine the funding rate for each student by the size of their study programme based on their planned hours. The rates for part-time bands will also increase in line with the new full-time rate.

We have set out the national funding rate for students studying full-time and part-time in the table below.

Band Planned hours   National funding rate per student
5 540+ hours 16 and 17 year olds, students aged 18 and over with high needs £4,188
4a 450+ hours Students aged 18 and over who are not high needs £3,455
4b 450 to 539 hours 16 and 17 year olds, students aged 18 and over with high needs £3,455
3 360 to 449 hours   £2,827
2 280 to 359 hours   £2,234
1 Up to 279 hours   £4,188 per full time equivalent (FTE*)

(FTE*) means the proportion of 600 hours.

We will increase the rates for T Levels in line with the new band 5 rate:

  Average planned hours Minimum planned hours required for the band Funding rate (2 years)
Band 6 - small T Levels 1250 hours 1100 hours £8,726
Band 7 - medium T Levels 1450 hours 1300 hours £10,122
Band 8 - large T Levels 1600 hours 1500 hours £11,168
Band 9 - very large T Levels 1750 hours 1650 hours £12,216

We will uplift the new increased rates by the factors within the 16 to 19 funding formula in the normal way.

Other funding rates

We can also confirm the following other rates for 16 to 19 funding in academic year 2020 to 2021:

  • the large programme uplift will continue as 10% or 20% (as appropriate) of the band 5 funding rate, so this will increase in 2020 to 2021 allocations in line with the national funding rate
  • we will base the condition of funding penalty in allocations for 2020 to 2021 on delivery in 2018 to 2019, therefore using the national rates for 2018 to 2019. We will only use the increased national funding rate for 2020 to 2021 to calculate the penalty for the condition of funding when the allocations are based on the delivery in 2020 to 2021
  • the disadvantage block 2 rate will remain unchanged in 2020 to 2021 at £480 for full-time students and the equivalent part-time rates. The block 1 rate for care leavers is also unchanged at £480
  • the funding rates for 14 to 16 provision in further education continue to be aligned with the 16 to 19 rates, so will also increase in 2020 to 2021. We make funding allocations for 14 to 16 funding each January based on actual in-year delivery. This means that we will allocate 14 to 16 funding allocations using the increased rates in January 2021

High Value Courses Premium

The purpose of the High Value Courses Premium (HVCP) is to support the sector to grow the number of students studying selected substantial Level 3 study programmes (including T Levels) in selected A Level subjects or sector subject areas.

We have explained how we will pay the premium in academic year 2020 to 2021.

Level 3 programme maths and English payment

The purpose of the level 3 programme maths and English payment is to support providers in their delivery of these subjects for students on substantial level 3 study programmes and T Levels.

We have explained how we will issue the payment in academic year 2020 to 2021.

Programme cost weightings

We will increase programme cost weightings by ten percentage points for 6 sector subject areas in academic year 2020 to 2021.

We have set out the details and reasons for the changes.

Industry placement capacity and delivery fund (CDF)

We have agreed funding for the delivery of industry placements through the CDF in academic year 2020 to 2021. We have published guidance for providers already delivering CDF and first time providers who wish to deliver CDF. Should these details change we will notify providers during the autumn.

T Level early adopter development fund (EADF)

We can confirm that we will pay T Level EADF in academic year 2020 to 2021 to those providers delivering T Levels in 2021 to 2022. We will confirm the precise details on this as they become available.

Teachers’ pension scheme

We announced earlier in the year additional funding to support further education institutions in meeting the additional employer contributions from the Teachers’ pension scheme for the period from September 2019 to July 2020. We can confirm that we will continue to meet those costs up to the end of March 2021. We have updated our guidance for the teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grant for further education providers. We will be writing to providers with further information in early 2020. Funding from April 2021 onwards will be considered as part of the next spending review.

The teachers’ pension employer contributions grant will also continue in financial year 2020 to 2021 to cover additional pension costs for schools.

Advanced maths premium

The advanced maths premium is funding for additional students studying specified level 3 maths qualifications. The additional funding announced at the end of August means that we can confirm these payments will continue as planned in academic year 2020 to 2021.

Published 4 November 2019
Last updated 13 December 2019 + show all updates
  1. We have updated information relating to the teachers' pension scheme employer contribution grant in line with our other published information

  2. First published.