Adult education budget local flexibility offer at level 2 and below offer funded by ESFA: approval criteria
Criteria that qualifications in the ESFA-funded adult education budget (AEB) local flexibility offer and European Social Fund level 2 and below offer need to meet, alongside the common funding approval criteria.
We will only approve a qualification for funding in these offers, if the qualification meets all the common approval principles and these specific principles here.
We may approve qualifications linked to occupational regulation and practice. This includes qualifications in a sector or occupational area where:
- it is a legal requirement for all practitioners to obtain a licence from the relevant state recognised regulatory body and the qualification supports this
- practitioners are required to register and be recognised by a professional body and the qualification supports this
- there is a requirement to demonstrate competence against a code of practice and the qualification supports this
- there are mandatory requirements for an occupation (or for specific activities within that occupation) and the qualification supports this
To be approved for funding qualifications linked to occupational regulation or licence to practice must:
- involve training and not just assessment
- should not be in an area where it is the employer’s responsibility to meet the requirement
Public funding will not cover the costs of the acquisition or renewal of any licence.
The qualification must not link to UK visa requirements, such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
This does not apply to English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) skills for life qualifications. We know that ESOL qualifications support students, whose first language is not English, to progress onto other qualifications.
We will only approve ESOL skills for life qualifications for funding if they are modular, and if their titles include the term ‘ESOL skills for life’ in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications. We will not approve any other ESOL qualifications for funding, such as ESOL International qualifications.
At level 2 and below, the qualification must not be used to recognise any activity that might already be part of a student’s experience, or that is better delivered as a non-qualification activity. For example, we will not approve qualifications that are records of completing activities such as:
- work experience or placements
- induction for college, or for other learning and training
- CV writing
- job search activities
- participating in interviews
- parenting skills
- babysitting
- study skills
At level 2, qualifications in the ESFA funded AEB local flexibility offer and the ESF offer must support the student to acquire subject specific or occupational skills to help them progress into employment or further education.
We will not approve a qualification for funding at level 2 if:
- it focuses on independent living, personal well-being, personal finance, personal or social development, or other related areas
- less than half of the qualification’s content focuses on occupational or technical skills or learning – we will measure this by reviewing the content of the qualification, and the learning and assessment outcomes
We will approve these qualifications at entry level and level 1, but we expect these to focus on progression in further education and training and into employment.