Managing changes to approved qualifications
How we manage changes you make to approved qualifications that impact funding approval status.
Why and how we make changes, and how you can ask us to consider approving a qualification for funding again.
While funding approval cycles for newly approved qualifications, moratorium exception applications and other funding approval applications are moving to a termly process, we will continue to manage the offers monthly.
This will enable us to reflect any changes to currently funded qualifications as quickly as possible.
We will assume that you no longer want funding approval for a qualification, if you make any of the following changes to data fields for that qualification in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications:
- offered in England – from Yes (ticked) to No (unticked)
- age group – from Yes (ticked) to No (unticked), where No makes the qualification out of scope for the relevant qualification offer
- qualification level – from its current value to a value that is out of scope for the relevant qualification offer
We will change the qualification’s funding approval end date and last date for new starts (LDNS) to be the next date of publication of the ESFA list of qualifications approved for funding and the Find a learning aim.
We will continue monitoring for changes in these data fields during the funding approval moratorium.
If you change any of these fields from No (unticked) to Yes (ticked) for a particular qualification, we will not automatically approve it for funding. From 1 September 2020, you can only ask us to review a qualification again if it is not affected by the funding approval moratorium.
If we find evidence that a qualification no longer meets our approval principles, then we will change its funding approval end date and LDNS to be the next date of publication of the ESFA list of qualifications approved for funding and the Find a learning aim.
We will tell you why we are withdrawing our approval. You can ask us to review our decision again.
This process does not apply to qualifications that we will remove funding approval from, as part of the qualifications reviews.
You can find a list of planned updates to Find a learning aim in the data collection maintenance schedule.
We monitor Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications for any changes you may make to the operational end dates for qualifications we have approved for funding. We do this so we can tell ESFA funded providers about changes to the approval and last date for new starts (LDNS).
To make sure students are not disadvantaged, you should change operational and certification end dates in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications far enough in advance to give students and providers plenty of notice. You should also avoid setting and then changing operational end dates. Where we find you are setting or changing operational end dates on a frequent basis for a qualification or suite of qualifications, we may contact you to understand why you are doing this before we make any changes to our systems.
If you change the operational end date to happen before 31 July 2024, we will amend the qualification’s funding approval end date and LDNS to be the same as its new operational end date. This will happen monthly for the ESFA list of qualifications approved for funding, and every 2 weeks (as appropriate) for Find a learning aim.
It is a regulatory requirement that you inform Ofqual about any proposed withdrawal and replacement of qualification before you inform centres. You must ensure you tell your centres when you are withdrawing a qualification and give them details of any qualification that may replace it.
If you set the operational end date for a qualification to be in the past, we will change its funding approval end date and LDNS to be the publication date of the list of qualifications approved for funding and Find a learning aim.
If a qualification has not been rolled over into the 2023 to 2024 offer because, on 21 February 2023 it had an operational end date before 1 August 2023, and you subsequently change that operational date, we will not then include the qualification in the 2023 to 2024 offer.
When a qualification reaches its approval end date in all our funded offers, we will move that qualification to the archive list on the list of qualifications approved for funding. If a student is registered on a qualification on or before its funding approval end date, they can complete their qualification up to the certification end date (or funding validity end date).
If you make any changes to a qualification’s operational start date, we will not automatically reflect this for funding approval or funding validity. You can only ask us to change the operational start dates for qualifications that are not affected by the funding approval moratorium. We will not change funding approval dates for qualifications in the free courses for jobs level 3 qualifications offer.
If you change a qualification’s operational start date, you are responsible for telling your centres about this change.
If you want us to change a qualification’s start dates for funding approval or funding validity, you must ask us to do this. From 1 September 2020, you can only ask us to change the operational start dates for qualifications that are not affected by the funding approval moratorium.
We will not change funding approval start dates and funding validity dates for level 3 free courses for jobs.
To review your qualification, we need the following information:
- the full title and reference number for the qualification
- confirmation of the changes you want us to make to the funding approval start date or funding validity start date
- which qualification offers the change applies to
- why you want us to consider making these changes
- any additional evidence to support why the change is necessary
We will review these requests once a month. The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For instance, if you wish to review a request in November 2023, we will require you to notify us by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023.
We may consult with other organisations, such as regulatory and professional bodies, and we may ask you for more information if we need to.
For 2023 to 2024 we will be monitoring if an awarding organisation sets a qualification’s operational end date within the 2023 to 2024 funding year for rollover and then subsequently sets it back to be 31 July 2023 or earlier.
We will consider if we will end funding approval for that qualification in all offers on this newest operational end date. If we do this awarding organisations will have no further opportunity to extend funding approval for that qualification, and funding approval in the year 2023 to 2024 will be lost.
We will apply this principle to subsequent funding years too.
If you make changes to a qualification’s record in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications that bring the qualification into scope for funding approval, you can ask us to review the qualification.
This only applies to changes you make to the following data fields:
- offered in England – must be Yes (ticked)
- funded in England – must be Yes (ticked)
- qualification level – from its previous value to a value that is in scope for the relevant qualification offer
- age group – from No (unticked) to Yes (ticked), where Yes brings the qualification into scope for the relevant qualification offer
To review your qualification, we need the following information:
- the full title and reference number of the qualification
- which data fields you have changed
- the previous and current values in those data fields
- any additional evidence to support your request or challenge
You can only ask us to review a qualification again if it is not affected by the funding approval moratorium.
We will review these requests once a month. The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For instance, if you wish to review a request in November 2023, you must notify us by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023.
We may consult with other organisations, such as regulatory and professional bodies, and we may ask you for more information if we need to.
If we decide not to approve a qualification for funding you can ask us once to review the decision again based on new evidence.
You must ask us to review the qualification within 1 month of receiving the decision from us.
This process:
- also applies to decisions about approving qualifications as exemptions to the funding approval moratorium
- does not apply to qualifications that we have already removed funding approval from, or are in scope to have funding approval removed
To review your qualification, we need the following information:
- the full title and reference number of the qualification
- the new evidence that you are basing your request on
- which qualification offers you believe the qualification should be approved for
- why you believe the qualification meets all the approval principles for the offers
- any additional evidence to support your challenge
We will review these requests once a month. The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For instance, if you want to review a request in November 2023, we must receive that request by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023.
We may consult with other organisations, such as regulatory and professional bodies, and we may ask you for more information if we need to.
You can use this process if:
- you make changes to data fields for a qualification in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications, which bring that qualification into scope for funding approval
- we decide not to approve your qualification for funding, or we withdraw our funding approval for your qualification (unless we remove funding approval from the qualification as part of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England)
- you want us to change the funding approval start date or funding validity start date for a qualification
- you wish to review the funding approval end date we have applied to an existing qualification when we have approved an updated version
We will review these requests once a month. The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For instance, if you wish to review a request in November 2023, you must notify us by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023.
We may consult with other organisations, such as regulatory and professional bodies, and we may ask you for more information if we need to.
We do not automatically change the funding rate or maximum loan amount for a qualification if you significantly change its content, outcomes or size (increasing or decreasing) or Sector Subject Area Classification. You must make sure that you have entered information about qualifications correctly in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications. This includes any information or other detail that might increase or decrease the funding rate.
If you make significant changes to a qualification that may affect its ESFA funded AEB funding rate or maximum loan amount, you can ask us to review the funding rate or loan amount. To do this, you must complete and send us a rate review request form that identifies the qualification, a summary of the change and rationale for the change. You must correctly complete one form per qualification you are asking us to review.
To review your qualification, we need the following information in the rate review request form:
- the full title and reference number for the qualification
- confirmation of what the change is and when you made the change
- why you want us to review the qualification
- your reasons for making the change
- supporting evidence (from colleges, training organisations, professional bodies, employers, students) for why the change is necessary
You must give us advance notice of any significant changes that you will make to a qualification, which will affect its funding rate or maximum loan amount.
We will review your request to see if we need to change the funding rate or loan amount. We will assess the potential impact of the change on students, providers of education and training, other similar qualifications, and our funded qualification offers. We may consult with other organisations (such as Ofqual, QAA and the Student Loans Company), and we may ask you for more information if we need to.
If we agree to change a funding rate or maximum loan amount, we may decide to not change the rate or loan amount within the same funding year. We reserve the right not to change a qualification’s funding rate or maximum loan amount.
We will only review qualifications where the change will impact the ESFA funded AEB or maximum loan amount for advanced learner loans.
We will review these requests once a month. The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For example, if you want us to review a request in November 2023, you must notify us by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023.
There is a step-by-step process that we use to review requests to change a qualification’s funding rate or maximum loan amount.
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Awarding organisation asks DfE to review the funding rate or loan amount by the deadline, or Ofqual makes a change to a qualification.
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DfE and ESFA assess the impact of changing the funding rate or loan amount.
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DfE consults with other organisations if necessary.
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DfE and ESFA decide whether to approve the change.
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DfE informs the awarding organisation of the outcome.
Reviewing funding rates and loan amounts
We will review requests about funding rates and loan amounts monthly. We will not review requests outside of these processes.
The deadline for us to receive requests is the second to last Monday of the month, and we will review them in the following review month. For example, if you want us to review a funding rate in November 2023, we must receive your request by 5pm on Monday 23 October 2023. Any changes resulting from a funding review will be made at the beginning of the next quarter.
To request a review, please complete a rate review request form and send it to qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk. You must include all the information and evidence that we ask for.
Our review process does not apply to areas of England where the AEB is devolved. AEB providers with devolved AEB funding will use the funding rates, formula, and eligibility criteria set by that devolved authority area (except for statutory entitlements).
This process does not affect your ability to raise an official complaint to us.
If there are any significant structural changes likely to affect you as an awarding organisation and your operations, you must tell us about these and when these changes will happen. These changes could relate to acquisitions, mergers, or any other incidents that may affect how you or your qualifications are approved and recorded in our systems.
We want to know about changes as early as possible, so that we can work with you to make sure there is no disruption to your qualifications, to your education and training providers and to students during any change.
Please tell us about any change by sending an email to qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk.
If we need to send you a message, we will send it to all our known named contacts for an awarding organisation. This will include messages about our reasons for not approving a qualification for funding and the outcomes from review requests.
If we have no named contact in your organisation, we will use the contact email address that you have entered in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications.
You can check who your named contact is or change your named contact by sending an email to Qualifications.ESFA@education.gov.uk.