Qualifications with removed funding approval
Why and when we have removed or will remove funding approval for groups of qualifications.
To support the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England, we are removing funding approval from some qualifications in our funded offers, where they meet specific criteria.
This process completed on 1 August 2022, when we removed funding approval from the Qualifications with no and low publicly funded enrolments for removal of funding approval from 1 August 2022 list.
A digital entitlement for adults with low or no digital skills was introduced in August 2020, supported by new essential digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) at entry level and level 1. New digital functional skills qualifications (FSQs) at entry and level 1 were introduced from August 2023, replacing FSQs in ICT.
As part of our essential digital skills reforms, we have removed funding approval for students aged 16 and over from digital skills qualifications that are based on outdated standards. This is so funding can be focussed on qualifications aligned to the new national standards for essential digital skills, which set out the digital skills needed for life and work.
In December 2020, we published a list of entry level and level 1 qualifications where funding approval was removed from 1 August 2021 for students aged 16 and over. These were:
- all qualifications up to and including level 1 in the sector subject area (SSA) ICT for users (except for essential digital skills qualifications (EDSQs))
- digital and ICT qualifications up to and including level 1 in other SSAs that were not linked to the application of digital skills for a specific occupational sector, or specific entry level job role
Our review of post-16 qualifications at level 2 and below confirmed that we would remove funding approval from all level 2 FSQs for ICT and level 2 ICT for users qualifications, as proposed.
ESFA funding approval was removed in August 2022 from:
- all ICT and digital qualifications at level 2, in the SSA ICT for users
- any other ICT and digital skills qualifications at level 2 in other SSAs where the purpose of the qualification is not linked to a specific occupation or specific entry level job role (This includes FSQs in ICT at level 2)
FSQs in ICT at entry level and level 1 remained available and approved for funding until 1 August 2023, were replaced by new digital FSQs at entry and level 1.
We have removed funding approval for new starts only. If a student was already enrolled on an existing qualification before its funding approval end date, we will continue to fund them until they have completed their qualification or until the qualification’s certification end date, whichever is earlier. If you withdraw a qualification or change its operational end date to be earlier, we will set its funding approval end date to be the same as the revised operational end date.
Where we remove funding approval for a qualification, there is no facility for that qualification to re-enter the publicly funded offer. We will also not approve new qualifications that have the same or similar content to qualifications where funding approval has already been withdrawn.
Access the list of ICT and digital qualifications with removed funding approval.