Adult education and skills funding allocations
Information on how we allocate adult skills funding, loan facilities and bursaries, apprenticeships carry-in and non-levy extensions to providers.
Applies to England
Adult education and skills funding allocations
We use this page to explain how we allocate funding for:
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adult skills fund (ASF)
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advanced learner loans facilities and bursaries
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apprenticeships non-levy extensions
We will provide updates as we move through the funding allocation cycle and issue all allocations through manage your education and skills funding.
How we calculate allocations
We explain how we calculate your funding allocations in our technical guidance when we start to issue the allocations. We calculate allocations annually using nationally consistent methodologies, taking into account the current policy position and affordability.
The general principles we typically follow when setting allocations are to:
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reflect historic (lagged) delivery and current allocations to ensure that future allocations are in line with what providers can realistically earn
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ensure that we treat all providers fairly and equitably
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protect public funds and meet principles of public law
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enable providers to respond to government priorities
Information for academic year 2026 to 2027
Our funding allocation guidance will help you to understand how we’ve calculated your funding and what data sources we have used.
We will publish calculators to help you understand your allocation value.
Allocation timeline
We will publish updates to the timeline as we deliver funding allocations. The latest news column on the timeline shows updates.
| Month | Activity | Latest news |
|---|---|---|
| December 2025 | This is the ILR R04 deadline. We use this to calculate procured non-levy apprenticeship allocations for 2026 to 2027. | The R04 data return is closed. |
| February 2026 | We will issue apprenticeship non-levy extension contracts for financial year 2026 to 2027. | |
| March 2026 |
Apprenticeships non-levy extensions Providers must sign their contracts by 31 March 2026 otherwise they will expire. The business case deadline for these allocations is 31 March 2026. Submit a business case to address significant R04 data errors that have affected your funding allocation. Do not submit a case to request growth. |
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| March 2026 | We aim to complete issuing funding allocations for advanced learner loans, ASF and ASF contract for services by the end of the month and update our funding allocations guidance. We will provide calculators and business case forms. | |
| May 2026 | The business case deadline for ASF and advanced learner loans allocations is the end of May 2026. Submit a business case to correct significant data errors. Do not submit a case to request growth. | |
| June 2026 | We will communicate the outcomes of ASF, advanced learner loans and apprenticeship non-levy business cases. | |
| December 2026 | We will update ASF allocations for continuing learners in newly devolved areas following R14 data return. |
Business cases for significant data errors
When to submit a business case
You should only submit a business case if you:
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have made significant data errors that have affected your funding allocation
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had a contract value for funding year 2025 to 2026 but did not use it and therefore you have not received a 2026 to 2027 allocation
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want to request a reduced allocation amount or remove allocation
When not to submit a case
We do not accept requests for growth or cases that are not related to data errors.
How to submit a case
Submit your business case using our digital form after reading our form guidance.
Thresholds for business cases
We apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether we will consider a case.
For cases where you had contract value for funding year 2025 to 2026 but did not receive a 2026 to 2027 allocation, we will email you to confirm the maximum you can request is £25,000 or your current contract value, whichever is lower.
For cases where you have made significant data errors that have affected your funding allocation, the minimum overall impact must be more than 5% of allocation.
Response timelines
We aim to communicate the outcomes by the end of June 2026 through Document exchange.
Contact us
If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.
Published allocations
You can view institutional level funding allocation data for the last 7 years. You can view older, archived funding allocations on the National Archives website.
2025 to 2026 funding allocations to training providers
2024 to 2025 funding allocations to training providers
2023 to 2024 funding allocations to training providers
2022 to 2023 funding allocations to training providers
2021 to 2022 funding allocations to training providers
2020 to 2021 funding allocations to training providers
Updates to this page
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We have updated this page with a new timeline to support the release of allocation statements for 2026 to 2027.
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We have updated the allocation timeline for July.
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We have updated the timeline for May and June.
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We have updated the allocation timeline on this page.
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First published.