ESFA weekly round-up – Issue 396

ESFA e-bulletin 212 for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 22 March 2018 

Local authority AEB and apprenticeship funds return, and the School Financial Value Standard Assurance Statement for 2017 to 2018

ESFA sent an e-mail to all local authorities on 15 March 2018. The email explains the process for LAs to submit 2 returns:

• the adult education budget (AEB) and apprenticeship funds return for 2017 to 2018, due by 30 April 2018
• the school financial value standard assurance statement for 2017 to 2018, due by 31 May 2018

ESFA require LAs to:

• upload a Chief Financial Officer signed AEB and apprenticeship funds return to the ESFA’s Information Exchange by 30 April 2018, they have published guidance on GOV.UK
• upload the school financial value standard assurance statements to the ESFA’s Information Exchange by 31 May 2018

You should upload all files to the ESFA Information Exchange in the document exchange ‘Finance and Payments’ folder, under ‘AY 2017-18’.

To access Document Exchange log into ESFA Information Exchange and choose the Document Exchange tab at the top of the page. For support and guidance about ESFA Information Exchange, please visit their support page.

Special post-16 institutions and non-maintained special schools revenue funding

ESFA are starting to upload funding allocation statements to ESFA Information Exchange for special post-16 institutions (SPIs) and non-maintained special schools (NMSS) this week. All statements should be available by the end of next week except for a small number, who ESFA will contact about their data returns.

ESFA are uploading allocation statements to the Document Exchange ‘revenue funding’ folder, under ‘AY 2018-19 (2018/19)’. The Document Exchange is accessible by logging into the Information Exchange, and choosing the Document Exchange tab at the top of the page. For support and guidance about Information Exchange, please visit their support page.

ESFA have published detailed guidance to help you understand your allocation.

ESFA will consider business cases where there is a significant error in the data you have returned. The deadline for business cases is 27 April 2018. ESFA will apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether they will consider your case. Please review the thresholds published in the supporting information before submitting your business case.

If you have any queries please contact them using their online enquiry form.

Free meals in further education guide for 2018 to 2019

ESFA have published the free meals in further education guide for 2018 to 2019. The updated guide includes changes to eligibility for students and parents in receipt of Universal Credit.

Calling all users of Information Exchange

To support their research, ESFA want to talk to a broad mix of customers in different roles and organisation types. Your input will help make user centred improvements and prioritise future developments.

Can you give 45 minutes of your time to help improve Information Exchange? ESFA are flexible and can do this over the phone, via web meeting, visit you, or you can come to them at their Coventry location.

To share your views and experience, please fill in your information in this short form so they can contact you to arrange a time and date that suits you. The form will only take a few minutes to complete and will close on 30 March 2018.

If you have any questions please contact them at [email protected].

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Education & Skills Funding Agency’s weekly round-up of business-critical information to ESFA-funded colleges, other training organisations and direct grant employers. (21 Mar 2018). 

Data Managers research panel volunteers – to help with continuous improvements to our data systems

A part of their service user continuous improvements, ESFA are looking for data and service managers to join their research panel.

For more information and to get involved, follow the survey link.

Helping providers understand implications of the adult education budget devolution/delegation from 2019 to 2020

As part of the preparations for devolution/delegation the Department for Education have issued illustrative AEB allocations for 2018 to 2019 to Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA).

These illustrative budgets give MCAs and the GLA an indication of the AEB they can expect to receive in the funding year 2019 to 2020.

ESFA have published what this means for providers on GOV.UK.

Adult education budget funding rules 2018 to 2019

This week, ESFA will publish a draft version of the adult education budget (AEB) funding rules 2018 to 2019.

These rules apply to all providers of education and training who receive AEB funding from the ESFA.

If you have feedback on how they can make the funding rules clearer or better understood, please email [email protected] by Wednesday 18 April.

2018 to 2019 adult education budget funding rates and formula

ESFA have published version 1 of the 2018 to 2019 adult education budget funding rates and formula document.

This sets out the principles and features of the funding system for the adult education budget for the 2018 to 2019 funding year.

There are no changes to the how ESFA set funding rates or the funding calculation in the funding year 2018 to 2019.

If you have any feedback on this document please contact the service desk and ask for it to be assigned to the Rates and Learning Aims group.

Advanced learner loans 2018 to 2019

This week ESFA have published:

• a draft version of the advanced learner loans funding rules, these rules apply to all providers of education and training who hold a loans facility with ESFA – performance-management rules are currently being reviewed and will be in version 1 due to be published in May

• 2018 to 2019 advanced learner loans catalogue: this lists qualifications that are available for a loan up to 31 July 2019

• 2018 to 2019 advanced learner loans maximum loan amounts: these cover all designated qualifications, where learners start between 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019

• advanced learner loans prospectus for 2018 to 2019: this sets out for awarding organisations the criteria and process that ESFA will use to designate qualifications for loans

If you have any questions, contact your provider manager.

Final qualification achievement rates for 2016 to 2017

ESFA will publish the final qualification achievement rates (QAR) data for 2016 to 2017 tomorrow, Thursday 22 March 2018 on both the HUB and through the Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards. The BI dashboards will include both the national and provider type QARs for benchmarking your rates.

The National Achievement Rate Tables for 2016 to 2017 will be published tomorrow, Thursday 22 March at 9:30am.

If you have any questions, please contact the service desk.