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16 to 19 education: funding allocations

Information about how 16 to 19 funding is allocated to colleges, providers, schools and academies.

16 to 19 funding allocations

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funds schools, academies, colleges and independent learning providers. We calculate funding using the 16 to 19 national funding formula. The formula is driven by student recruitment and includes factors which reflect student retention, higher cost subjects, disadvantaged students and area costs. The 16 to 19: how it works page includes further information about each element within the 16 to 19 national funding formula.

Funding calculated using the national funding formula is also supplemented by additional funding for high needs students, and funding which provides financial support to students to help with their education costs.

16 to 19 revenue funding information for academic year 2021 to 2022

We will publish information and updates to the timeline as we deliver funding allocations for 2021 to 2022.

For 2021 to 2022, special academies’ 16 to 19 funding will not be included on their general annual grant (GAG) allocation statement. Special academies will receive a separate 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement by the end of March.

For 16 to 19 funding allocations from academic year 2021 to 2022 onwards we will calculate both disadvantage block 1 and bursary elements 1 and 2 using the updated 2019 index of multiple deprivation (IMD) data. We have explained how using IMD 2019 will impact the calculation of disadvantage elements below.

Allocations timeline

Please check out the latest news column on the timeline for regular updates.

Month Activity Latest news
December 2020 4 December 2020 is the ILR R04 deadline – this is the first 16 to 19 data return for 2020 to 2021 The R04 data return is now closed
December 2020 Publication of dedicated schools grant schools block and high needs block allocations for 2021 to 2022 (prior to academy recoupment)  
January 2021 We will start to publish guidance to support funding allocations. We will issue the allocation calculation toolkits containing funding factors to colleges. We will publish outcomes of the high needs place change process for 2021 to 2022  
February 2021 4 February 2021 is the ILR R06 deadline. We will issue the allocation calculation toolkits containing funding factors and student numbers to schools and academies. We expect to start issuing allocations, including high needs place numbers, to most school sixth forms, academies, special academies, colleges and higher education institutions  
March 2021 We will issue allocations to all special post-16 institutions, non-maintained special schools and independent learning providers. We will also issue any remaining allocations to school sixth forms, academies and colleges  
April 2021 The business case deadline is 30 April 2021 for all institutions to return any business cases in relation to a significant data error or exceptional circumstances affecting their allocation. This excludes high needs place numbers because we will open a 2-week window for enquiries in January 2021 following publication of the outcomes of the high needs place change process.  
May/June 2021 In May, we will review and process business cases received by the deadline with full and complete information and communicate these outcomes by the end of June  
July/August 2021 We will issue funding agreements/contracts to institutions either directly or through the lead contact. Agreements/contracts signed and returned by funded organisation  
August/September 2021 The first payment will be made to local authorities (in respect of schools with sixth forms) and directly to academies, colleges and other institutions  

Business cases for major data errors

Update to business case deadlines and communicating outcomes

When to submit a business case

Cases received with full information before 30 April 2021

  • we aim to communicate outcomes for straightforward cases within 20 working days
  • complex cases can take longer to investigate, and we aim to communicate outcomes for these before the end of June

Cases received after 30 April 2021 or with missing information

  • we will consider cases with missing information or those received after 30 April 2021
  • we aim to let you know the outcomes as soon as we are able, but for some of the more complex or late cases you might receive decisions from July onwards
  • for these cases any adjustment to your allocation will be actioned as a contract variation

You should only submit business cases where you have made a significant error in your 16 to 19 schools census or individualised learner record (ILR) data. This should be by exception and only after you have received your funding allocation statement.

When not to submit a case

This process does not cover business cases for high needs place funding for institutions that are within scope of the high needs place change notification process. This process is now complete and we will not review any requests for changes.

How to submit a case

You should contact us through our online enquiry form, clearly stating the nature of your business case. When appropriate we will send you a pre-populated template when you contact us to make sure we have all the evidence we need.

ESFA enquiries

Contact formhttps://form.education…

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Thresholds for business case

We apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether we will consider a case. For the academic year 2021 to 2022 we are reducing the thresholds by half.

For cases affecting lagged student numbers, full-time/part-time split, funding factors and the condition of funding:

  • an overall impact of 2.5% on total programme funding or £50,000, whichever is lower

For cases not covered above:

  • an overall impact of 2.5% of the funding related to that element
  • for example: if the case relates to level 3 programme maths and English the 2.5% would be in relation to total funding for level 3 programme maths and English payment

In addition to the above there will be an overall impact of 2.5% on student support funding for cases affecting free meals or residential bursary funding.

This reduction is for 2021 to 2022 to reflect the exceptional circumstances of coronavirus (COVID-19) and a higher threshold may apply for future academic years.

Data sources

Data sources for 16 to 19 and post-16 high needs funding for academic year 2021 to 2022

This section sets out the methods we will use to determine the number of students attracting funding in 2021 to 2022. We have set this out by institution type.

School, academies, free schools, studio schools, university technical colleges

  • lagged numbers based on 2020 to 2021 students in autumn 2020 census. We fund some academies on estimated numbers where their funding agreement states this

FE colleges, some other FE or higher education institutions

  • we take the number of eligible students with a reference date of 1 November 2020 based on R04 (2020 to 2021). We multiply this by the ratio of 1 November to all-year student numbers based on R04 (2019 to 2020) and the R14 return for that year. We compare this figure with the student numbers calculated from R06 (2020 to 2021), both the year-to-date (as at 1 February) figure and the number recruited by 1 November

Independent learning providers

  • depending on the profile of recruitment for the individual provider, we will either use1) a twelve month rolling figure for February 2020 to January 2021 based on R14 (2019 to 2020) and R06 (2020 to 2021) data, 2) the same approach as set out above for FE colleges, or 3) the average of approaches 1) and 2)

There may be a delay in issuing allocations for institutions where we use R06 data.

Local authorities, some other FE institutions

  • where the use of in-year data is not appropriate, we will use a full year figure based on R14 (2019 to 2020)

Maintained special schools

  • we allocate post-16 high needs place funding directly to local authorities. Local authorities then determine the post-16 place funding to allocate to individual maintained special schools

Special academies

  • we use published 2020 to 2021 academic year high needs place numbers, revised by place changes notified to the ESFA by local authorities in November 2020

Special post-16 institutions (SPI)

  • we will allocate programme funding (element 1) and high needs funding (element 2) using counts of valid students from 2020 to 2021 ILR R06 data returns. We will use a reference date of the 1 February 2021

Note that for those institutions normally subject to lagged funding, the lagged approach does not apply where there is a material change in the volume of provision offered by the institution. In those cases we remove the institution from the lagged approach, and funded student numbers are calculated as set out in the funding rates and formula guidance.

Formula elements

This attachment shows the data source formula elements (PDF, 78.6KB, 1 page)

Changes to the indices of multiple deprivation used for 16 to 19 funding calculations

We set out in the 16 to 19 rates and formula funding guidance that we expected to use the new 2019 Indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) for 16 to 19 funding in 2021 to 2022, and that this will result in changes to the disadvantage factors used for allocations from that year.

We now confirm that for 16 to 19 funding allocations from academic year 2021 to 2022 onwards we will calculate both disadvantage block 1 and bursary elements 1 and 2 using the updated 2019 IMD data.

This will result in changes to the outcome of the disadvantage and bursary calculations, when compared to the 2015 indices in particular, because the new indices re-order the lower super output areas determined as most deprived across England.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government website contains detailed information on changes to the deprivation indices for 2019. Some of the key findings published are:

  • overall, 88% of neighbourhoods that are in the most deprived decile according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 (IMD 2019) were also the most deprived according to the IMD 2015
  • deprivation is dispersed across England: 61% of local authority districts contain at least one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England
  • Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Knowsley, Kingston upon Hull and Manchester are the local authorities with the highest proportions of neighbourhoods among the most deprived in England. This is largely unchanged from the IMD 2015
  • many London boroughs have seen a reduction in the proportions of their neighbourhoods that are highly deprived from the IMD 2015

The result of moving to the 2019 indices on 16 to 19 funding factors for 2021 to 2022 allocations will first be shown in the allocations calculations toolkit (ACT) issued in early 2021.

We understand funded institutions will be keen to assess the likely impact as early as possible and we recommend reading through the material published on the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government website in the first instance.

We aim to share more information on the impact of this change in early in 2021.

16 to 19 revenue funding allocations process academic year 2020 to 2021

We have published a video explaining the allocations statement for academic year 2020 to 2021.

16 to 19 funding allocations process

Allocations timeline

The 2020 to 2021 revenue funding allocations timeline is now complete.

If you have any queries please contact us using our enquiry form.

ESFA enquiries

Contact formhttps://form.education…

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Resources

Published allocations

Published 10 March 2014
Last updated 17 December 2020 + show all updates

  1. We have updated our 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations timeline and information for academic year 2021 to 2022.

  2. Link to the 16 to 19 funding allocations data for 2020 to 2021 has been added.

  3. We have updated the progress along the allocations timeline for August/September 2020.

  4. We have updated progress along the allocations timeline.

  5. We have updated our progress along the allocations timeline for April 2020

  6. We have updated our guidance on COVID-19 exceptional business cases for free meals in further education and 16 to 19 bursary fund

  7. We have updated the Business cases for major data errors section for 16 to 19 funding.

  8. We have produced a video to help you understand your revenue funding allocation statement for 2020 to 2021

  9. We have updated our advice on when to submit a business case for major data errors

  10. We have updated the ‘When not to submit a case’ section because the high needs place change notification process is now complete.

  11. We have updated our timeline

  12. We have added a how to submit business cases section

  13. We have updated the page with data sources for 16 to 19 and post-16 high needs funding for 2020 to 2021

  14. We have updated our timeline for activities completed in November

  15. We have updated our timeline and information for academic year 2020 to 2021

  16. We have added a link to the allocations data for 2019 to 2020

  17. The allocations timeline has been updated

  18. We have updated the page with the latest information for academic year 2020 to 2021

  19. We have updated the allocations timetable.

  20. We have updated this guidance with information for special post-16 institutions.

  21. 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations process for academic year 2019 to 2020 has been added.

  22. 16 to 19 allocation timeline updated.

  23. A video on the 16 to 19 funding allocations process for 2018 to 2019 has been added.

  24. 16 to 19 allocation timeline updated.

  25. 16 to 19 allocation process for 2018 to 2019 has been updated.

  26. 16 to 19 funding allocation timeline updated.

  27. Added a new section to the allocation timeline.

  28. A video explaining the funding allocations for 2017 to 2018 has been added.

  29. This page has been updated to reflect 2017 to 2018 allocation cycle

  30. Allocations process for academic year 2017 to 2018 has been updated.

  31. Added link to the 16 to 19 funding allocations for the 2016 to 2017 academic year

  32. General update to page.

  33. Section under Allocations process 2016 to 2017 academic year has been added.

  34. Changes to EFA funding for 16 to 19 year olds – 2016 to 2017 video has been added

  35. updated information and tables added to 16 to 19 funding allocations

  36. Explanatory note further education student number statement – academic year 2015 to 2016 has been added

  37. Calendar updated – funding video added

  38. 2014 to 2015 allocation explanatory notes uploaded to page

  39. First published.


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