ESFA: Inform September 2018

Monthly e-news for MI managers, software writers and suppliers about FE data systems and reports, the ILR, open data and other data news.

1. Information: financial assurance – funding rules monitoring reports

The funding rules monitoring dashboard reports on Birst (My BI) will be decommissioned on Monday 1 October.

We have published the R12 funding monitoring reports in the new location and format on the Hub and will publish the R13 reports at the end of this week.

We have also published the updated funding rules monitoring report user guide for the funding year 2017 to 2018 to explain how to use these new reports.

For further information, please contact the funding rules monitoring team through the service desk.

2. Qualification achievement rates (QAR): dashboard decommissioning and new reports

From Monday 1 October 2018, ESFA is decommissioning Birst (My BI) and the dashboards currently accessed through the BI Tools tab on the Hub will no longer be available. If you want to keep any of the QAR reports that are currently stored on Birst, please export and save these before Monday 1 October.

Whilst we upgrade our reporting technology, we are providing interim QAR reports in Excel format. Your final 2016 to 2017 QAR reports and in-year 2017 to 2018 QAR reports will be available this week in the ‘QAR Reports’ section of the data returns page on the Hub alongside the existing QAR data extracts. We will also make the final 2016 to 2017 QAR reports available to Ofsted.

The interim reports contain the same data as the Birst dashboards. We have published new guidance for these reports on the QAR webpage.

We will use this interim report format to publish the provisional and final 2017 to 2018 QAR data, in line with the usual publication schedule.

To access these reports you will need to ensure that your user role allows you to access the data returns page on the Hub. These user roles are different from those used to access Birst. Please see the hub guide to user roles and the in-year guidance.

The Department for Education is committed to providing value for money and making use of the latest technology to offer the most effective reporting tools and enhance user experience. We will introduce upgraded reporting technology to key partners in quarter one of 2019.

3. Hub corner

3.1 R13 for 2017 to 2018

In R13 we processed 5,585 files from 1,553 providers. Over 550 providers submitted their first R13 file within the final 4 days of the R13 collection window, 150 of these submitted their first R13 file on the final day.

867 ILR files were submitted on the last day of the collection window, which is over 15% of the total files submitted during the entire collection window.

3.2 R01 for 2018 to 2019

In R01 we processed 4,809 files from 1,273 providers. Over 810 providers submitted their first R01 file within the final 4 days of the R01 collection window, 233 of these submitted their first R01 file on the final day.

1,327 ILR files were submitted on the last day of the collection window, which is over 27% of the total files submitted during the entire collection window.

3.3 Individualised Learner Record (ILR): R14 for 2017 to 2018

The ILR R14 data collection for the 2017 to 2018 funding year is now open and will close at 6pm on Thursday 18 October. As always, we recommend that you submit your data as early as possible and that you review your validation and funding reports that are made available to you on the hub.

If you need to submit an Earnings Adjustment Statement (EAS) and you do not have access to this on the data returns tab in the Hub, please email our service desk or call us on 0370 267 0001 to request this.

3.4 Individualised Learner Record (ILR): R02 for 2018 to 2019

The ILR R02 data collection for the 2018 to 2019 funding year is now open and will close at 6pm on Thursday 4 October. As always, we recommend that you submit your data as early as possible and that you review your validation and funding reports that are made available to you on the hub.

Please be aware that the Earnings Adjustment Statement (EAS) for the 2018 to 2019 funding year will not be available until at least R03.

4. Reminder: Individualised Learner Record (ILR) for apprenticeships – R14 hard close

It is critical that you make any amendments to your 2017 to 2018 apprenticeship ILR data before the hard close at 6pm on Thursday 18 October. After this date you will not be able to fix any data match issues from your 2017 to 2018 ILR return and will not receive payment for activity relating to August 2017 to July 2018.

5. 2017 to 2018 Year-end Reconciliation Statements

Following the 2017 to 2018 year-end funding claims process relevant to the funding streams below your year-end reconciliation statements will now be available via the Skills Funding Service (SFS).

• grant funded adult education budget (non-procured)
• learner support
• advanced learning loans bursary
• community learning

The year-end reconciliation statements are provisional following the R13 data return, the final reconciliation statements will be published on SFS in November following the final funding claim process.

If you have any queries please contact the //www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfa-inform/[email protected]“>service desk.

6. Final funding claims for 2017 to 2018

You must submit a final funding claim by 5pm on Wednesday 24 October 2018 on the Hub.

For the first time, this year’s claim will include 16 to 19 funding.

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through:

• a grant for your adult education budget (AEB)
• a grant for your 16 to 19 funding
• a grant with an advanced learner loans bursary contract
• a learner support contract
• a community learning contract

The form will be available following the R14 data collection from Friday 19 October 2018. The form will not be submitted unless you click on the submit button. Once you have submitted your claim in the Hub, you will also be able to view it on the Skills Funding Service (SFS) within 15 minutes.

You have 3 additional days to sign your claim. The claim must be signed digitally on SFS by 5pm on Monday 29 October by your principal or a delegated authority.

You will not be able to complete the form after the deadline on Wednesday 24 October 2018.

You can find the adult funding claims guidance and the 16 to 19 education funding guidance for the 2017 to 2018 academic year on GOV.UK. The user guide to help you complete the form is available on GOV.UK.

We will process the final reconciliation transactions for 2017 to 2018 in December 2018.

If you have any queries about this please contact your Provider Manager or Intervention Manager.

7. Information: employers invited to feedback

We are introducing a new feature on the apprenticeship service – “what employers are saying”. We will be inviting employers who have registered apprentices on the apprenticeship service to feedback on specific aspects of their apprenticeship programmes.

The first beta version of the feature will ask for feedback on their training providers. We will publish the feedback on find apprenticeship training to help employers choose their training provider.

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