ESFA weekly round-up – Issue 382
Education & Skills Funding Agency’s weekly round-up of business-critical information to ESFA-funded colleges, other training organisations and direct grant employers. (6 Dec 2017)
New funding monitoring reports published
ESFA have begun publishing the new suite of funding monitoring reports on the Hub to support the financial assurance: monitoring the funding rules 2017 to 2018 plan. The remaining reports will be available following the R04 ILR data submission. Please review these reports to ensure your data is recorded accurately.
ESFA have also published the funding monitoring reports user guide which explains how to access the reports and correct your data if required. It also details the action they will take to rectify any identified funding issues at year-end.
For further information, please contact the service desk.
Apprenticeship carry in allocations for May to December 2017 non-levy starts
ESFA will shortly be issuing apprenticeship carry in allocations for apprentices that started with non-levy employers between 1 May 2017 and 31 December 2017. This allocation will initially cover the costs of these apprentices from January to July 2018.
This funding is separate to any funding that providers may receive through the non-levy procurement.
Please contact your ESFA provider manager if you have any queries.
Careers Strategy launched
Skills Minister, Anne Milton launched the government’s careers strategy this week at the Careers and Development Institute Annual Conference.
The careers strategy, to be delivered in partnership with the careers community, employers, educators, sets out a long-term plan to build a world class careers system that will guide and develop the nation’s homegrown talent – wherever they are from and whatever their background.
The National Careers Service has an exciting and dynamic role to play in the implementation of the new careers strategy. The service will provide impartial, professional, careers information advice and guidance to adults in England with specialist support for those who need it most, as well as extending and enhancing the digital offer to bring the best information, advice and guidance tools to everyone.
ESFA e-bulletin for schools, colleges, local authorities and other 16 to 19 providers: 7 December 2017
Submitting college finance records for 2016 to 2017 by 31 December 2017
Colleges must submit their 2016 to 2017 audited financial statements and supporting documentation to ESFA by 31 December 2017.
The following documents should be submitted to [email protected] and follow the naming conventions below.
| Document type | File naming convention |
|---|---|
| Audited annual report and financial statements. | UKPRN_FS_1617_college code |
| A scanned copy of the finance record cover sheet signed by the accounting officer. | UKPRN_FRsigned_1617_college code |
| The unsigned finance record excel workbook. | UKPRN_FR_1617_college code |
| External auditor’s management letter including the college’s response. | UKPRN_ML_1617_college code |
| Annual report of the college’s audit committee. | UKPRN_ACAR_1617_college code |
| Where appropriate, audited annual report and financial statements of subsidiary company accounts, if submitting accounts information for more than one subsidiary, please amend the file name to sub2 etc. | UKPRN_FSsub1_1617_college code |
| Any other supporting documents. | UKPRN_[brief description]_1617_college code |
The subject field of your submission email should include the college name and ‘1617 Finance Record’.
For further information or related queries, please contact the ESFA enquiry service.
Further Education college survey about risk protection arrangement
We are currently exploring the option of a risk protection arrangement (RPA) type arrangement in the further education (FE) sector similar to that which is in place for academy trusts. The RPA for academy trusts is an alternative to insurance where the government funds cover losses that arise. The RPA started on 1 September 2014 with academy trust members subject to a deduction from their General Annual Grant. In order to inform the feasibility study we need to understand the nature of the arrangements currently in place for FE.
We have launched a survey for FE colleges to assist in our research which should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. The survey will close on the 15th December.
To complete the survey, you will need:
- current policy documentation
- recent claims data (ideally last 3 years)
If you have any comments or queries, please contact us via our online enquiry form.
16 to 19 revenue funding allocations survey feedback
In September we issued a short survey on products we produce to support 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations.
We used the survey to help us understand when and how you use our products. This is because delivering excellent customer service is important to us.
Thank you to everyone who completed the survey. It was good to hear many of you found our products useful and you received them when you needed them.
We are using your feedback to make small changes for 2018 to 2019 academic year. We have started work to address some of the common themes for improvement. They include:
- increase the awareness of our products
- produce some simple guides that will help you to better understand existing products, their purpose and how to use them
- include a ‘what’s new’ section in all our 16 to 19 funding allocation explanatory notes, condensing them where possible to reduce their length
We will continue to improve our products based on your feedback. Please do continue to share any suggestions or improvements you have about how we communicate 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations.
Responses