Correspondence

ESFA Update further education: 13 December 2023

Published 13 December 2023

Applies to England

1. Action: college and local authority Accountability Agreements and Local Needs Duty 

We have updated the college and local authority Accountability Agreements guidance to incorporate the statutory duty to review how well the education and training they provide meets local needs.  

We have made this change as part of our drive to streamline and simplify the reporting expectations we place on providers. This update will avoid the need for colleges to publish two separate documents and enable them to fulfil both requirements for Accountability Agreements and the Local Needs Duty with a single annual return. 

The deadline for submitting your Accountability Statement is 30 June 2024. 

2. Action: tell us what financial information you need to plan your curriculum

ESFA is reviewing the benchmarking tools that it provides to help colleges with curriculum planning. The review will help us to decide whether to continue to provide the Compare your curriculum efficiency benchmarking tool on View your education data (VYED).

You can help to ensure that we provide the tools you need to help plan your curriculum, by completing a short survey. The survey can be completed in 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Information: subcontracting standard update

As per the guidance, providers who subcontract £100,000 or more of their post-16 delivery, across all ESFA funding streams, are required to submit an assurance report on their compliance with subcontracting standards. Thank you to everyone who has submitted their assurance reports.

We are aiming to let providers know the outcome of their assessment of compliance with standards early in the new year. As this is a new process for the department, it has taken us longer than anticipated to process the reports and therefore, the assessments. We apologise for this delay and any inconvenience this has caused.

We understand that some providers, particularly colleges, may be awaiting the outcome of the assessment prior to approving their annual financial statements. We are prioritising the reports submitted by colleges and aim to let them know the outcome of the assessment as soon as possible.

If colleges wish to delay the submission of their annual financial statements to ESFA, beyond the submission deadline of 31 December, they should request an extension, providing the reason, via the mailbox, [email protected].

4. Information: an invitation to all FE Teachers and Leaders – DfE wants to hear your views 

DfE is inviting all teachers and leaders from colleges teaching 16- to 19-year-olds, to join the School and College Voice (SCV). 

The SCV is a regular survey that collects robust insight on high priority topics for the FE sector. 

To join the panel, please click this link: School and College Voice and select the appropriate survey for your role. 

The SCV is your chance to provide your views to DfE. Julia Kinniburgh, Director General for Skills Group, said that: “School & College Voice helps the Department for Education to make effective policy by collecting robust evidence on the most important topics facing the FE sector. We need college leaders and teachers like you to take part in the survey so the department can understand perspectives and experiences, and to check we have the right support structures to help colleges prosper. Please do take part.” 

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges also said that: “The DfE School and College Voice is a great opportunity for college leaders to provide feedback and inform key policy decision making.” 

5. Information: the new Customer Help Centre

We are rebranding the ESFA Help Centre.

During December, the ESFA Help Centre will become the Customer Help Centre and the URL will change to https://customerhelp.education.gov.uk/. Please share this with other colleagues at your organisation who may need to know.

You may notice some changes in the design, layout, and navigation of the website, but the rebranding process will not affect the availability of our services. After the transition to the new URL, if you access the Help Centre with your old links, you will be re-directed to the new address.

The Customer Help Centre will continue to provide you with easy access to information and guidance on topics related to education and skills funding. This information is available for apprenticeships, adult education, traineeships, 16 to 19 funding and more.

Additionally, in early 2024, we will be launching our new Customer Help Portal which will replace our ESFA enquiry form. We will be in touch with further details on the Help Portal as we approach the launch date.

We appreciate your understanding during this transition period. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us using the ESFA enquiry form.

6. Information: launch of new DfE pilot

DfE invites apprenticeship training providers to submit an expression of interest to take part in our new pilot to test the value of targeted and specific mentoring support for apprentices who have Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD), aligned with Minister Halfon’s ambition that all LDD apprentices have access to a suitable mentor on their course. 

The pilot will test whether offering targeted expert support, advice and training to the people providing mentoring to LDD apprentices results in a positive impact on the cohort, both in terms of satisfaction, as well as broader areas such as retention and achievement for these apprentices.

Providers and prospective mentors will be offered a package of bespoke training, advice, and support in how to support people with LDD throughout the pilot. 

If you are interested in taking part in this pilot, please contact the DfE team at [email protected] for more information.

7. Reminder: independent training providers – submission of annual accounts

Any independent training provider with a current contract for services must submit financial statements each year. Financial statements should be submitted as soon as they are finalised and signed. If statements are not received within nine months of the period end, or as requested by ESFA and/or DfE, an inadequate grade may be awarded. A large number are due over the next three months. 

Please remember that we require full unabbreviated accounts that need to include the profit and loss account, balance sheet, supporting notes to the accounts and a full breakdown of the creditors/other creditors (where this is not included in the notes to the accounts). If you are a subsidiary company, we will also need a copy of the latest final signed accounts for the ultimate UK parent company. 

For more information, please refer to: ESFA financial health assessment and submit any accounts to [email protected]. 

8. Reminder: publication of college audited accounts

Further Education Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, and Designated Institutions established or designated under the 1992 Act, who are required to submit their latest audited accounts to ESFA by 31 December every year, must publish these accounts in an easily accessible location on their website as soon as possible after the accounts are signed and no later than 31 January 2024. 

Corporations must retain at least two years of accounts on their website. For more information please refer to Paragraph 10 of the College Accounts Direction 2022-23.   

9. Reminder: planned release of provisional qualification achievement rates (QARs) for 2022 to 2023

We are planning to release your 2022 to 2023 provisional QAR data week commencing 8 January, though this is subject to change and we will confirm nearer the time. 

All data will be made available through the View Your Education Data portal.

You will have until 5pm on Wednesday 31 January 2024 to review your provisional data and inform us of any concerns about how we have implemented our published methodology.  

You cannot request fixes or adjustments to your 2022 to 2023 Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data. 

If you have any queries in relation to your QAR data, please contact us via  our online enquiry form, selecting the QAR query type.

10. Your feedback: user research on your experience of using ESFA funding service 

We are conducting research to understand the needs of ESFA users. 

We would like to invite you to participate in an interview session to help us gain an understanding of your experience as a user of ESFA services. The session will last for up to an hour. You will need access to Microsoft Teams. 

If you are involved in any process to get funding from ESFA for your organisation, and would like to participate, please note the following: 

• Please fill the Screener form before Thursday 21 December 2023.
• We will ask for information about your name, role, and organisation. Your personal data will be kept confidential.
• We would like you to provide your available date / time slot between Tuesday 2 January and Friday 12 January 2024.

If you are shortlisted for the research session, we will send you a meeting invite and a consent form. 

Note we may not be able to shortlist every respondent due to logistical constraints. 

Thank you for considering participation in our work.