Correspondence

ESFA Update local authorities: 14 February 2024

Published 14 February 2024

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2024

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-14-february-2024/esfa-update-local-authorities-14-february-2024

1. Action: national non-domestic rates (NNDR) digital form user research sessions now available

Can you help us improve the national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims form for billing authorities?

We want to improve the digital form used by billing authorities (including those local authorities who are also billing authorities) who are implementing the centralised NNDR payment process for local authority maintained schools and academies. Gathering feedback on your current experience will help us to improve the form process.

You can now book a confidential online Microsoft Teams interview with a user researcher. These are available until Friday 23 February 2024 and the session will last approximately one hour. To receive further information and book your interview, you can email our user researcher, [email protected], providing your availability and preferred times.

Please do consider getting involved, as the information you provide will help ensure we understand your needs and be able to design improvements to the claims form to meet these.

2. Information: 16 to 19 funding arrangements for 2024 to 2025

We have published details on how 16 to 19 funding will work for academic year 2024 to 2025 and confirmed the timeline for delivering allocations.

We have increased the national funding rate for students aged 16 and 17 and students aged 18 and over with high needs in band 5 to £4,843, and we will continue to fund an extra 40 hours per student. We’ve also confirmed the funding rates for T Levels and other students.

We’ve introduced the below new policies for 2024 to 2025:

We’ve increased rates for:

We’ve made changes to the maths and English condition of funding to explain:

  • the minimum teaching hours for maths and English
  • how we will implement a phased removal of the tolerance starting in 2025 to 2026

You can see a summary of what’s changed by clicking on the ‘see all updates’ link towards the top of each GOV.UK page.

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

3. Information: take part in Further Education Mastery Specialists (FEMS) expansion

The Department for Education (DfE) has expanded the FEMS programme for post-16 level 2 maths, with fully funded training for at least 80 Further Education (FE) teachers in 2024 to 2025.  

The FEMS programme is coordinated by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) as part of the Maths Hub programme. This free 2 year programme supports participants to develop highly effective approaches to teaching GCSE maths resit and Functional Skills Maths, using the principles of teaching for mastery.  

Teaching for mastery is a pedagogical approach based on techniques used in high performing East Asian countries and aims to develop a deep and connected understanding of maths for all learners. As well as increasing their own knowledge, participants will help develop teaching for mastery approaches in their own institutions, spreading the benefits more widely, while being supported by peers from the FEMS programme. 

To find more information, visit post-16 GCSE and Functional Skills Qualifications Mastery Specialists.

4. Information: introducing The Customer Help Portal

The way you contact the DfE and Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is changing. From 4 March, we are introducing a new Customer Help Portal that revolutionises how you ask questions and get tailored support. For more information, see our help centre article.

5. Information: Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) members invited to book a place on this Statutory Inspections workshop

Willis Towers Watson is providing risk management support for all RPA members through audit, guidance and advice. As part of the risk management support, RPA members are invited to a workshop covering statutory inspections

Places are for RPA members only and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please see the below sessions:

Back to top