Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 8 November 2023

Updated 9 November 2023

Applies to England

1. Action: reporting unspent 16 to 19 Bursary Fund and free meals in further education funding 

You must contact ESFA each year to report the amount of unspent 16 to 19 Bursary Funding and/or free meals in further education funding that you are holding outside of the one year carry forward rule. 

For academic year 2023 to 2024, this means you need to inform us of the total amount of any unspent funds (that you haven’t previously reported to us) from any year up to and including the 2021 to 2022 academic year. We encourage you to do this as soon as you are aware, however you must tell us no later than 31 March each year. We will recover all unspent funds. 

When you know you have funds to return, you should contact us using our online enquiry form. When you make contact, it is helpful if you specify the amount of funding being returned, whether it is bursary fund or free meals in further education and which year the funding is from. This is particularly important if funds for more than one year are involved. 

We will send further reminders as the academic year continues. 

2. Action: check your recovery email for the 2022 to 2023 National Tutoring Programme grant 

This week, we are emailing all schools that received the 2022/23 National Tutoring Programme grant to confirm whether we will recover any funding.  

If you do not receive an email by 14 November, please contact us. 

We will email you from [email protected] and use the email addresses provided when your organisation completed the year-end statement, or contact details from Get Information about Schools if your organisation didn’t submit the form.   

As set out in the grant conditions, we may recover funding based on what you told us in your year-end statement. If you did not complete the year-end statement, we will recover your full allocation. 

We are planning to email local authorities, including virtual school heads, next week.  

3. Information: Academy Finance Professionals November National Event 

Join our national virtual conference on Thursday 30 November 2023 from 10am to 12:30pm.  

This is our 3rd national conference with guest speakers, including:  

• an introduction from David Withey, Chief Executive Officer of the ESFA who will share his vision and how the agency can support the sector. 

• Paul Rickeard, CEO of the Durham & Newcastle Diocesan Academy Trust on falling pupil numbers and financial management. 

• Tom Goldman, funding policy lead on school funding 2024-25 and beyond. 

• Tanya Arkle, Deputy Director of ESFA Schools Resource Management (SRM) with an update on the SRM programme.  

There will be an opportunity at the end of the conference to ask questions to a panel of experts from across the department. 

Please register now to guarantee your place. 

4. Information: academies land and building collection tool - the form deadline has now passed 

The deadline for the online form for the academies land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) has now passed. The deadline for submission was 11.59pm Tuesday 7 November 2023. 

If your trust return is still showing as ‘Not started’ or ‘In progress’, please log in to the from, complete and submit the return as soon as possible. 

If your trust and academy statuses are showing as ‘Ready to submit to DFE’ please log in and click the ‘Submit return to DFE’ button. This is the final step, and you must do this for your return to be submitted to us. 

Please note if you have church owned land, diocesan review is required and you need to speak with your local diocese as soon as possible to discuss diocesan review.  

Your login details will be the same as those used for the budget forecast return and accounts return. If you are struggling to access the form or it’s your first time completing it, please read the registration guidance. 

If you need any support to help complete your return, please see our webpage to access the guidance and to find out when our sector calls are.  

Alternatively, you can use the ‘academy questions’ service to contact us. Select ‘Academies Financial Returns’, and quote ‘LBCT’ and your Companies House number. 

Find out more about how we use sector financial data and a comprehensive overview of the different financial returns. 

5. Information: new pensions guidance on academy conversion methods 

The Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) for the Local Government Pension Scheme has published new guidance on the different actuarial approaches utilised when a local authority school coverts to an academy.  

The guidance was developed by a working group for the SAB, which included representatives from the academy sector, ESFA, pension funds, scheme actuaries, trade unions and the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities.  

The SAB Guidance on Academy Conversions has been published on the SAB website. 

6. Information: a new resource hub to support Mental Health Leads in schools and colleges  

A new online resource hub has been launched by Anna Freud. Commissioned by the Department for Education, Anna Freud have collaborated with a range of education and mental health experts to produce this new hub for mental health leads and other education staff.  

The hub will support schools and colleges to embed and sustain a whole-school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. It offers practical resources and tools from trusted organisations, including senior mental health lead training providers, all under one roof, further supporting mental health leads to continue to develop their role and better support the children and young people in their setting.   

The hub has been designed in consultation with a wide range of sector and professional bodies, including the Association of Colleges, to ensure it is suitable for different setting types and age ranges, including colleges, distinguishing between the bespoke needs of a varied workforce.  

7. Information: Stratford-upon-Avon and Wakefield school business professional (SBP) roundtables – spaces available  

Are you responsible for buying for your school or trust?  There are spaces available at our Stratford-upon-Avon and Wakefield roundtable events.  

If you are based nearby and would like to join colleagues from across your region to network, share your procurement issues and priorities, and find out more about the free procurement support available from DfE, book your place now: 

• Stratford-upon-Avon – Tuesday 28 November, 12:30 – 16:30  
• Wakefield – Thursday 7 December, 09:00 – 13:00 

8. Information: are you looking to buy gas or electric for your school or trust? 

If your energy contract is coming up for renewal, there are several DfE approved frameworks offering a quick, simple and competitive route to buy.  

The Schools Commercial Team is hosting a series of free webinars with a focus on DfE approved energy frameworks, to help you make an informed choice on the best deal for your school. Click on the links to find out more and book your place: 

• Buying electricity and mains gas for your school through ESPO 

• Buying electricity and mains gas for your school through LASER 
• Buying electricity and mains gas for your school through West Mercia Energy 

You can find the full programme of webinars for the remainder of the autumn term on the Autumn 2023 webinar page.  

9. Information: join these webinars on approved frameworks and see how you could save money for your school 

Are you a school business professional who buys goods and services for your school?  

The Schools Commercial team host regular webinars on how using DfE approved frameworks could help your school get value for money. Click on the links to find out more and book your place: 

• Buying catering services for your school 
• Buying cleaning services for your school 
• The Risk Protection Arrangement - an alternative to commercial insurance 
• How the Get help buying for schools service can support your school buying 
• Buying tailor-made audit services for academies and schools 

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 gain an understanding of your experience as a user of ESFA services. The session would 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 kindly, 

• send an email to [email protected]  
• provide your availability that is convenient for you before the Monday 13th November 2023.  

Research sessions will be conducted from Monday 13th November till Friday 17th November 2023. 

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

Please note that we may not be able to shortlist every respondent due to logistic constraints.