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With the demise of the ESFA, we have also seen the ESFA update disappear, however this has been replaced by the DfE update whose first version went live on 2/4/25. DfE Update – GOV.UK
It does seem that those who subscribed to the ESFA update have not been migrated to receive notifications of the new update (which is annoying)
This first update has some very important information in it
Information: 2025 to 2026 student financial support scheme guides published
Information: Maths and English condition of funding academic year 2025 to 2026
Information: Post-16 budget grant and Teachers’ pension scheme employer contribution grants (TPSECG)
Information: 2025 to 2026 high needs operational guide has been updated
We will be running a webinar for clients on the Bursary as part of our Summer webinar season.
Today I want to focus on the Changes to Condition of Funding and the new guidance which links us to the technical updates on the process and tells us that the Technical specification for the school census is being updated
16 to 19 funding: maths and English condition of funding – GOV.UK
The summary outlines what the key changes are
“We are introducing changes to the maths and English condition of funding guidance in academic year 2025 to 2026, to enable students to access support that leads to the best outcomes for them. In summary, these changes introduce a requirement for students to be offered 100 hours each of English and/or maths teaching, to be delivered at any point in the academic year. This should be delivered as in person, whole class, stand-alone teaching. As planned, compliance against these requirements will be measured.
We are also asking institutions to continue their best efforts to deliver extra teaching time for maths, totalling 35 hours over the academic year. We will not measure compliance with this.
As planned, we are moving the tolerance to 2.5%, but we will keep it under review rather than move to 0% as previously announced.”
THE RULES ARE MUCH TIGHTER
We have produced a process template to enable clients to follow through the process and assist us in making our checks for compliance
Census Report | Action | Comment |
Prior Attainment |
As previously
Enter details of Prior Attainment status and correct Grade for best of English language and English Literature and for Maths AT Start of Current Academic year.
You enter English Language and status at end of KS 4 for disadvantage calculation
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We have noticed issues where inconsistencies between status recorded, and grades recorded have existed and this has negatively impacted some reports.
We are currently writing functionality which we can use in our system to identify these inconsistencies and include them in our reports
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Learning Aims |
As previously
Base on the grades attained you may have to study an approved GCSE QAN or you may have the option of studying a Functional Skill. Some students with equivalent qualifications may be exempt from the Condition of Funding requirement.
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We have noticed a developing issue where the QAN codes used for some Condition of Funding aims are no longer current.
We would strongly recommend that you review all QAN codes are current for the correct academic year and have not been defunded.
You can check this information via the specific website
We are including a video on using this site in our new training programme which will be launched in June/ July |
FAM |
NEW
It appears that the FAM element of the census is going to be used as the mechanism for identification of compliance of the 100 hour planned programme hours.
This will be a simple entry where you confirm that students that need to meet condition of funding are studying 100 hours, or they are not
Details of the codes are shown below
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We are uncertain on the exact process but we believe that the key driver of errors and queries will be prior attainment grade
Currently students whose Prior attainment suggest they need to study maths or English to meet Condition of funding Generates a query about recording an appropriate Maths or English learning aim.
We believe a similar query will be raised about hours.
A query is automatically generated even if you have correctly recorded the aim and now the hours status and is an instruction to confirm you have correctly recorded the information in the appropriate section of the census.
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Programme of Study |
The requirement is to study 100 hours extra
The setting of how the hours should be delivered are set out in the guidance, effectively these are proper lessons and not ad hoc arrangements |
We can see no process in place to review the actual recorded hours.
However, we are writing functionality to identify students who need to study condition of funding aims and confirm that they are studying additional QUALIFICATION HOURS
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The following FAM codes that we will use to assess whether a student’s planned hours meet the minimum teaching hours for English and/or maths. Institutions must ensure they use the relevant FAM code when submitting student data. These options will not be mutually exclusive and must be completed to ensure accurate data collection.
FAM Type | FAM Code | Description |
EMH | 02 | Student has at least the minimum classroom teaching hours planned for an eligible English qualification |
EMH | 03 | Student does not have at least the minimum classroom teaching hours planned for an eligible English qualification |
MMH | 04 | Student has at least the minimum classroom teaching hours planned for an eligible maths qualification |
MMH | 05 | Student does not have at least the minimum classroom teaching hours planned for an eligible maths qualification |
Remember
Record the correct Status and Grade for each student.
Ensure where the student need to meet Condition of Funding the correct QAN code is used for the aim.
Ensure that a minimum of 100 hours per Condition of Funding QAN is recorded where appropriate.
Ensure that the correct FAM type is recorded for each student needing to meet Condition of Funding
The Condition of Funding tolerance is reduced from 5% to 2.5% before any funding reduction is made
The changes to business case process means that you will no longer be paid the full value of any business case but only the value above the 5% of total value threshold.
We believe that the changes to study hours in the same year as reducing the tolerance will lead to significant issues unless effective systems are in place to review the data using multiple census reports NOT individual learner screens and reports.
Post 16 Funding can be a complex and overwhelming area of school funding. At Pro 16 Plus, we understand the unique challenges and intricacies of Post 16 Funding, and we are here to provide you with expert support and guidance.
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