ESFA Update 26 March

I believe this is the final ESFA update before the ESFA is subsumed into DfE and the become DfE updates.

An early publication of the Rates and Formula Document which so far we have only had a cursory glance at but a few striking points.

Updated all references to the document formerly known as Funding regulations; it is now called Funding rules

• To us this suggests strongly that we will see tighter enforcement and less flexibility in application of the rules. A way of saving money through the application of sub clauses.

Made a change under heading ‘Withdrawing and enrolling at another provider’ to clarify funding when a student moves from one provider to another.

• This Confirms a change we noticed when reviewing allocation toolkits and may influence your thinking on accepting a student who wants to join you after census day.

A lot to unpack here

• Students who arrive after census day are not counted as a student in the following years allocations.
• You record them as enrolled from date of arrival and all their programme details and the hours you will deliver over the part of the year they are with you.

IMPACTS/CONSIDERATIONS

The student will likely be recorded in a lower funding band and impact future funding in two years’ time.

Should the student withdraw after completing 42 days but before being able to be count as retained they will be a non-retained student and negatively impact funding.

When determining if you can accept a student you may now need to consider

What funding band will they sit in this year

Do you Trust them to remain until they can acquire retained status

In our view this is a disincentive to enrolling a student after census day, particularly one who you have little confidence will remain and apply themselves to their programme of study.

Paragraph 56 is also interesting

“When students complete their programme significantly earlier than the planned end date, and move onto another programme, DfE may require providers to update the planned hours to claim the appropriate amount of funding.”

So, a student Completing early or leaving after doing a GCSE resit only and not continuing with their programme should have their hours adjusted to represent what was delivered in the year up to the point of leaving.

We believe this along with the changes to Exceptional Growth and Business cases are designed to deliver the “savings” required in the Post 16 budget of DfE.

You are clearly now expected to understand the fine scale of the RULES and any errors will result in lost funding rather than the allowances previously in place. rather than the allowances previously in place.