Guidance

19+ funding allocations

Information on how we allocate adult education budget, 19 to 24 traineeships, advanced learner loans, 16 to 18 traineeships and non-levy apprenticeship funding to providers.

Applies to England

Purpose

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is accountable for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults.

This page explains how we allocate funding for:

  • ESFA funded adult education budget (AEB), including 19 to 24 traineeships
  • advanced learner loans (ALL) facilities and bursaries
  • 16 to 18 traineeships and bursaries, for providers without 16 to 19 funding
  • apprenticeships carry-in and apprenticeship non-levy extensions

We will publish information and updates to this page as they become available.

We will issue all allocations through manage[manage your education and skills funding service (MyESF).(MyESF).

How we calculate allocations

We will confirm the approach used for calculating allocations for 2022 to 2023 when we issue the allocationsallocations. laterEach thisyear year.we We aim to communicate the allocations by the end of March. We calculate allocations on an annual basis using nationally consistent methodologies, taking into account the current policy position and affordability.

The general principles we typically follow at present when setting allocations are to:

  • reflect historic (lagged) delivery and current allocations to ensure future allocations are in line with what providers can realistically earn
  • ensure all providers are treated fairly and equitably
  • protect public funds and meet principles of public law
  • enable providers to respond to government priorities.

We are reviewing the approach to allocations for future years as part of our wider funding and accountability reforms.

19+ funding for academic year 2022 to 2023

WeThe will publish details on 19+ allocations technical guidance when allocations are released. Thissets willout set out, in detail,detail the allocation methodologies and data sources we useduse to calculate ESFA funded AEB, advanced learner loans and 16 to 18 traineeships allocations (for providers without 16 to 19 funding) for the 2022 to 2023 funding year.

The apprenticeshipsWe non-levywill technicalpublish guidancecalculators forlater 2022in April to 2023help explainsyou howunderstand weyour calculatedallocation allocations for the 2022 to 2023 financial year.value.

Allocation timeline

We will publish information and updates to the timeline as we make progress on delivering allocations for 2022 to 2023.

Please check out the latest news column on the timeline and our ESFA Update for regular updates.

Month Activity Latest News
December 2021 6 December 2021 is the ILR R04 deadline. This will be used to calculate procured non-levy apprenticeship allocations for 2022 to 2023 The R04 data return is now closed. Reminder issued in Update on 24 November 2021.
FebruaryMarch 2022 We will issue apprenticeships non-levy extension contracts (for the 2022 to 2023 funding year) through MyESF.  Allocations issued on 15 March
March 2022 Providers must sign their apprenticeships non-levy extension contracts by 31 March 2022 otherwise they will expire.  
March 2022 We aim to start to issue ESFA funded AEB, 19 to 24 traineeships, advanced learner loans and 16 to18 traineeships allocations for the 2022 to 2023 funding year through MyESF.  Allocations issued on 31 March
March 2022 We will publish guidance to support allocations including calculators and business case forms.  Allocations technical guidance issued on 31 March. We aim to publish calculators by 13 April.
April 2022 The business case deadline for apprenticeships non-levy extensions is 01 April 2022. This is to address significant R04 data errors that have affected the allocation we have calculated for you. It is not an opportunity to request growth.  
May 2022 The business case deadline for ESFA funded AEB, advanced learner loans and 16 to 18 traineeships allocations is 06 May 2022. This is to fix significant data errors not an opportunity to request growth.  
May 2022 We will communicate the outcomes of apprenticeships non-levy extension allocations business cases.  
June 2022 6 June 2022 is the R10 data return deadline. It is important that providers with apprenticeship carry-in allocations submit accurate data as we will use this data to set 2022 to 2023 allocations  
June 2022 We will communicate the outcomes of ESFA funded AEB, advanced learner loans and 16 to 18 traineeships business cases.  
July 2022 We will issue apprenticeship carry-in allocations through MyESF.  
July/ August 2022 We will issue funding agreements/contracts to providers. Providers must digitally sign agreements/contracts on MyESF.  

Business cases

When to submit a business case

You should only submit business cases where you have made significant data errors that have affected your funding allocation.

The deadline for apprenticeships non-levy extension allocations business cases is 1 April 2022.

The deadline for ESFA funded AEB, 19 to 24 traineeships, 16 to 18 traineeships (for providers without 16 to 19 funding) and advanced learner loans is 6 May 2022.

When not to submit a case

We will not accept requests for growth or cases that are not related to data errors.

How to submit a case

You should complete the business case template and send it to us using our online enquiry form.

When you will receive a response

Where cases have been received with full information before the deadline we aim to communicate outcomes of non-levy apprenticeships extensions cases in May 2022 and adult allocations cases in June 2022.

Complex cases can take longer to investigate, and we aim to communicate outcomes for these before 1 August 2022.

If successful, changes will be reflected in contracts from the start of the funding year

Supporting documents

Published allocations

Contact us

If you have a query, please use the ESFA online form

Published 12 December 2018
Last updated 315 MarchApril 2022 + show all updates
  1. Amended section on 19+ funding for academic year 2022 to 2023 to reflect publication of technical guidance. Also amended the allocation timeline to reflect updates for March 2022.

  2. We have added the GOV.UK link for the 19+ funding allocations guidance for 2022 to 2023 under the 'supporting documents' section.

  3. We have updated funding allocations information for 2022 to 2023, including the allocations timeline and information on business cases.

  4. We have added the GOV.UK link for the funding allocations to training providers for 2021 to 2022 under the 'published allocations' section.

  5. We have updated our allocations timeline, along with updated business case information. The deadline for business cases is now 14 May 2021.

  6. We have updated details on this page including the allocations timeline and business case deadlines.

  7. We have updated the 19+ funding allocations timeline

  8. We have updated our timeline and updated the business case deadlines.

  9. We have updated the allocations timeline and details of how and when to submit business cases.

  10. We have made some changes to the 19+ funding allocations page for 2020 to 2021

  11. We have added the GOV.UK link for the funding allocations to training proviers: 2019 2020 to the exisiting page.

  12. We have updated information for continuing learners for academic year 2019 to 2020

  13. We have added guidance explaining how we have calculated allocations for the 2019 to 2020 funding year.

  14. We have updated the information on non-levy apprenticeship funding.

  15. First published.