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.

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
12 December 2018
Last updated
3 AprilJuly 2023 — See all updates

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

From 1 August, 2023, we will no longer fund a standalone national traineeships programme.

The last start date for traineeships under the current programme is 31 July 2023. Traineeships started on or before this date will continue to be funded as set out in the technical guidance, when available.

Read the written ministerial statement on the skills update from the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education.

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

We issued all allocations through manage your education and skills funding service (MyESF) .

How we calculate allocations

We confirm the approach used for calculating allocations when we issue the allocations. Each year, 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 2023 to 2024

The 19+ allocations technical guidance sets out in detail the allocation methodologies and data sources we used to calculate ESFA funded allocations for the 2023 to 2024 funding year. We publish calculators in April to help you understand your allocation value.

Information on previous years allocation methodologies is available below in supporting documents.

Allocation timeline

We will publish information and updates to the timeline as we make progress on delivering allocations for 2023 to 2024.

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

Month Activity Latest News
December 2022 6 December 2022 is the ILR R04 deadline. This will be used to calculate procured non-levy apprenticeship allocations for 2023 to 2024 The R04 data return is now closed. Reminder issued in Update on 23 November 2022
February 2023 We will issue apprenticeships non-levy extension contracts (for the 2023 to 2024 financial year) through MyESFmanage your education and skills funding Allocations issued on 1 March
March 2023 Providers must sign their apprenticeships non-levy extension contracts by 31 March 2023 otherwise they will expire  
March 2023 We aim to start to issue ESFA funded AEB and advanced learner loans allocations for the 2023 to 2024 funding year through MyESF.manage your education and skills funding Allocations issued 31 March
March 2023 We will publish guidance to support allocations including calculators and business case forms Allocations technical guidance and calculators published 31 March
March 2023 The business case deadline for apprenticeships non-levy extensions is 31 March 2023. 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 This window is now closed
April 2023 The business case deadline for ESFA funded AEB and advanced learner loans allocations is 28 April 2023. This is to fix significant data errors, not an opportunity to request growth  This window is now closed
June 2023 6 June 2023 is the R10 data return deadline. It is important that providers with apprenticeship carry-in or traineeship allocations submit accurate data as we will use this data to set 2023 to 2024 allocations  The R10 data return is now closed
June 2023 We will communicate the outcomes of ESFA funded AEB, advanced learner loans and apprenticeship non-levy business cases  
July 2023 We will issue apprenticeship carry-incarry-in, AEB (Adult skills and Free Courses for Jobs) and 16 to 18 traineeships and 19 to 24 traineeship allocations through MyESFmanage your education and skills funding  
July/ August 2023 We will issue funding agreements/contracts to providers. Providers must digitally sign agreements/contracts on MyESF.manage your education and skills funding  

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
  • you had a contract value for the 2022 to 2023 funding year but did use it, therefore you have not received a 2023 to 2024 allocation

The deadline for apprenticeships non-levy extension allocations business cases is 31 March 2023.

The deadline for ESFA funded AEB and advanced learner loans is 28 April 2023.

The deadline for apprenticeship carry-in and 16 to 24 traineeship allocations is 6 September 2023.

When not to submit a case

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

How to submit a case

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

Thresholds for business case

We apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether we will consider a case.

For cases where you had contract value for the 2022 to 2023 funding year but did not receive a 2023 to 2024 allocation, you will receive a letter to inform you:

  • the maximum you can request is £25,000 or your current contract value, whichever is lower

For cases where you have made significant data errors that have affected your funding allocation:

  • minimum overall impact must be more than 5% of allocation

When you will receive a response

Where cases have been received for ESFA funded AEB and advanced learner loans, with full information before the deadline, we aimed to communicate outcomes in June 2023.

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 3 AprilJuly 2023 + show all updates

  1. We have updated the allocation timeline for April and June 2023.

  2. We have updated the allocation timeline to show latest progress on delivering the 2023 to 2024 allocations.

  3. We have updated the page to include the timeline for delivering the 2023 to 2024 allocations.

  4. Updates to the Allocation timeline.

  5. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

  11. We have updated the 19+ funding allocations timeline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  19. First published.

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