Post-16 Funding Allocations 2015/16

Allocations Timeline and Process

Colin Stronach – Head of 16-19 Allocations

November 2014

Post-16 Allocations 2015/16

Allocations Timeline and Data Sources

Funding Formula and Funding Bands

Business Cases and Infrastructure

Sub-contracting

Student Support

Allocations Timeline (1)

Date Event

October Autumn funding letterHigh needs exceptional cases received from LAs, ISPs and NMSS (17th)ILR R14 return date (FE - 24th)Autumn census return date (Schools - 29th)

November Review of high needs exceptional cases

December ILR R04 return date (FE – 4th)Funding factors send out to FE institutionsHigh needs budgets confirmed to LAs alongside the outcomes of the exceptional cases process

Allocations Timeline (2)

Date Event

January Funding factors and student numbers to schools, Student numbers to collegesHigh needs places confirmed to institutions

February ILR R06 deadline (FE – 5th)Allocations to most institutions, including high needs place numbers

March Allocations to any FE institutions where lagged numbers are based on R06Business cases from institutions

April EFA reviews business cases and informs institutions of outcomes

Data Sources (Schools/Academies)Autumn Census 2014 – autumn 2014 data for:

Lagged student numbers – i.e. how many students will be

funded

Autumn Census 2014 – end-year 2013/14 data for:

Programme Size (Full-time/part-time)

Funding factors – retention, programme cost weighting,

disadvantage block 1 (economic disadvantage)

These factors determine the level of funding per student

YP Matched Administrative Data, 2012/13 for:

Disadvantage block 2 (GCSE English and maths grades)

Affects the level of funding per student

Data Sources (FE Institutions)

ILR R04 December 2014 and/or R06 February 2015 for:

Lagged student numbers – how many students will be funded

ILR R14 October 2014 for:

Programme Size (Full-time/part-time)

Funding factors – retention, programme cost weighting,

disadvantage block 1 (economic disadvantage)

These factors determine the level of funding per student

YP Matched Administrative Data, 2012/13 for:

Disadvantage block 2 (GCSE English and maths grades)

Affects the level of funding per student

Data Sources (Special Schools and Special Post-16 Institutions)

Special Schools/Special Academies

Agreed high needs place numbers for 2015/16

Funded at £10k per place for post 16 learners, as it is for pre

16

Special Post-16 Institutions

Student numbers will be based on the higher of 2014/15 R04

data and the agreed high needs place numbers for 2015/16

Third year of funding on formula, so expect to use actual data

for programme size and factors

Funding Formula

Headlines

No significant change to formula!

Block 2 disadvantage rate confirmed as £480 (full-time) and

equivalents

National rate per student to be confirmed in January

18yo funding reduction embedded – protection ends

Transitional protection ended

Formula Protection Funding applied as explained later in this

presentation

Funding Bands (1)

2015/16 allocations use 2013/14 data – the first time we’ve

used data post-funding review

Therefore we won’t uprate band 4 to band 5

So, for 2015/16 allocations:

Band 5 will only include 16 and 17 year olds with 540+

hours in 2013/14

Band 4 will include all 18+ year olds with 450+ hours and

all 16 and 17 year olds with 450-539 hours

18+ year olds with high needs will be treated in the same

way as 16/17 year olds

Funding Bands (2)

Band Annual hours Age

5 540+ hours 16 and 17 year oldsStudents aged 18 and over with high needs

4a 450+ hours Students aged 18 and over who are not high needs

4b 450 to 539 hours 16 and 17 year oldsStudents aged 18 and over with high needs

3 360 to 449 hours n/a

2 280 to 359 hours n/a

1 Up to 279 hours n/a

Formula Protection Funding

FPF in 2015/16 will be based on 2013/14 (not 2014/15) as the

baseline. This will meet our commitment to protect funding in

relation to changes to the methodology

The calculation will then be similar to that in 14/15 – ie FPF can

never be greater than the amount in 13/14, but may be less

This means some institutions will get an increase in FPF

compared to 14/15 (see following slides)

£4700

£4,500

£4,000

£500

(1) Formula less than 13/14 in 14/15

23

4

14/15 formula earned less same FPF15/161. Formula is

less than 13/14 and 14/15 – FPF stays the same as 14/15

2. Formula is the same as 13/14, FPF the same as 13/14

3. Formula more than 13/14 and 14/15 less FPF

4. Formula more than 13/14 and 14/15 no FPF

£500

£500£200

1

£500

12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 15/16 15/16 15/16

Formula12/13, 13/14,14/15

Formula 15/16

FPF

£4700

£4,500

£4,000

£500

(2) Formula greater than 13/14 in 14/15

34

1

14/15 formula earned more so less FPF15/161. Formula is

less than 13/14 and 14/15 FPF is the same as 13/14

2. Formula is the same as 13/14 FPF the same as 13/14

3. Formula more than 13/14 and 14/15 FPF is less, to equal the funding per student to the 13/14 figure

4. Formula is greater than 13/14 and 14/15 no FPF

£100

£500

£200£500

2

12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 15/16 15/16 15/16

Business Cases

Business cases can be made for cases of major data error

Post-allocations – so cases will need to be sent in during

March, reviewed by EFA in April

Cases only considered if following thresholds met:

5% or 50 - student number cases

5% or £250k - funding for FT/PT, programme weighting,

retention, disadvantage

Case by case for other categories, such as

infrastructure changes

Infrastructure – New sixth forms

New school/academy sixth forms in existing schools

New quality threshold – good or outstanding

Year 1 – one third of capacity

Year 2 – double actual recruitment in year 1

Year 3 – lagged numbers

…but we will consider exceptional cases for a different profile

Sub-contracting – 2015/16

EFA position remains – whole-programme distance sub-

contracting should be by exception only

Applications process not repeated for another year –

institutions will need to assure themselves that

subcontracted provision is compliant before entering into

such arrangements

EFA will request sample checks by auditors

Refresh of the controls guidance by the end of December

2014

Student Support 2015/16

No change to allocations method for Bursaries, Residential

Bursaries and Care to Learn

Vulnerable Bursary (VB) claims continue to be managed

centrally via Learner Support Service

Free Meals 2015/16 allocations will use R04 data collection

(subject to integrity of data)

Residential Student Support Scheme rules remain unchanged

but administration will move to EFA

Learner Support Service contract currently being re-tendered

Post-16 Funding Allocations 2015/16

Allocations Timeline and Process

Colin Stronach – Head of 16-19 Allocations

November 2014