Correspondence

ESFA Update academies: 2 February 2023

Published 2 February 2023

Applies to England

1. Reminder: academies land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) deadline

Thank you to those trusts who have already submitted their land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) return. For everyone else, this a reminder that the deadline for submission is Tuesday 21 February 2023.

The return must be completed by all the academy trusts in scope with at least one open academy on 31 August 2022.

You can find guidance, the optional LBCT workbook and a link to the online form on our LBCT GOV.UK webpage.

The GOV.UK page has details of the regular Microsoft Teams calls for all LBCT form users throughout the collection period. The next one is Thursday 2 February from 10.30am to 11am.

2. Information: guidance updates - mutual closure and free school presumption

The following guidance has been updated on gov.uk:

• Closure of an academy by mutual agreement
• Free school presumption

We have responded to feedback on how this guidance could be improved, updated outdated references, and made some clarifications.

Guidance on making significant changes (changes typically affecting the number and/or type of places an academy offers) also remains in place.

Please remember to follow the relevant guidance and engage with the department early.

Failure to follow the guidance may risk you breaching your funding agreement.

3. Information: the high needs place change enquiry window for 2023 to 2024 closes Friday 3 February

Local authorities and providers have until Friday 3 February 2023 to contact ESFA to query their place numbers for 2023 to 2024.

We have published the high needs place change request outcomes: 2023 to 2024 that will inform ESFA funded place numbers for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

You should review the published outcomes to ensure the numbers reflect those expected. If your provider is not listed, this means no change was notified by your local authority and the published place numbers for 2022 to 2023 will be used as the basis of your allocation for 2023 to 2024.

You can find more information about the enquiry window in the high needs place change process guidance.

4. Information: mid-year funding claim for 2022 to 2023

The mid-year funding claim window will open at 9am on Wednesday 8 February 2023.
Please submit your mid-year funding claim by 5pm on Monday 13 February 2023. The claim form will be available on submit learner data. The funding claims user guide is available to help you complete the form.

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through these contracts:

• grant funded - ESFA funded adult education budget (AEB) (adult skills, community learning, 19 to 24 traineeships and national skills fund Level 3 adult offer (Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs))
• grant funded - advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)

Please be aware that 16 to 19 providers do not need to submit a mid-year claim.

Once you have submitted your mid-year funding claim on submit learner data, you will also be able to view it on Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any queries, please use ESFA help centre to contact us.

5. Information: exceptional in-year growth for 2022 to 2023 for 16 to 19 education

Each year (subject to affordability) we award in-year growth funding to those grant-funded institutions which have recruited significantly more students than we allocated. There are some important changes this year to the methodology from the one used in 2021 to 2022, we have:

• not made an adjustment for under-delivery in the previous year
• changed how we calculate the thresholds for element 2 for specialist post-16 institutions and centrally funded exceptions
• removed the cap on bursary allocations introduced as part of the transitional arrangements in 2020 to 2021.

We have now published the details of the calculation for awarding exceptional in-year growth for 2022 to 2023. We will be informing institutions eligible for growth by mid-February and revised funding allocations will be available through Document Exchange. Eligible growth will be paid from the March payment run.

6. Information: allocation toolkits available to support 2023 to 2024 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations

Allocation calculation toolkits (ACT) confirming how we have used 2021 to 2022 data to calculate funding elements which will be used in the calculation of 2023 to 2024 16 to 19 revenue funding allocations for school and academy sixth forms have been made available on Document Exchange this week.

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, please contact us using our online enquiry form.

7. Information: frequently asked questions on the academies land and buildings collection tool (LBCT)

The online form for the academies land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) is now live. The deadline for submission is Tuesday 21 February 2023.

These are some of the most frequent questions we’ve had this week.

7.1 Do I have an operating or finance lease on my occupancy?

This year there is a new question in the land and buildings section of the LBCT. We ask if you treat your occupancy as either a finance or an operating lease.

The majority of leaseholds held in the academy sector are 125-year leaseholds with the local authority. In these instances, select ‘finance lease’ and set the discount rate to zero. If you have a lease that isn’t a long lease with the local authority, please refer to your lease contract for details.

This doesn’t apply to any church owned land, freehold, customary occupancy, and development agreements.

To find out more about occupancy, see our LBCT guidance.

7.2 How do I change diocese contact details?

Select a church owned land occupancy in your return and you can edit the diocese contact details once you’ve gone through the occupancy section. You can change the contact details, delete entries, and add new diocesan users. You’ll only be able to enter diocesan users who are registered in IDAMs.

To find out more about this please refer to the LBCT guidance.

7.3 Which information will be required on the new Leased Asset section?

This year, the land and building collection tool (LBCT) will ask academy trusts to tell us about any assets leased at both trust and academy levels that are not land or buildings. This is a new mandatory section for this year. We need to collect the information to meet the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16 non-land and building leases requirements.

You’ll find a video tutorial on ESFA YouTube channel detailing how to complete the section.

7.4 How can I give feedback?

There are number of ways you can do this. You can either send some feedback via the academy questions or you could join a sector call and talk to us about your return. Also, when you submit your LBCT return, you’ll receive an email with a link for a feedback survey.

7.5 Where can I find more information?

For any further guidance and updates, please visit our LBCT page on GOV.UK where you will be able to view the summary guidance, the optional LBCT workbook and the link to the online form.

8. Information: free school meal protections extended until March 2025

The free school meal (FSM) protections policy was introduced in 2018 to protect those eligible for FSM from becoming ineligible while Universal Credit (UC) is being rolled out. This was originally set to last until March 2022 and was subsequently extended to March 2023.

The end date for protections has now been extended further until March 2025. This is when we expect UC roll-out to be complete for most cohorts.

This means that a pupil who was FSM eligible on 1 April 2018, or who has become eligible under the benefits/low-earnings criteria since then, will continue to receive free meals, even if their household income exceeds the eligibility threshold, up until March 2025 and then until the end of their phase of education.

These changes are being incorporated into revised FSM guidance.

9. Information: flood/storm and water damage workshops for risk protection arrangement (RPA) members

Willis Towers Watson is providing risk management support for all RPA members through audit, guidance and advice. As part of the risk management support, RPA members are invited to a workshop covering:

• how to identify and control flood and storm risk to your school to reduce the impact on premises, plant and equipment
• maintenance in relation to water systems to reduce the risk of water damage

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis

• 9 February 2023
• 28 February 2023

10. Information: book a 1:1 chat to discuss your school’s buying needs – spaces available on 15 February

Schools Commercial Team are offering the opportunity for a free, virtual 1:1 conversation with a member of the team, to see how we can support you.

You can speak to us about anything you like to help you make informed buying choices for your school.

There is no pressure or obligation to take any of our recommendations forward following the conversation. Book your 1:1 conversation now.

11. Information: energy and your school – join our free webinar on 9 February

Sign up now for this free webinar and get a full overview of the DfE support available to help with buying energy and energy efficiency goods and services.

We’ll show you how you can buy energy for your school using our DfE-approved frameworks. We’ll also give an overview of the latest additional school capital funding and talk you through how you can buy energy efficiency goods and services via our DfE-approved energy efficiency frameworks.

12. Information: the Department for Education is seeking views on future qualifications to support progression to T Levels

As part of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 2 and below, the Department intends to consider for funding level 2 qualifications designed to support progression to T levels; approved qualifications would be available for first teaching from 2026. These qualifications could be taken by young people as part of a broader T Level Transition Programme (TLTP), or by adults outside of a TLTP. The Department is seeking views on how the national content it has developed for the TLTP should be used in developing these qualifications.

Full details about the proposals and how to provide feedback via the online questionnaire can be found online. The deadline for submitting responses is Thursday 6 April 2023.