Industry Placements: Capacity and delivery fund (CDF) for 2019 to 2020

Information for 16 to 19 providers for industry placement(s) capacity and delivery funding (CDF) from academic year 2019 to 2020.

Updates relating to:

• delivery models and approaches framework
• development of an employer support fund and package

Alternate delivery models and approaches framework

Throughout the 2018 to 2019 academic year we have carried out extensive engagement and have listened to suggestions, innovations and concerns raised by those providers and employers engaged in early delivery of industry placements. In response to this feedback, we have identified a series of additional models which can be used to ensure placements are high quality, meaningful and deliverable across different industries, as well as being accessible for all students. The framework comprises models which are applicable to all routes, as well as a number of industry-specific models, as listed below. Therefore we have adapted the principles that providers work to for 2019 to 2020 academic year.

A summary of the new models of delivery are listed here, full details are included in the relevant sections below:

Applicable to all placements

• Industry Placement across 2 employers: A single industry placement (average 350 hours, minimum 315 hours) can be split across 2 employers if needed
• work taster activities: Students can undertake short work taster activities, of up to 35 hours in total, to help them decide on an area in which to specialise. These can be counted towards a student’s total number of placement hours to meet the minimum of 315 hours
• SEND: A provider’s on-site facilities can now be used for students with Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) for up to 105 hours where they are occupationally relevant to the student’s field of study. This must be in the best interests of the student and carefully aligned to their learning and development objectives
• Young Offenders: On site facilities can be used for the full duration of placements for young offenders
• minimum duration: The minimum duration of 45 days will not be a requirement for 2019 to 2020 academic year delivery. Industry placements should be on average 350 hours with a minimum of 315 hours. Whilst a typical working day on a placement is between 7 to 7.5 hours, the total 315 hours can be delivered at the discretion of the provider in accordance with the needs of the employer and the student (for example, if shorter days are required for those with SEND, part time work or other commitments, or to accommodate different industries working patterns)

Industry specific placements only

• Construction: Students can now complete a Commercial, Charitable or Community Project for a maximum of 105 hours of their placement, working closely with an external employer to develop appropriate technical skills. The rest of the hours should be spent individually with an external employer to ensure the student gains experience of the workplace working independently from peers
• Construction and Engineering & Manufacturing: Students can now spend a maximum of 105 hours of their total hours within an already established Skills Hub or Training Centre; in such a case, students will then need to complete the remainder of their placement with this same employer
• Digital: Students studying a Digital course can now undertake a placement that develops their general Digital knowledge and skills as opposed to those only relevant to their specific specialism

Employer support fund

For the 2019 to 2020 academic year we will be trialling limited provision of financial support to employers, in order to help us to better understand the financial barriers faced by employers to offering placements, and how these differ across industries. This will inform future thinking on the support needed by employers to deliver industry placements ahead of T Levels. We will select a small cohort of providers within selected geographical areas to take part, and selected providers will receive further details on this in the coming months. We will publish further information when it is available.

Employer support package

An employer support package will be developed to support employers throughout the 2019 to 2020 academic year. This will be designed to equip employers with the information and understanding needed to build their confidence and effectively plan and implement high quality placements. We will procure an organisation to develop and implement this package of support alongside industry professionals. The package will include both general and industry-specific guidance, face-to-face workshops, webinars and “on-demand” hands-on support. More information will be available at the beginning of the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

Further information about the updated policy and additional support package being developed is set out in more detail.

Purpose

The purpose of this information is to detail the arrangements for applying to deliver industry placements through the CDF in 2019 to 2020 academic year, for those providers that did not receive an allocation of CDF in 2018 to 2019 academic year.

Background

The CDF is to facilitate the build-up of capacity and capability to deliver substantial industry placements (previously referred as work placements) and deliver placements in the 2019 to 2020 academic year. The placements are for students on vocational and technical study programmes at level 2 and level 3. It is recognised that the delivery of significant industry placements as part of T Levels will be a significant step change for the sector. This is why funding is being provided now to help build capacity ahead of the roll out of T Levels, from 2020, which industry placements will be an compulsory part of.

The CDF funding is additional to the mainstream allocation, which is based on planned hours for qualifications and employability, enrichment and pastoral (EEP) hours. The industry placement must be delivered on top of the usual planned hours.

This is the second round of funding, the first was for delivery in 2018 to 2019 academic year. The approach to further application rounds for CDF funding for industry placements beyond the 2019 to 2020 academic year has not yet been decided. We strongly advise that providers wishing to deliver T Levels at any time in the future apply for CDF in this round. This will enable them to invest in the capacity and capability to deliver Industry placements as part of T Levels in future.

Industry placement delivery

Providers who are opting in for CDF will be required to deliver an industry placement for 20% of their qualifying funded students. If, for example, you have 1,000 qualifying students, then we would expect you to deliver at least 200 industry placements in 2019 to 2020 academic year.

From 2019 to 2020 academic year if providers arrange industry placements for students studying AGQs that have not been used to calculate the CDF allocation, to help build their capacity in other curriculum areas/industries, this will count towards the 20% delivery target.

Now T Levels are confirmed as level 3 programmes we are also increasing our emphasis on level 3 students. Therefore for delivery in 2019 to 2020 academic year we are introducing a requirement to prioritise level 3 placements. Providers will be required to deliver at least 10 percent more level 3 placements compared to their baseline split between level 2 and level 3 qualifying students.

For example – a provider with 1,000 qualifying students, split equally between L2 to L3 (500 students at L2 and 500 at L3):

• they will need to deliver a placement for 20% of their qualifying students, so 200 placements
• this is a baseline of 100 level 3 students in a placement
• the minimum number of placements for level 3 students would be to increase the 100 by 10%
• therefore a minimum of 100 x 1.1 = 110 level 3 placements during 2019 to 2020

To calculate this we will look at the proportion of qualifying students that were on level 3 study programmes in 2017 to 2018 academic year, apply that proportion to the minimum number of placements required in 2019 to 2020 academic year, increase the level 3 delivery by 10% and then calculate the minimum number of level 3 students we expect to be on a placement in the year.

Giving priority to Level 3 Students for CDF Industry Placements examples

PDF, 225KB, 1 page

Update on the qualifications that count towards the 20% CDF target for the 2019 to 2020 academic year

In 2018 to 2019 academic year, students on Applied General Qualifications (AGQ) courses that undertook ‘T Level style’ Industry placements funded through the capacity delivery fund, were not counted towards the 10% Industry Placement target as they did not fall within the published definition of a ‘qualifying student’ for the 2018 to 2019 cohort.

We have had lots of feedback on this issue and we have reviewed the position for 2019 to 2020 academic year. Based on this feedback, students undertaking an AGQ that undertake an industry placement can be counted towards the target from 2019 to 2020 academic year.

From 2019 to 2020 academic year providers that arrange industry placements for students studying AGQs that have not been used to calculate their CDF allocation to help build their capacity in other curriculum areas/industries, this will count towards the 20% delivery target.

This change does not affect the 2019 to 2020 CDF allocation where AGQs have not been used to determine the allocation.

Further guidance documents

This guidance provides an overview of the requirements for funding, recording and delivering industry placements. In addition links are provided to the following supporting documentation on principles for delivering high quality placements and useful resources based on learning from the industry placement pilot that was run by The Challenge.

Guide for 16 to 19 providers completing the industry placement capacity and delivery fund (CDF) implementation plan for 2019 to 2020 academic year

MS Word Document, 99.1KB

Principles of a substantial industry placement

The industry placements delivered with this funding must be:

• delivered to the published standards and principles
• a minimum of 315 hours in length, with an expected average within each provider of 350 hours (this excludes 1 hour per day for lunch). Whilst a typical working day on a placement is between 7 to 7.5 hours, the total 315 hours can be delivered at the discretion of the provider in accordance with the needs of the employer and the student (for example, if shorter days are required, or to accommodate different industries’ working patterns)
• occupationally specific and focused on developing the practical and technical skills required for the profession or trade that the student is studying for (Digital placements may be industry-specific where students develop general Digital knowledge and skills, as opposed to being occupationally specific)
• taking place normally with a single employer but in all cases with a maximum of 2 external employers that is; on a site external to the student’s learning environment independent of their fellow students and teaching staff
• SEND students may spend a maximum of 105 hours of placement within a providers’ on-site facilities, and those in Young Offenders Institutes may spend the full duration of placement within on-site facilities
• set learning objectives that are agreed between the employer, student and provider (note: the same objectives is to be worked towards even if a placement is conducted with more than one employer)
• adequately supervised by a named member of the employers staff
• monitored by actual site visits from the provider, with review meetings at the start, middle and end at a minimum to review the student’s progress, and supplemented by more informal engagement and communication throughout

And should also:

• be delivered within the academic timetable as far as possible but we recognise in some occupations, peak times will either be seasonal or fall outside the providers’ normal working hours, such as catering, hospitality or events management
• deliver a real life job role
• have learning aims agreed at the start of the industry placement between the provider/employer/student and monitor progress throughout

Providers should ensure that students with Special Educational Needs will (as far as possible) be able to access the same quality of industry placement provision as their peers.

Qualifying students

To confirm eligibility for 2019 to 2020 academic year we initially used 2016 to 2017 student data to calculate provisional qualifying student numbers. For the allocation for 2019 to 2020 academic year we have used actual year-end 2017 to 2018 student data.

Students that meet all the following criteria will be treated as qualifying students for CDF in 2019 to 2020:

• students that are full time, that is those with total planned hours recorded as above 540 if aged 16 or 17 and 450 hours for an 18 year old. This includes High Needs Students (HNS) that have met the qualifying start period for their study programme
• students aged 16, 17 and 18
• students aged 19 to 25 with an educational health care plan (EHCP) are included. (students who are 19 to 25 years old at the beginning of their 2-year programme are not included)
• students who are enrolled on a level 2 or level 3 programme, with a vocational core aim, which might be included in the technical education routes planned for introduction from 2020 to 2021 academic year. A list of qualification types included is set out below. It should be noted that General Vocational Qualifications are included but Applied General Qualifications (AGQs) are not. Though AGQs will be regarded as counting towards minimum delivery target in 2019 to 2020, they continue to be excluded for the purpose of allocations

A list of excluded AGQs is available below.

This list of AGQs excluded from the allocation calculation has been updated in February 2019 to include some older AGQs that were not previously included, to ensure consistency with previous years data. The updated list has been used to calculate CDF allocations for 2019 to 2020. An earlier list was used to calculate the CDF figures in the allocation calculation toolkit (ACT) for this year, so the figures in your allocation may be different from those in ACT as a result.

List of Excluded Applied General Qualifications

PDF, 200KB, 5 pages

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The above criteria in no way indicates which qualifications will be subject to defunding in the future.

Qualification types at levels 2 and 3 included in identification of qualifying students

The qualification types included in identifying qualifying students are listed below:

• Advanced Diploma
• Associate Diploma
• Award
• Certificate
• Certificate of Competence
• Diploma
• Diploma (14 to 19)
• Edexcel First Diploma (new syllabus)
• Edexcel First Extended Certificate (2012 onwards)
• Edexcel National Award
• Edexcel National Certificate (new syllabus)
• Edexcel National Diploma (new syllabus)
• First Certificate
• Introductory Certificate
• National Certificate
• National Diploma
• National Extended Diploma
• National Vocational Qualifications
• Principal Learning within Diploma (14 to 19)
• Professional Diploma

Qualifying providers

We will offer an allocation of funds to all providers funded by ESFA for 16 to 19 study programmes with qualifying students as defined above. This inclusive approach allows almost all providers currently offering vocational programmes that could evolve into one of the Technical Education Routes to receive an allocation. Allocations will be based on the number of qualifying students enrolled with each provider in the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

To qualify for funding providers will need to have an Ofsted overall effectiveness grading of “Requires Improvement” or better. In addition, the Department for Education reserves the right not to make an allocation where a Notice to Improve is in place, where a provider is at risk of financial difficulty or where there are any other known issues that could prevent or affect quality delivery.

Implementation plans

For 2019 to 2020 academic year our approach is to fund capacity building activity and a minimum level of placement delivery. This activity must be documented in a complete Implementation Plan.

Therefore, to receive CDF funding providers, that did not receive CDF in 2018 to 2019 academic year, will be required to submit an implementation plan to ESFA via a survey mechanism. The questions covered by the plan and guidance for completing the implementation plan are published on GOV.UK. Providers should note that without a completed implementation plan, ESFA will not make an allocation.

Implementation plans will fulfil a number of functions. Firstly, they will demonstrate a commitment from the provider to building capacity and capability within their organisations to deliver high quality, substantial industry placements. Secondly, to outline how that commitment will be implemented and finally to provide information on how a provider plans to utilise the allocation.

The implementation plan will ask for a description of the short and medium term actions that the provider will take to deliver placements and for a description of how this additional funding will be used, to lead to high quality industry placements for qualifying students. It will ask how you will collaborate locally with other providers and colleges. Providers will want to take a wide, whole organisation approach to planning the introduction of industry placements, ensuring integration with other developments and programmes.

The implementation plan must be completed by any eligible provider who wishes to receive this funding. Providers with an Ofsted rating of Requires Improvement must answer additional questions so ESFA can be assured that quality improvement activity, which might affect the quality of delivery, is being addressed.

ESFA will write to all eligible providers before the end of July 2018 identifying their number of qualifying students, the number of placements required in 2019 to 2020 academic year and providing a direct link to the implementation plan they need to complete.

ESFA will review all implementation plans for completeness. If the level of detail is not considered sufficient, feedback will be provided, the provider will be asked to submit a revised plan by a specific deadline (allowing approximately three weeks). ESFA will not provide an allocation where the revised implementation plan is still considered incomplete.

Allocation of funding for 2019 to 2020 academic year

The funding methodology is designed to reflect current delivery and to distribute the funds widely to all providers that currently meet the criteria and deliver full time Technical Education at levels 2 and 3.

We base the level of funding for each provider on the number of qualifying full time students, at a rate of £250 per student enrolled on eligible programmes.

To avoid small payments, which providers may find to be of little use, we will make:

• minimum payment of £2,500 for providers with 1 to 10 qualifying students
• a minimum payment of £5,000 for providers with 11 to 20 qualifying students

To qualify for funding providers will need to have an Ofsted overall effectiveness grading of “Requires Improvement” or better. In addition, the Department for Education reserves the right not to make an allocation where a Notice to Improve is in place, where a provider is at risk of financial difficulty or where there are any other known issues that could prevent or affect quality delivery.

Providers should be clear that access to the CDF does not imply future eligibility to deliver or receive funding for the development or delivery of T Levels. We will monitor delivery of industry placements in 2019 to 2020 academic year.

Opting in or out of an allocation

Following the issue of this guidance eligible providers will be notified of the number of qualifying students we intend to base their allocation on. From this, they will be able to estimate their first year’s allocation, to enable them to plan.

It is expected that most eligible providers will want to take full advantage of this opportunity, to provide their students with high quality industry placements. Especially those that deliver significant volumes of vocational study programmes. Therefore, we have used wide and inclusive definitions to identify qualifying students and eligible providers.

We strongly advise that providers wishing to deliver T Levels at any time in the future apply for CDF in this round. This will enable them to invest in the capacity and capability to deliver Industry placements as part of T Levels in future.

However, this funding is not compulsory and therefore each provider will be required to “opt in” to receive an allocation. They will do this by submitting an implementation plan to ESFA via a survey mechanism.

By “opting in” providers will be agreeing to:

• utilise the funding to build capability and capacity for delivery of high quality substantial industry placements
• the delivery and completion of high quality substantial industry placements from the 2019 to 2020 academic year following the published principles set out on GOV.UK
• deliver and complete a set number of high quality substantial industry placements in 2019 to 2020 academic year, based on no fewer than 20% of the number of qualifying students
• where possible, prioritise the delivery of placements for level 3 students
• provide a completed implementation plan template to ESFA by the 21 September 2018 for review, that clearly outlines what the short and medium term actions are that will be taken to prepare for delivery from 2019 to 2020 academic year
• provide monitoring/progress reports termly by midnight on 1 October 2019, 1 February and 1 June 2020
• conduct student satisfaction surveys
• to record all high quality substantial industry placements fully in the ILR, school census or HESA at each data return point

By “opting out” providers will be indicating to ESFA they do not wish to receive this funding.

To opt out providers are asked to notify ESFA by selecting the appropriate answers on the implementation plan and completing a brief explanation, to inform future planning.

Future increases in delivery

The main purpose of this funding is to build capacity at an individual provider level in order to deliver high quality substantial industry placements for all vocational and technical students. A provider’s CDF allocation for 2019 to 2020 academic year will be based on the number of students on eligible programmes in 2017 to 2018 academic year. For the 2019 to 2020 academic year, we expect providers to deliver industry placements for at least 20% of the qualifying student number used in the CDF allocation. We will set each provider a numerical target based on this percentage. We then expect the figure to be delivered to increase year on year.

Payments

Profile payments will be made from September 2019 for academies and August 2019 for all other providers.

Use of the funding

The number of qualifying students in 2017 to 2018 academic year forms the basis for the allocation for the CDF allocation. The majority of funding is for capacity building activity to improve the infrastructure to deliver high quality substantial industry placements, in 2019 to 2020 and in future when T Levels are rolled out. We also expect the minimum 20% delivery requirement for industry placements to be achieved.

We will not be prescriptive on how the funding is used, as long as it supports the intention of building capacity to deliver more substantial industry placements and represents good value for money (for example does not constitute double funding or displacement of other funding).

Supporting students financially

Information relating to supporting students financially can be found on GOV.UK.

Recording substantial industry placements

The Department will be issuing new guidance on how to record CDF industry placements soon; and this will be included in the updated version of the ILR user manual for 2018 to 2019, and the guidance for the school census.

CDF industry placements are to take place on top of the existing study programme hours and providers have been allocated CDF funding in addition to mainstream funding for qualifying students. Therefore, industry placement hours must not be included in the planned hours recorded for the study programme, as stated in our 2018 to 2019 information on GOV.UK.

We have introduced a new learning aim on the ILR and the school census specifically for recording industry placements, for monitoring and funding purposes and this will help to differentiate between CDF industry placements and external work experience that forms part of the students’ Employability, Enrichment and Pastoral (EEP) study programme hours.

It is also important to note that, as things stand, where hours are currently spent on work experience that is an existing and compulsory part of a study programme, these cannot be counted towards the industry placement hours delivered through CDF because providers are already being government funded for these through mainstream funding. This is unless students are able to do the required industry placement hours (minimum of 315) on top of those hours for the existing work experience that are recorded as planned ‘qualification hours’ on the ILR and school census. As we set out in the consultation response, we will be working with the sector over the coming months to consider whether any flexibilities should be applied.

Monitoring and progress reports

We will require providers to provide us with an update on the progress they are making on their implementation plan termly from autumn 2019. We will expect an update on progress for all areas described in the Implementation Plan. For evaluation purposes, we will be particularly interested in the details of the method of delivery chosen. From spring 2020, we will require further progress reports, setting out the level of industry placement provision that has occurred in 2019 to 2020 academic year.

Update to funding agreements

We have updated some clauses in our annual funding agreements/contracts for services with providers, to provide for the following:

• where a provider does not meet the minimum number of placements, the ESFA may seek to recover funds, and/or may take this into consideration when considering future CDF allocations
• where a provider is assessed to be financial health inadequate, or the provider / education and training provided is judged by Ofsted to be inadequate, the ESFA may withhold any remaining profiled allocations, and may take such assessments into consideration when considering future CDF allocations

These clauses may vary by provider type therefore it is advisable that providers become familiar with these new clauses in their Funding Agreements.

Links to T Levels

CDF is not linked directly to T Levels, and funding will allow for the development of students on a vocational programme to undertake a substantial industry placement. In future years as T Level development progresses the allocation of funding may be more closely aligned to programmes with a more direct link to T Levels. One of the key principles of an industry placement is it should be occupationally specific and focused on developing the practical and technical skills required for the profession or trade the student is studying for.

As T Levels are rolled out, we will investigate making future funding conditional on placements being completed. Over time, the delivery of industry placements will become a requirement of the T Level programme completion and at that point will be monitored via accountability measures through ILR/school census and HESA data. Additional funding will be available to support delivery of T Level programmes in future. We will consult on wider T Level funding arrangements in autumn 2019 in advance of the introduction of T Levels.

ESFA enquiries

Contact formhttps://form.education…

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Timescales for funding industry placement capacity and delivery fund

Published 12 July 2018 
Last updated 22 May 2019 + show all updates

1. 22 May 2019 Information updated to reflect new package of support following announcement on Sunday 19 May
2. 21 February 2019 We have added a List of Excluded Applied General Qualifications.
3. 12 July 2018 First published.

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