Industry placement capacity and delivery fund: principles for high quality industry placements for 2019 to 2020

Delivery of substantial industry placements in return for industry placement capacity and delivery fund (CDF) in 2019 to 2020.

Introduction

High quality, structured and outcome-focused industry placements will be an integral part of the new T Level package. A student will not be able to complete their T Level unless they have undertaken an industry placement. However, industry placements will be important in their own right to help young people gain the skills needed to move into employment. That is why we are making funding available now to ensure high quality industry placements can be delivered before T Levels are introduced. We expect providers to use the investment available through the Industry Placement Capacity and Delivery Fund (CDF) to effectively build capacity and establish links with employers. This funding has been provided to drive forward industry placement delivery, in readiness for T Level roll out from 2020. Allocation of these funds is not determinative of which providers will deliver T Levels or which of the current qualifications being delivered are likely to be defunded.

Purpose

This note sets out the principles we expect providers to use when developing their plans for implementing a high quality industry placement offer for the 2019 to 2020 academic year. It also provides good practice that providers may want to adopt to establish or enhance their industry placement provision. The department is keen that this funding makes an impact as early as possible and to ensure that students undertaking industry placements in academic year 2019 to 2020 are offered a high quality experience that maximises their chances of stepping into skilled employment following their education.

Industry placement principles

This note builds on the high level principles being tested in the Industry Placement Pilot that ran throughout academic year 2017 to 2018 with The Challenge, as well as the principles outlined for the 2019 to 2020 CDF. The principles originally outlined below were developed in consultation with over 150 employers and providers as part of the pilot design. In 2018 to 2019, we have continued to develop these principles to reflect findings from the pilot and meet industry, providers and students’ needs through extensive stakeholder engagement, seeking the views of employers and further education providers, as well as analysing research carried out to date. These principles now apply for T Level industry placements, however we will continue to engage with the sector ahead of formal T Level roll out to ensure they meet the needs of employers, providers and students. For 2019 to 2020 CDF, these principles provide the minimum requirements for industry placement delivery and we expect providers to adopt them.

Timing and duration

1) Our expectation is that industry placements are on average 350 hours in length within an acceptable range of 315 to 420 hours (or more), covering a minimum of 315 hours (this excludes 1 hour for lunch per day). The placement should reflect the normal full-time working pattern of the employer, which would typically consist of 7 to 7.5 hours a day, but may differ across industries. It is important to note that the minimum length of 315 hours is non-negotiable.

Note: Industry placements should be recorded as hours, as opposed to days. This is to recognise how industry professionals in some industries work and allows for shorter working days where needed, such as for students with Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) who may find a full working day too much, or those with caring responsibilities. This still enables students to complete the same overall length as others and therefore attain the benefits associated with this longer duration.

2) Industry placements should be organised in line with the normal requirements of the industry, which may, in some circumstances, be outside normal provider working hours or outside the academic timetable. The requirement for the provider to maintain appropriate review/supervision remains. Examples of this might include the hospitality and catering industry and some agricultural activity.

3) Providers must ensure that student GCSE Maths/English exam preparation (where this applies) is not compromised.

Work-taster activities (optional)

4) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Work taster activities, up to a maximum of 35 hours can be counted towards a student’s total number of placement hours, as long as these are relevant to the student’s chosen pathway. Activities should take place in conjunction with employers and be focused on developing skills or facilitating experiences that better prepare students to enter their placement and/or to make a more informed decision when choosing their specialism. Work taster activities could include job-shadowing, visits to different employers, etc. These hours can be counted in addition to the (up to 2) other employer(s) providing the bulk of the placement.

Part-time working hours (optional)

5) A student’s part-time working hours can be counted towards the required hours of placement, as long as the job is occupationally related to the students’ chosen specialism at Level 3, learning objectives are set and being worked towards, and it is at an environment away from the provider setting and the student’s normal learning environment.

Number of employers (optional)

6) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: A single placement can be split across a maximum of 2 employers where appropriate. Whilst we would still expect one employer to be used in the majority of cases, where 2 employers are involved we would expect a student to have a single set of learning objectives which they work towards during the time spent with both employers.

Occupation specific

7) The industry placement must be occupationally specific and focused on developing the practical and technical skills required for the profession or trade that the student is studying towards.

NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Within Digital courses, students can now undertake placements that develop general Digital knowledge and skills, if necessary. This is to widen access to meaningful Digital placements that still provide valuable opportunities for students to develop relevant industry-specific skills. Students are still expected to have appropriate learning objectives that focus on developing practical and technical skills relevant to Digital occupations.

8) It will be expected that students will already have a number of occupationally relevant skills to apply and practice in the workplace. The provider must agree a structured work plan with the employer(s) for the duration of the placement and meet with the student and employer(s) at regular intervals.

Student readiness

9) The student must be considered work-ready (have an appropriate work ethic and etiquette) to undertake an industry placement, to manage both student and employer expectations of the appropriate behaviours in the workplace.

Externality

10) The industry placement must take place with an external employer (such as, it is on a site external to the student’s learning environment and not on another site operated by the provider). It is critical that the student experiences a real life job role and work life pressures (including travel to work, independence from their peers, working with new people and dealing with the public). This requirement applies even where the institution has extensive facilities mirroring the workplace. There are 2 exceptions here SEND students, and for those in Young Offender Institutions or other custodial settings.

Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) provision

11) Students with SEND must be able to access high quality external industry placements so they can benefit from that real-life experience as much as their non-SEND peers. Providers should consider what preparation and support students with SEND would need in order to access industry placements, and complete them successfully. Providers should use available industry placement capacity and delivery funding, alongside other available funding where appropriate (for example, High Needs or Disadvantage Funding) to provide additional support in the workplace and assist with reasonable workplace adjustments. This could include the services of an independent workplace mentor or, where students have more complex needs, a job coach.

12) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Students with SEND may use on-site facilities for a maximum of 105 hours of their placement, with the remaining hours to be spent with an external employer, in an environment away from the provider’s site, before progressing to an off-site employer. It is expected that the use of on-site facilities will be used to increase work-readiness skills and confidence to enable those with SEND to access an external employer for the majority of their placement. Where some of the industry placement takes place onsite, providers should consider the suitability of a longer period beyond the minimum with an external employer.

This model can only be used where there is documented evidence demonstrating that the student has special needs (including those with an EHC plan). This will be for the provider to determine. Providers should document the need, including formal appraisals where available. Where some of the industry placement takes place on-site, the suitability of a longer period beyond the minimum requirement should be considered, to ensure a student benefits working with an external employer as much as possible. This model should be used sparingly and typically for a short period.

Students in Young Offender Institutions or other custodial settings

13) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Students in Young Offender Institutions or other custodial settings may use occupationally-relevant on-site facilities for the whole of their placement hours.

Provision for Construction students: Commercial, Charitable or Community Projects (optional)

14) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Students studying Construction courses can work in small teams alongside external construction industry professional(s) to develop and implement a project that clearly develops students’ construction skills (for example, building a cricket pavilion, refurbishing a disused school building etc.). We expect students to work away from the providers’ site, and work closely with an external employer during this time to develop appropriate technical skills and work towards their agreed learning objectives. This could make up a maximum of 105 hours of their placement and would count as one of the 2 employers. The rest should be spent working individually with an external employer, independently from peers, to ensure the student still gains a true-to-life experience of the workplace.

Provision for Construction and Engineering & Manufacturing students: Use of Skills Hubs or Employer Training Centres (optional)

15) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: A student can begin their placement within an established skills hub or employer’s training centre for a maximum of 105 hours. The student would then need to complete the remainder of their placement hours with this same employer. We would expect there to be a reason for a student to start a placement within this environment, a suitable objective(s) to be set accordingly (for example, to develop a skill or knowledge needed to access a live site), and for as much time as possible to be spent working on a live site. Every action should be taken to ensure work completed in the skills hub or training centre environment is as close to the normal working environment as possible, including similar working hours and appropriate learning objectives set. This enables employers, where necessary, to build their confidence in students’ knowledge, skills and awareness prior to allowing them on to a live site, whilst still ensuring time is spent in a real-life environment and skills are put to practice in the workplace.

Provision for Digital students: Industry-relevant placements (optional)

16) NEW and optional from 2019 to 2020 academic year: 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 Digital specialism. Under T Levels, this will allow placements to develop student’s skills that are relevant to the whole Digital route. These skills are essential and transferable across all Digital specialisms and should facilitate greater access to meaningful Digital placements.Note: We will review whether this should also apply to other T Levels when the outline content for each is finalised. We will publish further guidance on this ahead of their roll out.

Clear and pre-determined objectives

The principles above outline the key differences between ‘work experience’ commonly offered as part of 16 to 19 study programmes and more substantial ‘industry placements’ that will form an integral part of T Levels, namely, the strong emphasis on pre-defined and industry-specific learning objectives. The industry placement should provide the real-life learning environment to develop and hone the technical skills and behaviours required for the relevant industry. We have specified a longer duration to ensure that students are given sufficient time to master essential skills and develop their strengths; and the employer has the opportunity to develop the students’ technical abilities so they can add value to the business. The time in the workplace must have a clear structure and learning objectives to ensure students get the best from their industry placement; thereby enabling them to secure skilled employment in their field as a result.

For reference please see the assessment forms (PDF, 278KB, 6 pages) that can be used to complete assessments of student work readiness prior to the placement, and then subsequently their progress at mid-point and post placement, developed for the pilot.

Timing and duration – illustrative examples

We have provided illustrative examples (PDF, 326KB, 3 pages) that were developed for the pilots for planning the allocated time into the curriculum, using the day release and block placement industry placement options. These examples have been tested through the pilots. It is anticipated that employers from different industries will have their own preferences as to when to host industry placements during the academic year. We ask that providers offer a degree of flexibility when negotiating the timing and pattern of the placement with employers.

Building internal capacity

We recommend that providers take a whole organisation approach to planning the introduction of substantial industry placements and ensure that this is fully integrated into the core business. In the process of completing the implementation plan, we asked providers to forward plan for the next 2 to 3 years and consider staffing and other capacity issues. By September 2019, we would expect to see progress against these plans. In particular, evidence of the recruitment of dedicated staff to begin sourcing placements; re-training of existing staff; and student work preparation/employability training and time out on placements integrated into the curriculum for delivery from the autumn term.

Collaboration with employers

The department does not underestimate the scale of the challenge to create high quality industry placement opportunities for all technical students in future, in particular, the importance of securing willing employers to host substantial industry placements. When completing implementation plans, providers were asked to set out their overarching employer engagement strategy, including the requirement to identify appropriate employers within the local area and invest time to build networks and relationships, so that providers can successfully deliver high quality industry placements at scale.

Collaboration with other providers

We recognise providers’ experience of delivering industry placements of this nature varies considerably. Smaller and/or less experienced providers may encounter various challenges when building their industry placement offer from scratch. We would expect that leading providers who are actively delivering industry placements will share their local knowledge and expertise (including good practice and materials/tools).

We also recommend that smaller providers collaborate with other neighbouring or similar providers for economies of scale, by being open to pooling resources, for example, hiring a cross-site work placement coordinator and/or sharing the operational responsibilities. It is important that neighbouring providers work together and in partnership with Local Enterprise Partnerships, Chambers of Commerce and/or other local employer representatives, to develop a coordinated local employer engagement strategy.

We have provided illustrative examples (PDF, 326KB, 3 pages) of use of funds and options for collaboration to achieve this common goal.

We hope that all eligible providers take full advantage of this opportunity and use this advice to aid the delivery of high quality industry placement programmes from 2019 to 2020.

Data collection for CDF Industry Placements

New guidance on how to record CDF industry placements (MS Word Document, 57.1KB) on the ILR and School Census is now available. Please read this in conjunction with the latest versions of the ILR provider support manual and school census guidance for 2018 to 2019.

Industry Placement Pilot 2017 to 2018

A pilot scheme (run by The Challenge) ran throughout the academic year 2017 to 2018 to trial the delivery of effective industry placements. The pilot worked with 21 post-16 providers and hundreds of employers to identify best practice for delivering high quality industry placements.

The Challenge have published a set of useful resources to support providers in delivering industry placements, these are available on the AOC website.

We would encourage providers to make maximum use of these resources.

Further guidance on the delivery of industry placements

The additional guidance below is based on lessons learnt and best practice from the industry placement pilot that ran in 2017 to 2018 academic year and the questions that have been raised since the original publication of this guidance in September 2017.

Delivering high quality industry placements

As a provider it is your responsibility to ensure that your students get the best possible industry placement. The DfE will be taking a close interest in how placements are organised and delivered in 2019 to 2020 to ensure they are in line with the high-quality industry placement principles. Please ensure you keep evidence to demonstrate the following:-

• that the institution has taken a whole organisation approach to planning and implementing industry placements so that it is fully integrated into the core business, and that staffing levels reflect this
• the reasons why any of the optional models listed above have been used, including documentation of why the on-site model has been used for SEND students
• that agreed learning objectives have been set for each student on a placement
• that an accurate and sufficient record is kept of the student’s progress against the agreed learning objectives
• that sufficient pre-placement preparation for the student has been put in place to ensure the student is ready to go on the placement
• that each student on a placement has completed a placement log
• the frequency and content of monitoring visits
• that placement breakdowns have been handled effectively, that the provider has dealt with any issues with either the student or employer adequately and that alternative placements for the student have been organised where appropriate
• if students have completed the placement then: student satisfaction feedback and employer review of their performance
• employer satisfaction feedback

Bursary top up

You will have received an increase in your discretionary bursary funding for 2019 to 2020 academic year to support industry placements. Please remember that this fund can be used to help all vocational students undertaking CDF industry placements to access their placements, and is not restricted to those students who would normally be entitled to receive the bursary.

Financial support for employers

It is important that employers are supported to deliver industry placements and DfE would like to remind you that your CDF allocation can be used to meet employer costs where these are considered necessary. This can include:

• supplementing employer costs to supervise the student on placement
• to ‘buy or hire’ more tangible items required for the job, (for example uniforms, protective work gear and equipment), or
• to cover additional insurance costs and the costs of applying for a DBS check (where this is necessary)

The only stipulation is that it supports the intention to build local capacity to increase the provision of high quality industry placements and represents good value for money. As with all government funding allocated to providers, payments are subject to audit. Please keep a running total of this type of expenditure and copies of purchase or employer receipts where applicable.

Employer support fund

CDF providers within the South West and West Midlands have been invited to take part in this pilot. We have selected providers in these regions to ensure that there is a good mix of types of areas (for example rural, urban and opportunity areas) plus a mix of employer and provider types. Selecting providers in these regions also allows us to maximise the number of industry placements that are in the pilot to give us the most robust findings. This will allow us to look at the difference the funding makes to provision of industry placements depending on industry, employer and area types.

The pilot’s findings will enable us to better support all providers delivering T Levels and industry placements through identifying the impact of additional funding on employers’ willingness to offer placements, gathering evidence on employer costs associated with placements and informing our thinking on how to best deploy future funding. Findings from this pilot will be shared with all providers receiving CDF throughout the academic year 2019 to 2020 and a full evaluation is expected to be published in late 2020.

Mandatory placements that attract mainstream funding do not count towards industry placements hours

The overall aim of CDF is to build new capacity to deliver industry placements and not to double fund existing provision. Where hours are currently spent on work experience, that is an existing and compulsory requirement for a qualification and already part of a study programme, these cannot be counted towards the industry placement hours delivered through CDF. This is because providers are already being government funded for these through mainstream funding. An example of this is childcare qualifications. If you wish to include a CDF industry placement on top of the existing requirements then you would need to arrange the required industry placement hours (minimum of 315) on top of the existing work experience hours that are recorded as planned ‘qualification hours’ on the ILR and school census.

Withdrawing students from placements

We would expect that students spend the whole of their industry placement with a maximum of 2 employers. However, we recognise that there will be some instances where, the placement is not meeting its objectives or the student feels at risk. Whilst on placement, you as a provider have overall responsibility for the welfare of the students. If you have a situation where a placement is considered unsuitable and a student needs to be removed from a particular workplace setting, we would expect alternative arrangements to be made with another employer to ensure the student doesn’t miss out on this valuable experience. In such circumstances the hours of placement can be split across more employers and the student will not be required to repeat learning objectives covered with the first 2 employers. We will be asking you to keep a local record of placement breakdowns and the reasons for this (which should also include a record of the split days with each employer), so we can monitor the commonly cited issues around placement breakdown. We are asking for information relating to the reasons why placements have broken down in future monitoring forms.

Industry placements not within the local area

It is possible for a student to undertake their industry placement with an employer anywhere in the UK. If the workplace is too far from the student’s home for a reasonable daily commute and/or the student is willing to stay away from home during the week, then appropriate accommodation must be found close to the workplace. Both the provider and employer have a shared duty of care for the student in these circumstances. With respect to health and safety at work, the duty of care rests primarily with the employer. However, providers should be in regular contact with the learner and with the employer to ensure the learners’ safety and wellbeing throughout the industry placement. This should include a minimum of 3 review points (per employer) conducted in person over the course of the placement.

Industry Placements in other countries

Although, we would expect it to be the norm for placements to be delivered within the UK, we are looking at the long-term feasibility and implications of sending students abroad for their industry placements. Currently, overseas placements can only occur for a portion of the student’s placement, if for example, the employer’s main training centre is based in another country and it is standard practice to send employees for this particular training. In this scenario, it is critical that you discuss the logistics with the employer, ensure that appropriate monitoring, review and safeguarding processes are in place and ensure you have formal agreement from the student and their parents/guardians. In these circumstances, we would expect providers to adhere to the same monitoring rules, applied for all other students, as outlined in the paragraph above.

Occupational mapping against T Levels

The framework for the reformed technical education system is provided by 15 occupational maps, which detail the skilled occupations that are in scope within each of the technical education routes. The standards for these occupations will form the basis of content for T Levels. Providers are advised to prioritise occupational areas that are included on the occupational maps.

Industry placements not restricted to the first T Levels

It is important to note that industry placements delivered in 2019 to 2020 are not restricted to the first 3 T Level pathways and in fact can relate to any of the 25 T Levels (see the Occupational Maps for reference) that will be introduced. CDF funding is to support providers to prepare for the successful delivery of high quality industry placements across all relevant subject areas and industries when all T Levels have been rolled out.

Recommended focus on second year level 3 students

Now T Levels are confirmed as level 3 programmes we are increasing the emphasis on level 3 students. Therefore, for delivery in 2019 to 2020 academic year we are introducing a requirement to prioritise level 3 placements (see the CDF factsheet). Best practice from the pilot shows it is more beneficial for the student to undertake their placement in the second year of the programme because they will have had a significant period of time in the first year to build up the skills and knowledge required to make the most of the placement, adding value because they are able to get more involved in tasks and take on greater responsibility. The combination of sending year 2 and level 3 students on placement will increase the likelihood that employers will be satisfied with the experience of offering students placements, and therefore more willing to continue to offer placements again. We are aware that for some courses this may be more difficult, so where this is the case then it would be acceptable for students to start their placement towards the end of the first year of their study programme as long as they have undertaken sufficient work experience and/or preparation as part of their programme, to ensure they are ready for the placement.

Note: We would expect the student to complete work-taster activities in the first year, if being used, to help inform the student’s choice of specialism and/or develop skills or facilitate experiences that better prepare students to enter their placement.

Minimum of 3 review points – start, middle and end of placement

Providers should visit the student on placement at the start (such as, within the first month of starting), middle and end of the placement, at a minimum. If 2 employers are used, 3 review points should be held with each employer. The purpose of these site visits is to:

1) Check the appropriateness of and progress towards the student’s technical learning objectives that were agreed up front and ensure the student is continually being stretched, not performing menial tasks that do not support their technical skills development. Objectives should be updated to make them more stretching if necessary.

2) Check the students’ wellbeing and satisfy themselves that student is not being overworked, the hours are manageable, they are happy within the workplace, have developed relationships with employees and they are content with the pace of their training. This is especially important when the student is on a block placement, when they will have limited contact with the provider for the duration of their placement.

3) Discuss any issues with the employer regarding the placement, student’s behaviour or work ethic. The employer will want assurances that they’ve got some provider support where necessary and a point of contact within the provider – this helps build and sustain relationships.

Providers are expected to confirm that the placement has been completed to satisfaction, so providers will need to collect evidence during the placement to base this judgement on and should complement the evidence collected in the student’s log book. This can be achieved most effectively through a 3-way face-to-face conversation between the employer, provider and student and supplemented with telephone calls or contact via email with the employer and informal contact with the student in the interim. If a student conducts their placement across more than one employer, we would expect this dialogue to occur with each employer.

The frequency of these supplementary conversations should be at the providers’ discretion. We would expect providers to prioritise students that need additional support or where the employer or student has raised concerns. It will also depend on the timing models providers have adopted – for day release, meetings of this nature will be less frequent as we’d expect that checking in with students whilst they’re back in college/school, could be more convenient.

Further resources to support providers with this can be on the AoC website.

Accounting for sickness in attendance record

In the case where students are off sick during their industry placement for 7 to 35 hours (typically 1 to 5 days) over the duration of the placement, this can be absorbed into the placement hours. Where the student’s sickness exceeds 35 hours or the student is off long-term, we would expect that providers to make arrangements with the relevant employer to extend the placement as far as possible, to allow the student make up this time and complete their placement to satisfaction, alongside their studies.

Employer reference

On completion of the industry placement, the employer does not assess students’ progress formally, however the employer will be expected to confirm that the student attended the whole time and give an appraisal of the progress the student made against their learning objectives. This should be discussed at the final review meeting with the provider, so that the provider can make the judgement as to whether the placement is completed satisfactorily. We would encourage employers to complete a student reference. If a student’s placement is conducted across multiple employers, we expect this to be carried out by each employer. Further information is available on The Employer Reference Template, and further resources to support providers with this will be published shortly.

Student satisfaction survey

We would encourage students to complete a satisfaction survey that accounts for their end-to-end experience (including work preparation, matching to employers and their time at the workplace) and whether this met their expectations and they would recommend undertaking an industry placement to their peers. The details could be fed back to the employer with the agreement of the student. It is important that students, providers and employers can learn from the student’s experience and this evidence can be used by providers to help improve their provision.

Safeguarding Learners from Abuse/Bullying and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace

In arranging industry placements, we would not ordinarily expect providers to DBS check the employer or their employees, since this is unnecessarily onerous in terms of employers willing to offer industry placement and for institutions to administer this. However, we would expect to see evidence of the following:

a) That students have been prepared for the workplace in terms of specific advice on how to deal with any instances of bullying/abuse or behaviour which they consider to be inappropriate. This would be expected to include briefing/training for the young people to identify what would constitute any of these and how to deal with this in the workplace and raise concerns immediately with their education provider contact for them to intervene.

b) The monitoring visits to students should include a distinct component to discuss and confirm the safeguarding well-being of the student, particularly from abusive or inappropriate behaviour, which they may have encountered in the workplace.

c) That industry placements that are for periods of longer than one month especially in more isolated scenarios, because of geography or very low numbers of employees (or sole employers), are risk assessed and that more regular contact with the student is carried out, including by phone, specifically on the point of safeguarding their well-being and welfare.

Where a student has a need for personal or health care due to a disability, the person providing that personal or health care may be required to obtain an enhanced DBS check and such a check should be undertaken if the activity constitutes regulated activity relating to children.

At their discretion, the provider may also choose to ask a line manager or supervisor to undergo a basic DBS check if they feel this is necessary, in situations such as where the student may be vulnerable or where the placement has a residential component. This is not a legal requirement but can be requested at the discretion of the provider.

Travel time

When recording the planned hours for industry placements using the new learning aim, providers should include the time spent in the workplace, normally this would not include the travel time to and from the workplace. We understand that in some rural locations, the commute time to employer premises can be excessive and/or may be restricted by local transport. Therefore, if travel time exceeds 1 hour each way then the additional time may be included in the planned hours. This means the additional time can be taken into account in calculating the hours for inclusion when recording the industry placements on the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) and the school census.

Where providers are struggling to broker suitable local transport arrangements and this is impacting heavily on industry placement provision, we encourage you to get in touch with us through the ESFA enquiry form.

Lunch breaks

NEW from 2019 to 2020 academic year: Industry placements are to be for a minimum of 315 hours. This excludes lunch breaks, which should not exceed 1 hour.

Payment of students

Industry placements are about providing students with high quality, meaningful training, not work. Therefore, students on an industry placement should not be entitled to a salary as the placement is forming part of a course of secondary education. There is no legal requirement or expectation that students will be paid. We recognise that for some employers, any type of unpaid placement would discourage them from taking part in the programme, so they are able to pay students should they wish to. In taking this approach, our aim is to ensure as many students and businesses as possible benefit from industry placements and to prevent students facing any avoidable costs.

HSE advice

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance on work experience covers provider and employer responsibilities and is relevant to Industry Placements. Providers are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the HSE guidelines.

Further information

• guide to key responsibilities and delivery of work placements (PDF, 300KB, 4 pages)
• we have provided illustrative examples (PDF, 326KB, 3 pages) for the use of funds and options for collaboration, based on the delivery of 10% of qualifying students
• timing and duration models (PDF, 225KB, 1 page)
• assessment forms (PDF, 278KB, 6 pages)
• TNC useful resources/tools

ESFA enquiries

Contact formhttps://form.education…

For all enquiries for the Education and Skills Funding Agency

Published 22 May 2019
Last updated 19 June 2019 + show all updates

1. 19 June 2019 Updated information added to the employment support fund.
2. 22 May 2019 First published.

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