Consultation on changes to funding recommendation – update

Update

Funding consultation update

The consultation on a proposed new model for apprenticeship funding band recommendations has now closed. It was open from Tuesday 25 August until Tuesday 6 October.

We were pleased to receive 180 consultation responses, and we shared our proposals with over 1000 people as part of engagement activities and events.

We have taken on board your feedback received in response to the consultation and the associated engagement activities. 

While respondents were generally positive about the improved transparency of the model, many respondents raised a concern that the new model would result in broad reductions to levels of funding for current apprenticeships. This is not the intention of the model. Since September we have been testing the proposed model with employers and training providers to see what effect use of the ‘variable’ element of our proposed model might have on funding levels. 

Linked to this concern, many respondents noted that the model did not take account of those costs associated with the delivery of an apprenticeship which are not eligible for Government funding. It is worth reiterating that eligible costs policy is outside the scope of this consultation, and there has been no change in this policy. Nevertheless, the ESFA have agreed in parallel to review current policy on eligible costs. 

As our further testing and ESFA’s review of eligible costs may have an impact on the final model, we need to ensure we understand these outcomes before we publish the full response to the consultation. We plan therefore to publish a full consultation response in parallel with the outputs from the testing work and the conclusion of ESFA’s review. In the meantime, we have published a consultation update, which includes a summary of some of the key themes emerging from the consultation and our initial responses to them. 

Thank you for your input so far in helping to develop a new, more transparent approach to recommending funding bands. For any queries, please email [email protected]