Skills funding agency ESF 2011-2013
Background and introduction
A number of policy and structural changes have taken place since the submission of Skills Funding Agency 2011-2013 ESF Co-financing Plans in June 2010, as well as changes to the economic environment within which ESF operates. These have led to revised approaches within Skills Funding Agency and Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) mainstream policies and working arrangements, including in relation to the contribution that the Skills Funding Agency and YPLA make towards the ESF Operational Programme, in order that ESF funding is used to fund provision that aligns with Coalition Government policy. ESF cannot be used to fund activity that is not part of government skills policy, even if ESF eligibility rules cover a greater breadth of provision or target groups.
These policy changes are highlighted in key relevant policy documents (and their subsequent revisions), including Government investment strategies, Skills Funding Agency funding guidance and YPLA funding guidance and statutory guidance. Where further policy changes take place during the life of the ESF programme, the Agency will ensure that ESF continues to align with that policy while maintaining ESF eligibility.
Young people NEET
Provision will no longer focus on young people in jobs without training. Provision will focus on the hardest to reach instead. These will be young people aged 14-19 who are not in employment education or training (NEET) and those who are at risk of becoming NEET.
Provision will focus on local needs. Local Authorities and other 14-19 stakeholders will ensure that providers selected through Skills Funding Agency procurement processes take into account local priorities.
Adults
ESF will no longer support, enhance or replace the Train to Gain programme which is being wound down. It will however support other workplace training, particularly for small and medium sized enterprises, in line with Government policy as it is finalised.
For the first tranche of 2011-2013 Skills Support for the Unemployed provision, ESF will no longer support the economically inactive as the Government focus is now on providing skills support for those who are work ready. However, more recent flexibilities have enabled providers to support unemployed individuals looking for work on any benefit and this is open to ESF provision equally.
Within Priority 2, ESF support for Level 3 qualifications is currently restricted to 19-24 year old learners and for regulated units to certain cohorts (for example, those at threat of redundancy). As an exception, it will continue to fund Level 3 qualifications for learners aged 19 and over in Priority 5 in the Convergence area, on the basis that they form part of the Government’s wider skills strategy for that area, even though they will soon cease to be funded by the public purse. This arrangement will cease by the time loans for higher-level qualifications are introduced. ESF will no longer fund Level 4 qualifications in Priority 2.
ESF will continue to fund Level 2 and lower level qualifications as they are a key element of the Skills Strategy, even though mainstream funding arrangements will change over time.
The Adult Advancement and Career Service is now called Next Step and will become the National Careers Service from April 2012. ESF will continue to support, as this provision provides a gateway for individuals into activity supported through Priority 1.
Provision will continue to focus support on:
- regulated qualifications, units of qualifications (where eligible) below Level 3;
- skills training for employment;
- learner support programmes;
- Community Grants;
- upskilling the employed;
- supporting employer responsive provision, including those at risk of redundancy;
- supporting Apprenticeships;
- supporting the service that Next Step (National Careers Service) carries out; and
- supporting adults with learning difficulties and disabilities.
The Agency will continue to review: how to maximise potential breadth of ESF whilst not contradicting Government skills policy; and where ESF funding can add value to mainstream policy and funding.
Delivery arrangements
Government policy requires the Skills Funding Agency to operate on a consistent, national basis to fund and regulate provision as efficiently and effectively as possible, and providers to respond to local need; streamlining and simplifying where possible
The demise of regional structures such as the Regional Development Agencies, Leaders’ Boards, Regional Planning Groups and Government Offices that used to oversee the use of ESF, impact on Skills Funding Agency delivery arrangements, as does the removal of the tier of regional committee arrangements (except in Cornwall and London).
Skills Funding Agency Co-financing Plan Boards are therefore no longer required. The working relationship between the YPLA and Skills Funding Agency continues instead to operate on a bilateral basis supported by the Skills Funding Agency/YPLA Shared Service Agreement. Communication with local authorities and the form that these exchanges take will be a matter for YPLA to agree.
The Skills Funding Agency is procuring provision for 2011-2013 ESF through a national commissioning approach. This entails an aggregation of local and regionally identified needs, as described in regional ESF Frameworks and Skills Funding Agency Co-financing Plans, into single national requirements documents. This will ensure that the Agency aligns ESF commissioned provision with Government policy across the country. The Agency will still provide the financial, volume and targeting detail at regional level in order to ensure distribution across the country. The process itself will also be managed and co-ordinated nationally, utilising resource from teams across the country as required.