Funding and guidance

We have a duty to secure suitable, appropriate and high quality education and training opportunities for young people in our area.

In addition to meeting the requirements of the Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) there is a need to ensure access to a choice of high quality courses with progression pathways will require a co-ordinated approach to provision development and strategic commissioning working in partnership with the Education Funding Agency and the National Apprenticeship Service.

Meeting RPA requirements will mean ensuring that we have the provision in place across the county which is able to support a wide range of diverse needs. 

Schools, colleges and providers will play a crucial role in delivering this innovative and flexible curriculum offer, as do voluntary sector and youth work providers. E

mployers also continue to play a fundamental part in enriching the curriculum offer and increasing participation and they have a key role in supporting young people to access jobs with high quality training, ideally through apprenticeships.

It is essential to ensure that young people are equipped with the skills, attitudes and experience necessary to progress into employment.

16-19 funding formula review

In October 2011 the Department for Education (DfE) and the former Young People Learning Agency (YPLA) launched a 16-19 funding formula review consultation.

The aim was to deliver an ambition of a simple, fair and transparent funding system which avoided destabilisation of good quality provision.

Options for revisions to the 16-19 funding formula were put forward and consulted upon. The closing date was 4 January 2012 and response to the consultation has now been published.

The scope of the review is for all EFA-funded provision for 16-19 year olds and students up to age 24 who have a Learning Disability Assessment or education, health and care plan. It does not cover apprenticeships.

From the start of the academic year 2013/14, the current formula will be replaced with 'funding per student'. A weighting for retention of students will be applied, another for the higher costs of some subject areas, plus a single allocation for each provider for disadvantaged students. In addition the allocation will be uplifted by an area costs adjustment (not applicable in Derbyshire).

To the total programme funding for each provider, further funding will be allocated for those individual students with learning difficulties or disabilities with the highest needs, funding for bursaries and other financial support for students, plus any transitional protection on a per student basis. The additional £100m of ALS funding that has been paid out over the last two years will be integrated into the programme funding.

Funding 'per student' will ensure that schools and colleges make decisions about programmes of study which are in the best interests of students. It is intended that no institution will see its funding per student fall as a result of these changes for at least three years (schools, colleges and providers already have an indicative 'per student funding' in their current allocation).

English and maths are seen as the foundation of successful progression into the labour market and as such they will be treated as a condition of funding in the near future, where a young person has not attained GCSE A*-C by age 16.

It is expected that schools and colleges use the period of funding protection, the new freedoms the funding reforms offers and the introduction of study programmes to review their offer to young people across academic and vocational routes.

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16-19 study programmes

Professor Wolf's Review of Vocational Education, published in March 2011, recommended that, in order to meet the needs of the modern labour market, the overall study programmes of all full time students following largely vocational programmes in state-funded provision should be governed by a set of general principles relating primarily to content, general structure, assessment arrangements and contact time.

In response to the consultation which ended 4 January 2012, all 16- to 19-year-olds will be offered high quality study programmes aimed at giving them the best opportunity to move into higher education or secure skilled employment. From September 2013 this will mean that:

  • All students who are able, will take either A levels, or a substantial qualification recognised by employers as being of real benefit to them in securing work or a university place. Where appropriate, students will also take part in work experience.  

  • Students who don't have a GCSE in English and maths at 16 will continue to study these subjects after 16 (18 per cent don't at the moment).

  • Students who aren't able to study a qualification will take a programme of work experience focusing on developing their employability skills, along with work to develop numeracy, literacy and other core education skills.

This work is directed annually by guidance issued by the Education Funding Agency and Department for Education in its funding statement and 16-19 funding and allocation policy.

Related documents

The following documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download software to view PDF documents for free from the Adobe website (opens in a new window)

Information on other websites

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