CONGRATULATIONS to all who have been successful in the Non-Levy procurement!

The ESFA announced the results of the non-levy tender in December and FE Week posted a list of the successful applicants.

It's been a shocking wait for training providers who began this process more than a year ago as this tender was an addition to the first RoATP opening.

For many it's a bitter sweet success to make it on the register as some haven't been able to deliver training without this additional contract, or indeed be eligible to apply for non levy procurement this time around due to the revenue constraints etc.

There's some good news regarding the appeal process though as FE Week announces:

•    Non-levy tender appeals are lucky for some

•    Grade two provider wins non-levy tender appeal!

According to FE Week 32% of the successful applicants will be delivering their first main apprenticeship contract, which makes for a very exciting time ahead!

With this in mind and considering all the new elements involved in apprenticeship delivery, especially for providers who have previously only delivered training as a subcontractor, I thought it would be a good time to recap on some of the new rules, regulations and available resources.

Subcontracting rules

With the introduction of the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) and its associated application rules

a main provider must directly deliver some of the apprenticeship training and are not allowed to subcontract it all out.
 
"At the outset of each apprenticeship, a main provider and employer will agree a plan for its delivery. You must directly deliver some of the apprenticeship training and/or on-programme assessment associated with each employer’s apprenticeship programme. By apprenticeship programme we mean the apprentices that are being trained for the employer that has chosen you. The volume of training and/or on-programme assessment that you directly deliver for each employer must have some substance and must not be a token amount to satisfy this rule. It must not be limited to a brief input at the start of each employer’s programme or involve delivery to just a few of a large number of apprentices."
P123 Page 20 Apprenticeship funding and performance-management rules for training providers v4

Take a look at my recent blog regarding the new subcontracting rules which will be in force as from January 2018.

There are some courses available to those who need support transitioning from delivering frameworks to standards, check out the Delivering Standards section below!

Apprenticeship 20% off the job training and annual leave

The ESFA provided the following clarification announcement yesterday:

"To provide clarification, off-the-job training is an essential part of an apprenticeship and therefore, must take place during employed time. If, by exception, training takes place in an evening, or outside of contracted hours, this should be recognised (for example, through time off in lieu).

Should an apprentice not be able to attend a planned training session (due to leave, sickness, operational pressures) the apprentice should be given the opportunity to catch up on what they missed (e.g. by attending one to one sessions with their provider or using on-line learning materials). As above, this should take place during paid working hours.

The programme is sufficiently flexible to accommodate exceptional periods of leave or sickness."

ESFA Announcement 10-01-2018

Monthly ILR submissions

As you know a main provider needs to satisfy all of the ESFA's contractual requirements such as monthly ILR submissions.

This can be very complex and frustrating and I've tried to provide as much information as I can in this area.

I recently wrote an updated blog post including the latest versions of documentation, ILR Entry tool and PDSAT application, so rather than repeat this here go check out that post!

As a provider of an ILR compliant MIS system I would also advise that you check out our system too, Athena MIS!

There's no need to mess about amalgamating XML files when you use Athena MIS, all learner types are automatically generated in one ILR.

We offer as much support as possible in creating your error free ILR's in Athena MIS, we will even validate and upload to the Hub for a small monthly fee!

Ofsted

 In September 2016 Ofsted changed the rules regarding inspections of training providers to include subcontractors.

“Ofsted reserves the right to inspect and grade any subcontractor and its provision as a separate entity”.

Further education and skills inspection handbook Further education and skills inspection handbook Point 36, Page 10.

There has been several news articles in FE Week regarding this ruling as Ofsted haven't inspected any subcontractors as yet, but I would think this is about to change!

•    Halfon: ‘Ofsted must start inspecting subcontractors’ 

•    Milton appears to back subcontractor inspections

Regardless of being a main, employer or supporting provider all are subject to the scrutiny of Ofsted!

Delivering standards

As many of the frameworks are being withdrawn training providers will have to deliver the new apprenticeship standards sooner rather than later.

I would imagine changing delivery methods from frameworks to standards could be quite daunting but The Education & Training Foundation

have a series of courses to help "progress your delivery of apprenticeship standards".

Delivering apprenticeship standards courses in:

•   adultcare, healthcare and dental

•   business administration and customer service

•   catering and hospitality

•   digital

•   Early Years

•   education and training

•   hair and beauty

•   leadership and management

•   motor vehicle and engineering

•   warehousing and logistics

Course fees are reduced for SET members.

"The Society for Education and Training (SET) is the new professional membership organisation of the Education and Training Foundation for practitioners working in the post-16 education and training sector. Since the close of the Institute for Learning (IfL) in November 2014, SET has taken on its legacy and continues to support practitioners through their professional membership."

Creating 2017 - 2018 ILR's for Validation

I've created this update to give you the latest updated documents and applications for the current 2017 -2018 funding year.

Step 1 - ILR Learner Entry

To create a correctly structured XML document you will either need to use an ILR compliant MI system or the SFA's ILR Learner Entry tool.

If you have several people inputting data into the Learner Entry tool you will need to amalgamate all the individually exported XML files to make one XML file prior to import into The Hub.

NOTE: The ILR Learner Entry tool does not validate your data!

Example:

You will have to be super careful when inputting data items such as post codes, as there are strict rules regarding formatting.

You must have a space between the two the two parts of the post code and as this is a mandatory field it cannot be left blank.

If a postcode is unknown or does not apply then ZZ99 9ZZ must be input.

If the format is incorrect then this will throw validation errors in the FIS and stops the validation process from continuing.

All these type of rules can be found in the various SFA funding rules and ILR specification, validation rules and appendices 2017 to 2018 documentation.

Start by:

1. Install the correct ILR Learner Entry tool for the appropriate funding year.

2. Input learner data into ILR Learner Entry tool.

3. If you have lots of people helping to input this information you will end up with several exported XML files.

4. Export your ILR data and validate each individual file in the FIS before amalgamating them.

5. FIS - To start with I would suggest:

    a) Import and Validate an ILR submission
    b) Export Rule Violation Summary Report as PDF.

Step 2 - Fix Rule Violation Errors

I would recommend that you download the ILR Validation Rules 2017 - 18 (Version 2) spreadsheet so you can find any error codes listed in the Rule Violation Report.
These spreadsheets are periodically updated so you will need to keep an eye out for the latest version.

Fix any errors in the ILR Learner Entry tool before re exporting the ILR and running it through the FIS again.

This could be a very repetitive process so it's best to validate each file individually before you amalgamate them.

Step 3 - Amalgamating ILR's in the FIS

When you installed the Funding Information System (FIS) on your PC an ILR folder was created too.

This is the default location for all the exports you request from the FIS.

I would suggest the following:

1. Open FIS - select your DataSet and Reference options for the appropriate funding year.

2. Click the Amalgamate check box and nothing else.

3. Click Execute - this allows you to add the individual XML files one at a time.

4. Once ALL of the XML files are added click the Import button.

5. The FIS will amalgamate all the individual files into one XML file.

9. The completed XML file will be automatically exported to the ILR folder.

NEXT:

1. Uncheck Amalgamate and check all the other items you need

Again, to start with I would suggest:

    a) Import and Validate an ILR submission
    b) Rule Violation Summary Report as PDF

2. Click Execute

3. Browse to the ILR folder and select the newly amalgamated ILR XML file

4. Click Import

5. Your data will be validated and a report of any errors will be generated as a PDF. This will be exported to the ILR folder.

Step 4 - Provider Data Self-Assessment Toolkit (PDSAT)

I would suggest that for best practice you download the PDSAT software and validate your ILR returns before submitting to the Hub.

The PDSAT doesn't validate the ILR the same way as the FIS, PDSAT checks for funding violations and discrepancies which you may not be aware of.

If you have funding issues then you maybe selected for a funding audit by the ESFA who also use this tool for their auditing purposes.

"PDSAT is a tool for analysing learner and learning delivery data. It interrogates Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data and produces reports on this data, so that providers can identify and investigate potential anomalies in the ILR data."

There's been a new version of PDSAT for 2017 - 2018 funding year which works for 2016-2017 too.

It has been designed to:

•    give providers a toolkit to analyse ILR data
•    assist auditors in the audit of providers’ ILR data
•    select audit samples and create a set of audit working papers (for 2016 to 2017).

The user guide and reviewing reports guidance will at least give you some idea of what the PDSAT can do for you.

User guide: reviewing PDSAT reports (2016 to 2017)

The latest PDSAT, version 18, is available to download from the ILR data: check that it meets standards and quality requirements web page or you can Download PDSAT v18.3.02 directly.

If you have any problems you can contact theThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further support.

Step 5 - Import ILR into The HUB

The Data returns overview: May 2017 document gives you step by step instructions on how to complete the process.

"Each provider should have a single super user... Super users manage access for their users and give them responsibilities within their organisation in the Hub. This allows a super user to restrict what the organisation’s users can view."

For future reference here some links to get you started:

•   Information Management Services: Self Registration

•   The Hub: guide to user roles

•   The Hub: guide to the contracts and finances area

 Athena MIS & RAIL - ILR Creation and Validation

ILR creation is easy in Athena MIS & Rail and we are continuously adding validation features to make the process as simple as possible.

With just a click of a button the ILR XML document is exported straight from Athena MIS & RAIL.

Watch the videos on how to create an ILR for submission to The Hub.

You can also subscribe to our You Tube channel to receive notification of new videos.

Important Information on Monitoring Financial Assurance!

At this time of year the ESFA have made their selection of training providers on which to perform a funding audit and their R12 ILR submission will be used for this purpose.

The ESFA make their funding audit selections based on how well the ILR’s have been created and how the data performs against PDSAT.

There are several documents available on the ESFA web site which cover how training providers are monitored for financial assurance during a specific year, eg; 2016 – 2017.

ESFA financial assurance: monitoring the funding rules.

"Lists the current areas that we are monitoring and working with the sector on during the course of the funding year. It gives the ESFA assurance that provision we buy meets our published funding rules."

• Dawn Ward CBE, Letter to the sector: February 2017
  
  
• Monitoring the Funding Rules -2016 - 2017
  
  
• Funding Monitoring Reports User Guide

What is PDSAT?

PDSAT is the Provider Data Self-Assessment Toolkit, software available from the ESFA for you to keep on top of the funding aspect of your data management.

"It interrogates Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data and produces reports on this data, so that providers can identify and investigate potential anomalies in the ILR data."
ESFA - ILR data: check that it meets standards and quality requirements

You should not only be validating your ILR in FIS but also run it through PDSAT to make sure you don’t have any funding errors which won't be picked up by the FIS.

The FIS checks the validation of your ILR in terms of correct XML formatting including; invalid post codes and NI's etc and the required data to be submitted in your ILR's.

The PDSAT checks for the financial implications such as duplicate learning aims, non funded postcodes and apprenticeship payments.

It's expected that you use PDSAT before every ILR submission as part of your validation routine and each error MUST be corrected before the next ILR return.

If you follow this process then you won't run the risk of nasty surprises should you be selected for an ESFA funding audit.

POINTS TO NOTE!

• Be aware, include it in your data management routine and you won’t get any nasty surprises!
  
  
• At the moment the PDSAT is only available for 2016 – 2017 ILR’s and as there are two returns left to submit for 2016 – 2017 funding year it's imperative to start now!
  
  
• Some of the issues returned by PDSAT are not provided by the FIS so you could be unaware that you have any funding issues until the ESFA come calling!
  
  
• Basically there is no excuse to be in the dark when it comes to issues raised by the ESFA’s funding audit as they use this exact software to check your ILR’s for discrepancies!

The Importance of R13 & R14!

The last two ILR submissions in the funding year are very important and are outlined in the letter from Dawn Ward CBE:

• "If you have data errors or a higher volume of queries at the end of the funding year following the closure of R14 ILR return, the SFA may:
  
  recover funding where there is confidence the claim has been made in error
  
  
• conduct assurance visits for specific issues before the end-of-year reconciliation statements are issued - even if that delays your reconciliation statements
  
  
• ensure these issues inform the process for selecting providers for audit in future funding years.
  
  You must correct records before the close of the R14 ILR data submission where you identify that the data or funding claim is incorrect. You can continue to use the existing provider data self-assessment toolkit to support you in correcting any identified data issues prior to your next submission."

Dawn Ward CBE, Letter to the sector: February 2017

There's Still Time to Validate!

OK, so if you haven't checked your ILR's in PDSAT you still have time!

Download the PDSAT application and documentation from the links below or visit the ESFA's PDSAT web page.

• PDSAT V17 Application
  
  
• User guide: reviewing PDSAT reports - version 17
  
  
• Provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT) user guide: version 17
  
  
• Provider data self-assessment toolkit (PDSAT) FAQ: version 17
  
  

Download and install the PDSAT application, you will also be prompted during the installation process to install some prerequisite software if you don't already have it.

It is pretty straight forward to import your latest ILR and run the reports.

You have time before R14 is due on 19th October to rectify any funding anomalies or at the very least become aware of them!

TIP:

As there are potentially 75 reports to generate I would suggest you go to the Settings tab and select to
EXCLUDE reports with zero records.

In the Reports tab you can then select (check box to left of Report ID) to run all the reports
and only have those returned which have issues.

Data Management & ILR Compliance

Before I start I want to point out that this is very much my bag so I won’t make any apologies for using examples from our super brilliant data management software, Athena MIS, throughout this post. 
 

What's an Individualised Learner Record (ILR)?

A major implication of being accepted on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) and being able to deliver apprenticeship training, is the necessity to manage your learner data and submit monthly Individualised Learner Record (ILR) returns to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

An ILR is a record of your learner data and is required to be created following a specific schema and output as an XML file.

"The Individualised Learner Record (ILR) is used by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to collect data about learners and the learning undertaken by them from learning providers in the Further Education (FE) and Skills sector."

There are many documents available on the ESFA's website for each funding year but documents are still being published for 2017 - 2018 which starts on 1st August.

Here is an excerpt from page 9 of the ILRProviderSupportManual_2016_17_v2_Sept2016, which better explains;

The requirement for data

13. The data collected in the ILR is used to ensure that public money distributed through the SFA and the EFA is being spent in line with government targets for quality and value for money, for planning, and to make the case for the sector in seeking further funding. Specifically, the data is used to:

•    monitor individual provider's delivery against allocation or contract
•    inform local decisions about plans and provision
•    monitor progress to targets
•    to give the SFA assurance that the funding rules are being followed
•    inform national planning, including policy development and modelling
•    calculate actual funding earned
•    monitor quality of provision and evaluate the effectiveness of providers across the learning and skills sector
•    make the case to government for levels of funding appropriate to the sector
•    demonstrate the outcomes of distribution of government funds.

14. The data will be analysed in relation to:

•    demographic trends
•    participation rates
•    local labour market requirements
•    strategic planning targets.

15. These analyses will enable the funding bodies to:

•    influence curriculum and capital investment within providers for the benefit of the local economy
•    engage with providers in medium and long term strategic planning.

This is an ESFA contractual obligation and is absolutley necessary if you want to continue being able to deliver any ESFA funded provision.

Are All Apprenticeships ESFA funded?

You may ask why it's ESFA funded when your clients are Levy paying employers and pay for apprenticeship training out of their levy tax?

This is because the government will pay a 10% top up to an employers levy funds on a monthly basis and should an employers' levy pot run out, they then drop into the 90/10 co-funded model where the ESFA pays 90% and employer only pays a 10% contribution towards their apprenticeship training. 

The upshot is that regardless of how many learners you have , 1 or 1000, your data management obligations remain the same, you must submit monthly ILR's and you will also be in scope for Ofsted inspections.

My blog post part 5 will give you all the documentation you need to understand the Ofsted requirements, so why not subscribe to get all the latest updates?

Data Management & Learner Progression

There are so many aspects to data management and how much you embrace this process will have a direct impact on your Ofsted inspection and your relationship with the ESFA.

One example is the ability to track the progression of your learners and failure to do so will have devastating consequences and to be honest has caused the downfall of many a training provider.

The ESFA and Ofsted are intertwined as your results from your Ofsted inspection is built into the new funding rules, which are quite clear, receive a grade 4 from Ofsted and you will be removed from the RoATP!

If you don’t have a good enough grasp of how your learners are progressing you won’t be able to intervene quickly enough to prevent under delivery and failure to maintain at least the minimum standards required by the ESFA.

These recent news articles confirm that no provider is exempt from the rules:

• College Provider
• UK's largest Independant Training Provider
• Provider Banned for Breaking Funding Rules

There are many funding rules to adhere to, break them and face the consequences!

Non compliance will see you being removed from RoATP.

Fall under the ESFA’s minimum standards for provision and you will have to stop delivery to new starts until they improve!

It's Not All Doom & Gloom!

In a bid to combat issues like this we’ve spent a great deal of time building into Athena MIS lots of tools to help, including a specific Progression & Review Dashboard to track each learner through their learning aims, including functional skills, as well as all contact with learners.

Yes, it's time consuming and rather a boring task but as it's an ESFA and Ofsted requirement so basically there's no avoiding it if you want to succeed.

Rather than just rambling on I thought I should include some of our videos from our YouTube channel so you can see just what kind of data you should be managing and how Athena MIS can help.

Apprenticeship ILR Update

If you are a new main provider or employer provider you will have to get up to speed quickly to submit your first ILR on 5th May 2017.

 ILR Updates

Under normal circumstances the ILR specifications are updated on an annual basis ready for the new funding year and the 207 - 2018 ILR Specification will be in place from 1st August.

However, due to the apprenticeship reform and levy there have been additional specification updates and new requirements which have had to be put in place ready for the start of the levy, so with this in mind I want to make you aware of these new additions as these will have an impact on your apprenticeship ILR's from May 1st.

New Funding Model

All new apprenticeships, frameworks or standards from May 1st 2017 will use funding model 36, while all previous frameworks and standards for learners on programme will continue with their existing codes.

New ILR Requirements!

The new rules ONLY apply to new starts as of May 1st.

For apprenticeship starts from May 1st you will be required to submit your ILR's monthly for both levy and non levy paying employers, providing such information as:

•    ACT code

•    Total Negotiated Value

•    Total negotiated training cost

•    Total negotiated end point assessment cost

•    Residual training cost

•    Residual assessment cost

•    Record of cash contribution payment made by the employer to the provider for training costs

•    Record of cash contribution payment made by the employer to the provider for assessment costs

which is only a small portion of the required data and most have specific circumstances for returning values or not.

The first document below is of vital importance and explains these requirements in detail.

 •   Guidance for returning apprenticeships on the ILR from 1 May 2017: version 2

•    ILR specification 2016 to 2017: version 3 (30 September 2016)

•    Provider support manual - guide to making ILR data returns during the 2016 to 2017 funding year: version 3

Funding Rules

There is a new Technical Funding Rules document which covers apprenticeship starts as of May 1st 2017:

•   Apprenticeship technical funding guide for starts from May 2017

This runs in conjunction with the following funding rules documentation:

•    Apprenticeship funding in England from May 2017

This will of course be updated as of August 1st when the 2017-2018 funding rules will take over!

"The rules that will apply to all apprenticeship provision funded by the SFA following the introduction of the apprenticeship levy."

•    ILR specification 2017 to 2018: version 1

•    Apprenticeship funding: rules for employer-providers

•    Apprenticeship funding and performance-management rules for training providers

•    Apprenticeship funding and performance management rules 2017 to 2018: summary of changes

ILR Compliant MI System

Athena MIS provides ILR compliance as specified in the ILR specification documentation. We are registered with the Skills Funding Agency software writers group which meets regularly to discuss updates, changes and future developments with regard to all data management related issues.

All ILR compliant MI systems conform to the SFA's specifications providing the same set of core features and requirements as standard, so each MI system can create the exact document format for you to submit your ILR returns.

The decision as to which MI system best suites your company will depend entirely on your company's additional needs.

ILR Validation in Athena MIS

We have built into Athena MIS as much automation and support for ILR validation as we can, which just isn't available in the free ILR Learner Entry Tool.

The Learner Entry Tool is a means to generate the required ILR document in the correct format but offers no validation or support with your data choices, so you will need to be fully versed in:

• ILR Validation Rules 2016 - 17 spreadsheet

• Guidance for returning apprenticeships on the ILR from 1 May 2017: version 2

• Provider support manual - guide to making ILR data returns during the 2016 to 2017 funding year: version 3

• ILR specification 2016 to 2017: version 3

• Apprenticeship technical funding guide for starts from May 2017

• Apprenticeship funding in England from May 2017.

We have a fully functional Athena MIS demo site for you to use so you can compare it to the ILR Learner Entry Tool, for access just email me for login details.

An introduction to Athena MIS & RAIL outlines all the current features and benefits Athena MIS & RAIL provides for the management of your learner, employer, contract and subcontractor data.

We are dedicated to providing a personal service with as much or little support as you need.

• You can simply licence Athena MIS and manage your data and ILR'S yourself.

• You can opt to control all of the data input side and let us analyse and prepare your ILR'S.

• We can take this a step further and perform the validation and submission of your ILR'S too!

• We can even manage every stage of your data management requirements.

Whatever your required level of support we have a solution to take the pressure off learning the multitude of rules to produce error free ILR submissions.

Exciting Times Ahead!

This post includes snippets of information that you may find useful or interesting in the countdown to the start of the apprenticeship levy & reform.

I don't know about you but I feel like there is a collective holding of breath in anticipation of all the new rules, registers and standards.

There are exciting times ahead but I have a sneaking suspicion it isn't all going to be plain sailing.

The 10th National Apprenticeship Week will soon be upon us, 6th - 10th March and the SFA have just released a Communications Update newsletter with lots of information on how you can join in and support NAW.

There is also a templates page with information on PR and press releases for your events.

RoATP Results

If you've applied to the first opening of the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) you only have a few weeks more to wait to find out the results.

I've had it from several SFA sources that 7th March 2017 is announcement day but contracts won't be allocated until the end of March.

This could be a very exciting National Apprenticeship Week for those successful applicants!

The SFA are also planning a series of workshops for those successful providers who will change from subcontractor to lead.

With luck the second round of RoATP applications will be announced before May but according to FE Week the SFA are reluctant to say.

Institute for Apprenticeships
If you have opinions on how the Institute of Apprenticeships is to function then you have until 27th February 2017 to have your say on their draft operational plan.

The Institute of Apprenticeships board members were introduced in an interesting FE Week article which also highlights the distinct lack of representation by independent training providers, 7 out of 8 being college appointments.

Framework Withdrawals

The 4th batch of framework withdrawals has been announced for new starts as of 1 April 2018.

Click to download the latest list of withdrawn frameworks.

There is another consultation survey which is open from Wednesday 22 February to Wednesday 5 April 2017 so pop along and have you say!

Approved Standards

The list of approved standards is steadily growing but there are still quite a few standards still in development.

There are only 48 companies on The Register of Apprenticeship Assessment Organisations as I understand the application process is really quite rigorous.

Funding Bands

Just a reminder that all frameworks and standards fall within the 15 funding bands as of May 2017, the spreadsheets can be downloaded below.

Apprenticeship standards: funding bands

Apprenticeship frameworks: funding bands from May 2017

If you aim to deliver standards as of May you will need to factor in the cost of the end point assessment, as this is included in the upper limit price and not an additional cost.

Only organisations found on The Register of Apprenticeship Assessment Organisations can perform this task.

Considering an MI System?

No matter how you decide to manage your data in the early stages you must take into account that your obligations don't stop with ILR submissions as you will be in scope for Ofsted inspections too.

Athena MIS is packed with tools for internal tracking and progression of a learner journey as well as the all important ILR generating features.

An introduction to Athena MIS & RAIL  outlines all the current features and benefits Athena MIS & RAIL provides for the management of your learner, employer, contract and subcontracted data.

We have a fully functional demonstration site and a You Tube channel full of  'How To..' videos to give you an idea of what Athena MIS is capable of.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to check it out!

We now also offer a data management service including ILR validation and submission!