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."

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.

Has the apprenticeship levy forced you to consider delivering apprenticeships?

For the past 8 months or so I have been writing about the apprenticeship levy and reform, concentrating on what ESFA funded training providers need to know.

Yes, there are huge changes ahead for these providers but it’s time I consider how commercial training providers will be affected too.

Questions to be asked:

1.    Has the apprenticeship levy forced you to consider delivering apprenticeships?
2.    What impact will it have on your business if you are accepted on the Register of Apprenticeship Training
       Providers (RoATP)?
3.    Will your commercial clients have to go elsewhere for training provision to use their levy pot if you’re not on
       RoATP?
4.    Do you know what to do?

I’m taking a look at the process from a beginner’s point of view and as there is a vast amount of information to cover my research will be split over several posts to include:

•    How to apply to RoATP.
•    Who can deliver apprenticeship training?
•    What apprenticeships are available?
•    What rules have to be followed?
•    What qualifications can be delivered?
•    What are the implications?
•    What is data management?

Part One - Should you apply to the RoATP?

Many commercial training providers may find they are being pushed into applying to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP), as their clients may now be paying the levy and want to use this to fund training.

There is a whole host of requirements for those new to apprenticeship delivery or indeed ESFA funded provision and getting on the RoATP will be the easy part!

There’s a lot of preparation involved but on the upside there is no limit to the number of apprenticeships you can deliver to levy paying employers, so this could offer potential growth for your company.

You need to ask yourself:

•    How many clients you could potentially loose?

•    How much time and resources will you need to invest?

•    How you will manage the data management and compliance issues?

What levy paying employers need to know.

The Apprenticeship Levy is a tax specifically to fund apprenticeship training and nothing else!

“You can only use funds in your account to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment for apprentices that work at least 50% of the time in England, and only up to the funding band maximum for that apprenticeship.”  ESFA

The levy can be used for recruiting new apprentices or up skilling existing staff but employers need to consider if the training they want is available as an apprenticeship.

Some of the training employers currently pay for may not be available as an apprenticeship and not all types of qualifications can be delivered.

For example, if an employer simply wants to use their levy pot to pay their favoured commercial training provider to deliver the same short courses they normally receive, the chances are you won’t be able to.

An apprenticeship is for a minimum of one year and must include functional skills maths and English.

Points to Note:

•    Only training providers accepted on the RoATP can deliver apprenticeship training.
•    Levy tax can only be used for apprenticeship training.
•    Employ a new apprentice or up skill existing staff.
•    Apprenticeship duration – minimum 1 year.
•    20% ‘off the job’ training.
•    ESFA approved Framework or standard (only if approved for delivery).
•    Ofqual regulated qualifications only.
•    Must be registered with Ofqual regulated awarding organisation.
•    In scope for Ofsted inspections.
•    Main provider on RoATP – only deliver to levy paying employers unless has direct contract with ESFA.
•    Monthly ILR submissions to ESFA & data management.
•    Must adhere to all ESFA funding rules.
•    Matrix Standard.
•    Must include functional skills maths & English (unless learner is exempt).
•    Must have safeguarding and prevent duty policies and procedures in place.

There are two types of apprenticeship programmes, frameworks and standards.

Frameworks are being phased out and being replaced by standards, many of which are still in development, and only those which are approved for delivery will be accepted.

Not all apprenticeship standards have a qualification as a part of the programme, but those that do must comply to the ESFA regulations and be available on the Hub.

Check List:

I've put together a check list to bring you up to speed on what you need to know when applying to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP).

First of all you will need to locate a standard or framework which you are able to deliver making sure you are registered with an awarding body that provides the qualification, if indeed there is one associated with the standard.

You can download a list of occupations available on the apprenticeship standards.

Apprenticeship frameworks

First steps:

1.    Find the standard or framework to deliver.
2.    Make sure you have a UKPRN number.
3.    Register with the ICO.
4.    Register for access to the ESFA e-tendering portal.
5.    Complete your application to RoATP on ESFA Portal – this should open quarterly.
6.    After submission upload your apprenticeship offer to the Course Directory Provider Portal.

Documents to help you apply:

Register of apprenticeship training providers

Application instruction documents:

Joining the register of apprenticeship training providers: application instructions

Register of apprenticeship training providers financial health self-assessment toolkit

Joining the register of apprenticeship training providers: application instructions

Register of apprenticeship training providers e-tendering support guidance

There is a blog post available on how to upload your apprenticeship offer to Course Directory Provider Portal

Further posts include:

•    Ofqual regulated qualifications
•    ESFA funding rules and regulations
•    Data management & ILR specification
•    Ofsted inspection requirements.

If you have any questions drop me an email, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,  I’m only too happy to 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!