Post-16 funding

Information: post-16 funding video 2016 to 2017


The EFA have produced a new video to update post-16 institutions about the timeline and process for post-16 allocations in 2016 to 2017.

Reminder: students with GCSE maths and/or English at grade D

Full-time students who have a grade D GCSE in either maths or English must be enrolled on GCSE or an approved IGCSE qualification. This came into effect from 1 August 2015.

Full-time students with a grade D will not qualify for funding if they are enrolled on stepping stone qualifications.

Full-time students are those on a study programme of:

  • at least 540 planned hours if aged 16 and 17

  • at least 450 hours if aged 18

Part-time students can continue to enrol on stepping stone qualifications. Further information on 16 to 19 funding: maths and English condition of funding is available on GOV.UK.

Individualised Learner Record (ILR) users can run Funding Information System (FIS) reports to check that their students are compliant with this requirement.

School census users can use the interactive tool to help understand how their school census data is used.

Education Funding Agency: Funding guidance for young people 2015/16

This document is part of a series of booklets providing Education Funding Agency (EFA) Funding guidance for young people 2015/16.

  • Funding regulations (this booklet)
  • Rates and formula
  • ILR funding returns
  • Sub-contracting control regulations

This summary applies to all these booklets and as they are published they will be available from the EFA funding guidance webpage.

These documents outline the main features of the EFA funding arrangements for 2015/16 and are an integral part of the EFA's funding agreements for young people aged 16 to 19 and those aged 19 to 24 funded by the EFA. All these documents should be read in this context, unless specifically stated otherwise. This is the definitive EFA guidance for 2015/16 and supersedes any previous funding guidance.

The sub-contracting control regulations document applies to institutions either with sub-contractors or considering sub-contracted delivery.

For further information, please contact Rajmund Brent: rajmund.brent.gov.uk

Information: funding guidance for young people aged 16 to 19 in 2015 to 2016


The EFA has now published 2 key elements of the funding guidance for young people aged 16 to 19 for the 2015 to 2016 academic year.

There are small changes and clarifications in both documents from the 2014 to 2015 guidance. However, institutions should note one substantive change in the rates document that, from 2015 to 2016, the qualifying period for all students on programmes of 450 hours or more is 6 weeks.

Information: transitional protection of specialist provision for 2015 to 2016

Following discussions with the Association of National Specialist Colleges (Natspec) and the Association of Colleges (AoC), the EFA will provide an additional year of protection, with up to £10 million available in 2015 to 2016.

Full details of how the scheme will work in 2015 to 2016 can be found on GOV.UK

Information: requirements and advice for full-time enrolment of 14- to 16-year-olds in colleges

The EFA  has published the 2015 to 2016 requirements and advice for the full-time enrolment of 14- to 16-year-olds in colleges. This document allows institutions to plan for 2015 to 2016. There are no significant changes from last year.

Information: removing section 96 approval for level 3 personal development and/or transferable skills qualifications


Approval for level 3 personal skills qualifications for 16 to 18 and 18+ age groups is being revoked from August 2015. This will affect qualifications that only develop or assess personal skills in areas such as team working, communication or careers development. Further information and a list of affected qualifications are available on the Section 96 website.

Information: students meeting the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding


The EFA is providing information to all institutions that use the ILR, to show their students' compliance with the maths and English condition of funding.

To access the information on the EFA Information Exchange, go to the 'Other Submissions' folder then look under 'Academic Year 14/15'.

School and academies will not receive similar reports from the school census, because we do not receive this data during the year. However we encourage schools and academies to check their data to ensure all students who should be studying maths and/or English are doing so.

For those students not meeting the condition of funding, there is still time to enrol students on appropriate maths and/or English courses before the end of the academic year to avoid losing funding in 2016 to 2017.