ESFA's procured Adult Skills Fund contracts expire on 1 August 2027. The DfE has confirmed there will be no national re-procurement for 2027/28. Instead, non-devolved ASF funding will transfer to local and combined authorities, which are already beginning their own commissioning processes.
1 October 2026
ESFA has published final contract values for the 2024-25 funding year, covering Adult Skills Fund, apprenticeships, and Advanced Learner Loans.
26 September 2026
DfE has published the payment and allocation dates for post-16 settings for 2026-27. Here are the key dates for the most common funding streams.
21 September 2026
The teachers' pension scheme employer contribution rate drops from 28.6% to 17.6% on 1 April 2027. The DfE grant that compensates FE providers for above-baseline pension costs will fall in proportion — but so will actual costs.
21 September 2026
Information about financial assurance and financial management of 16 to 19 institutions, including sixth-form and further education colleges that are funded by Education and Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA).
Published allocations of adult education and skills funding to training providers for the 2025 to 2026 funding year.
Apprenticeship funding rules for current and previous academic years.
A list of published funding guides from the ESFA.
Guidance on how to spot errors with your ILR data and how to resolve them.
Guidance for sixth-form and further education colleges on preparing and submitting their financial plan and supporting commentary.
This information allows FE colleges to compare their financial data with national totals and other colleges and organisations.
Template funding agreements and contracts from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will only fund students to undertake qualifications through one of our funded offers if we have approved those qualifications for public funding. This website contains funding approval information for all of the qualifications we will fund through our qualification offers (except apprenticeships and traineeships).
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) list of qualifications approved for funding for 14 to 19.
Information about the intervention framework for post-16 education and skills providers.
An online search tool for finding learning aim references for qualifications, as well as T Levels, apprenticeship standards, frameworks, and units.
Information for further education and sixth-form colleges when directly enrolling 14 to 16 year olds for academic year 2020 to 2021.
Guidance and methodology for the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, which supports 16 to 19 providers and schools to meet the additional needs of students with SEND in mainstream provision.
A retired online tool for searching for learning aims - has now been replaced by 'Find a Learning Aim'.
An overview of the National Skills Fund which aims to help adults to train and gain the valuable skills they need to improve their job prospects and support the economy.
Sets out the common standard for the provision of assurance in relation to funding of post-16 providers. Includes guidance on the annual assurance arrangements for sixth-form and further education colleges and their auditors, and provides information on the requirements in place for independent training providers. A supplementary bulletin provides guidance and some further requirements as a result of COVID-19.
The role of qualifications in publicly funded further education.
Qualifications with no enrolments that the Education and Skills Funding Agency will remove funding approval from for new starts, from 1 August 2021.