This information is for all providers who wish to offer apprenticeship training in England from May 2017. This includes existing providers as well as organisations that might wish to enter the apprenticeship training market.
Apprenticeship changes
Apprenticeship funding for 2017 is in 3 parts:
learners starting their apprenticeship before 1 May 2017
new apprentices funded by an employer with a digital account (levied employers) from 1 May 2017
new apprentices funded by the SFA for employers without a digital account (non-levied employers) from 1 May 2017
The SFA is committed to existing learners completing their programmes
Preparing to be an apprenticeship training provider
To help you prepare to be an apprenticeship training provider, you may find the following links to background information useful:
apprenticeship funding: how it will work
apprenticeship funding from May 2017
apprenticeships: become a training provider
apprenticeship standards and apprenticeship frameworks that you could offer
To help you determine what opportunities exist as you plan and develop your apprenticeship provision, you could look at data such as:
existing provision
regional success rates
inspection or review documents
labour market information
apprenticeship standards in development
Preparing your organisation for apprenticeship delivery
There are a number of organisational issues that new and existing providers will need to consider including:
strategic direction and governance
quality assurance
business model and organisational strategy
employer engagement
access to apprenticeship-ready young people
developing operational systems
cashflow management and invoicing
costing/pricing information
contract negotiation and management
management information
staffing implications
marketing and branding
There are many organisations that you can choose to work with or who might support your training, planning, development and delivery:
membership organisations
awarding organisations
professional bodies
education and training foundation (ETF)
degree apprenticeship development fund
Register of training organisations
If you are an existing provider, you may be on the register of training organisations.
There is no transfer to the register of apprenticeship training providers from the register of training organisations.
The register of training organisations will continue for adult education budget provision, traineeships and advanced learner loans.
Register of apprenticeship training providers
In order for an employer to be able to select you as a provider on the digital apprenticeship service, you will need to successfully apply to the register of apprenticeship training providers.
A successful application to register of apprenticeship training providers means that levy-paying employers can select you to deliver their apprenticeship training. The SFA will put in place a provider agreement with you so that you can be paid for work you undertake.
If you wish to work with employers who will not be paying the levy, you must also respond to a separate invitation to tender and submit a successful bid.
In order for you to apply to be on the register of apprenticeship training providers so that you can offer apprenticeship training, you need to:
1. Register with the UK Register of Learning Providers and obtain a provider reference number (UKPRN).
We will ask for this information on your register of apprenticeship training providers application. You must register your legal name against the UKPRN. If you are a sole trader or partnership make sure that you include your trading name in your registration.
2. Have an account on Bravo, the SFA’s e-tendering portal.
The contact name should be that of a senior member of your organisation so that you can respond quickly to tender opportunities. The contact name should be kept up to date as we may send alert on the progress of your application. You will need to access the account to access the questions, replies and documentation when we are open for applications.
3. Register with the Information Commissioner’s Office for education and training.
Registering with the Information Commissioner’s Office is a legal requirement. We will check your registration when we review your application.
Preparing your application to the register of apprenticeship training providers
As you prepare your application to register of apprenticeship training providers, you should:
check the register of apprenticeship training providers: application instructions
work through the financial health check toolkit
watch the narrated presentation
If you intend to respond to the invitation to tender (ITT) to work with employers that will not be paying the apprenticeship levy, you should also log on to Bravo and read the ITT specification.
Before you apply to the register of apprenticeship training providers, you should consider:
how you will ensure safeguarding of apprentices
the PREVENT strategy
how equality and diversity is built into your processes and policies
your apprenticeship training offer, the expertise of your staff and your ability to meet the needs of an apprentice
Assessment organisations
You may also wish to become an apprentice assessment organisation. The register of apprentice assessment organisations is a list of organisations that have been assessed as being suitable to conduct independent end-point assessment of apprentices and be in receipt of public funds.
An employer will be asked to select an end point assessment organisation from this register to support the delivery of their apprenticeship standards.
End-point assessment is separate to any qualifications or other assessment that the apprentice may undertake during training.
Assessments will either be delivered by an independent third party or in such a way that no party who has been involved in delivery of the apprenticeship can make the sole decision on competence and passing the end-point assessment.
Higher education institutions are the assessment organisations for integrated degree apprenticeships.
Apprenticeship funding
You can find full details on apprenticeship funding on GOV.UK:
Apprenticeship funding: how it will work
Apprenticeship funding from May 2017
Apprenticeship funding and performance management rules 2017 to 2018
Working with employers
Contracts
Once you have been selected by an employer to deliver training to their apprentices, you will need to negotiate costs and ensure contracts are in place so that the funding can flow.
The costs for any end point assessment will be included in the total price for the apprenticeship you agree with the employer. You will be required to pass this agreed amount on to the assessment organisation selected by the employer.
Find apprenticeship training
You will need to add your details and your apprenticeship training offer to the find apprenticeship training service using the course directory portal.
If you have already uploaded information, you will need to review it regularly to ensure that it is up to date.
If you are on the register of apprenticeship training providers, an employer will then be able to find you when they search for organisations who can offer apprenticeship training.
Reporting and data
You will need to send accurate information regarding the apprentices you are working with to the SFA on a monthly basis. We collect this information from the individualised learner record (ILR).
ILR information is used to:
match with information from an employer’s digital account
calculate payments due to you
calculate co-investment due to you from employers
support financial assurance
create national statistics
We will publish a guide to the ILR to help you report on your new apprenticeship starts from May 2017.
Once you have your ILR file, you should submit it to the Hub at the correct time.
You will need to assign a Hub super user who can manage the data roles within your organisation. We have published a guide to user roles.
Management information systems
We supply an ILR learner entry tool software free of charge to providers who need to submit ILR data to the SFA but who do not have access to a data management system.
We will update this software before you are required to submit your first data return for new apprenticeship starts in June 2017.
You can download the ILR learner entry tool from the Hub.
Data on the digital apprenticeship service
You will need to confirm some information about the apprentices and the training that you are providing on the digital apprenticeship service.
Both you and the employer will need to confirm that this information is correct.
We will check this information against your ILR data before payments are made.
The employer may want you to enter details of the learners for them on the digital apprenticeship service. You will be able to do this on screen or through a data upload.
Higher education institutions
If you are a higher education institution, you will need to submit a monthly ILR return as well as your regular HESA student record.
HESA has worked with the SFA to create a mechanism for simplifying the production of the ILR record.
For 2016 to 2017, an ILR schema compatible output file containing the relevant students can be produced from the submission of the HESA student record. You can then upload this ILR file to the Hub.
You can find further information on the HESA website.
Quality assurance
You have your own quality assurance mechanisms in place, but you will also be subject to inspection or review by Ofsted for further education and skills, or by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for higher education.
The common inspection framework sets out how Ofsted inspects further education and skills provision.
The SFA will use your ILR data to monitor your performance and for audit purposes.
You will need to retain evidence for audit as set out in the funding rules.
Resources and useful links
If you would like further information or support, you might find these helpful:
Update: the SFA’s weekly round-up of business-critical information and news for providers
GOV.UK: information about apprenticeships
for technical support with SFA systems or data queries, please contact our Service Centre
feconnect is an online forum where you can talk about funding or data issues
the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) offers learning and development programmes on the delivery of apprenticeships
the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) offers tailored support and development opportunities for degree apprenticeships
the funding calculator shows employers how much apprenticeship levy they will pay
the find apprenticeship training service helps employers to understand the training you offer