Construction safety card costs, free maths and English courses for apprentices, visa documentation requirements and frozen funding rates have all been confirmed in new adult skills fund rules published today. Funding rules published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) today have confirmed several changes to the 2026-27 adult skills fund (ASF) funding and performance management rules, which only apply to non-devolved areas. The ASF is worth about £1.4 billion per year and pays for more than one million adults, often on low incomes, to take courses that improve their skills, employability and wellbeing each year. From August, the ASF earnings threshold will rise from £25,750 to £26,800, giving access to people earning below that amount to free courses for jobs programmes and level 2 and 3 offers. It marks the first year of adult education funding rules since the machinery of government change saw adult skills policy transferred from the Department for Education (DfE) to the DWP, although the former “continues to implement” the ASF on the latter’s behalf. Here are the key changes: CSCS cards This year’s rules include covering the costs of Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards and associated health and safety qualifications for the first time, worth about £60 in total. The move follows rule changes by several mayoral areas with devolved adult education policy, such as the Greater London Authority, that already cover the costs of construction safety cards, although eligibility rules vary by area. This will mean eligible learners enrolled on a level 2 or 3 qualification within the building and construction sectors will have their CSCS card and health and safety test costs covered. According to the Construction Industry Training Board, the standard CSCS card application fee is £36 and health and safety test fee is £23.50. Other qualifications with an “associated alliance scheme” can also be funded, the new rules confirm. Maths and English The ASF rules will fund adult apprentices who wish to study English and maths up to level 2 for those who do not hold a grade 4 GCSE or equivalent. It follows the government’s scrapping of the apprenticeship completion rule requiring learners to achieve English and maths to GCSE level last year, in a bid to boost apprenticeship uptake. ASF will only apply where an apprentice’s employer does not agree to fund English and/or maths. Visa paperwork tweak For the first time, providers will be required to show documentary evidence that any learner “intends to, and is likely to be eligible to” renew their visa if it runs out before the end of their course. Existing rules give providers the discretion to fund learners if they have a “high degree of confidence” that they intend to renew their visa, and do not specify any paperwork requirements. However, it is unclear what documentary evidence will be required. Funding expert Steve Hewitt warned that providers will be “more likely to turn these learners away” over fears of losing funding if they are audited. The wording change comes as plans to amend the rules to give apprenticeship training providers permission to fund learners if they have a “high degree of confidence” that their learner’s visa will be extended, announced by a senior DWP civil servant in March, did not appear in the latest draft rules for 2026-27. Apprenticeship funding rules currently say learners are only eligible for funding if their visa ends after their end-point assessment date. Frozen rates Base funding rates for ASF courses will remain frozen for the third year in a row. The freeze extends the effective real-terms funding cut for ASF courses, which, according to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, is equivalent to a six per cent reduction in value. The DWP will also continue to use index of multiple deprivation data from 2019 to calculate its disadvantage uplift rate. ‘Free courses for jobs’ The free courses for jobs (FCFJ) offer, which makes adult learners who earn below £26,800 a year eligible for a funded level 3 qualification, has been expanded to more level 2 qualifications. Specific level 2 qualifications in the engineering and manufacturing sectors have been added to the Department for Education’s list of funded FCFJ qualifications, following construction courses last year. This comes alongside existing FCFJ level 3 qualifications in sectors such as accounting and finance, digital, health and social care, and public services.