‘Frustrating’: ESFA extends ASF contracts 6 weeks before delivery

National adult education procured contracts are to be extended, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has finally announced.

Training providers that were successful in the government’s £75 million tender for 2023/24 will have their allocations renewed into 2024/25 for one year.

Providers will receive a rollover of their allocation that was agreed as of May 2024, which includes any increases or reductions on their original contract received through in-year performance management reviews.

There are just six weeks before the extended contracts kick in. Provider bosses had been left frustrated at being kept in the dark over whether there would be an extension.

One contract holder who did not wish to be named told FE Week: “We are trying to budget and plan for the next academic year across the mayoral combined authorities and the EFSA, yet we are still in the dark on around 50 per cent of our contract values.

“My chief financial officer comes from out of sector, and she is literally dumbfounded by the fact that with only six weeks of the year to go we still have little idea what our contract values for next year are going to be. If we do have to make redundancies etc then it is not fair on our staff to tell them at the last minute.

“The irony is that come August 1^st we will be expected to be firing on all cylinders.”

Simon Ashworth, director of policy and deputy chief executive at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, added: “This short notice does not provide the certainty and reassurance that procured providers need to make informed planning decisions, especially considering the wider challenges posed by a new devolution deal and the significant change of funding methodology that the adult skills fund also brings.”

From the 2024/25 academic year, the adult education budget will become the adult skills fund (ASF), which involves higher funding rates for some courses.

The ESFA said it has not adjusted procured allocations to account for previous delivery in the new North East Combined Authority, which is now a devolved area. This means that providers previously delivering in this area should “use their provision to deliver to learners based in non-devolved postcodes”.

Procured contract holders have been told they can submit a business case to request increases and decreases to their awarded allocation amount for 2024/25.

The ESFA had always intended to confirm whether there would be an extension by June. The agency declined to comment on why it could not communicate their decision earlier in the year.

Fifty-six providers were handed contracts in last year’s controversial tender, which is currently being challenged through the courts by major training group Learning Curve, after it missed out on a contract. A trial is set for December.