Funding

Following yesterday's announcement of the Government's new Back to Work Plan , Laura Davis, BASE CEO has made the following comment

Disabled, neurodivergent and disadvantaged people need hope and support, not threats of losing their benefits.

A new £7.6 million government initiative has been launched to help over 2,000 adults with learning disabilities and autism move into work.

The Local Supported Employment (LSE) initiative is providing grant funding to 24 local authorities in England and Wales, representing an investment of £7.6 million over the next three years.

Each local authority area will support between 60 and 140 adults with learning disabilities, autism or both to move into competitive employment and provide the help they need to maintain that employment.

An average of 91 participants in each local authority are set to benefit from the grant funding and support, which will include assigning job coaches who can carry out vocation profiling, engage employers and provide in-work support to help develop more careers. A total of 22 local authorities in England and two in Wales will benefit from the funding worth £7.6m over the Spending Review period.

The Government has announced which projects will receive funding through the UK Community Renewal Fund. The £220 million UK Community Renewal Fund will provide funding to help places across the UK prepare for the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The Fund aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches and will invest in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment.

The Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) issued revised funding rules for apprenticeship providers last month. These include substantial amendments to the section about apprentices who need access to learning support. 

Learning support funding is available to meet the costs of putting in place reasonable adjustments, as set out in section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, for apprentices who have a learning difficulty or disability as defined in Section 15ZA(6) of the Education Act 1996 (as amended by section 41 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009):

(a) the person has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of persons of the same age, or

(b) the person has a disability which either prevents or hinders the person from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided by institutions providing education or training for persons who are over compulsory school age.

The Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) is about to open for applications from providers wishing to deliver apprenticeships. The register will open for applications on 17 May. Application guidance is available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/roatp-application-guidance-digital-may-2021

We have received confirmation that DWP will continue to fund job coaches supporting interns on Supported Internships study programmes in England, Scotland and Wales. The situation will be reviewed in January 2021. We welcome this sensible decision which will ensure that job coaches will be able to be retained for when placements restart.

We have received revised guidance from the Department for Education about Supported Internships. Providers have been understandably keen on clarity about whether, and how, Supporterd Internships can continue into the next academic year.

We understand that the following text has been cleared by Treasury and Ministers for input into the FE operational guidance. 

DWP has issued new guidance to Supported Businesses confirming ministerial approval has been granted for the Transitional Employer Support Grant (TESG) to be claimed whilst an employee is at home due to Covid 19. The guidance also sets out the requirements for providing evidence of the continued support provided by the SB and offers options as to how signatures can be obtained.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey, has announced increased funding to support businesses that provide extra employment support for disabled people with the greatest barriers to work.

When the Work Choice employment programme ends in March 2019, ongoing support will be offered to individuals working in Supported Businesses through specially designed new elements of the government’s Access to Work scheme.

Publisher: 
Policy & research organisations
Topics: 
Transition, Funding
Year of Publication: 
2018
Type: 
Guidance

Preparing for Adulthood has produced a quick guide to education funding for people aged 16 - 25 who have special educational needs and/or a disability.

This guide provides information on the way the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and, in some cases, local authorities will calculate and allocate funding to institutions who provide education to young people with SEND. The guide provides a summary of the structure of the funding system and provides a quick reference guide; further information is available from the links in the document. 

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