Post-16 funding intelligence, without the spreadsheets.
Government-grade funding accuracy meets modern AI. Forecast income, model apprenticeship recruitment and check eligibility against the live DfE/ESFA rules — built so no learner personal data ever leaves your college.
- Live, versioned funding rule engine
- GDPR-first: anonymise locally, share online
- No login needed for the public tools
Built on official sources, versioned for every funding year
A desktop connector reads your MIS export (EBS, ProSolution, UNIT-e, PICS, Maytas, Aptem…), strips every identifier locally, and uploads only anonymised data. Dashboards stay live; data protection officers stay happy.
Everything funding teams reach for spreadsheets to do
Calculators and compliance tools above a central intelligence layer — versioned to the official DfE/ESFA rules, so finance, MIS and senior leaders share one trusted, auditable view.
Funding calculator
Model 16–19, Adult Skills and apprenticeship funding against a live, versioned rule engine — with a fully itemised breakdown.
ToolEligibility checker
A guided flow that routes a learner to the right funding stream and flags residency and condition-of-funding requirements.
ToolDevolved funding checker
Enter a postcode to see whether the learner falls under a devolved adult education authority — and which one owns it.
ToolFundingGPT assistant
Ask funding questions in plain English. Answers are grounded in the rule engine and official guidance — and always cited.
AIApprenticeship planner
Forecast apprenticeship income by month and academic year from your planned starts, prices and durations.
ToolScenario modelling
Compare recruitment and curriculum scenarios — see the funding impact of more starts or a new cohort before you commit.
WorkspaceOne trusted view for everyone who touches funding
From the MIS office to the boardroom — the same live numbers, never a learner name.
MIS & data managers
Validate the ILR, catch funding errors early, and stop chasing rule changes by hand.
Finance directors
Reliable income forecasts and carry-forward you can take to budget-setting and the board.
Curriculum managers
Model apprenticeship recruitment and new cohorts before you commit the timetable.
Senior leaders & governors
Board-ready scenarios and funding risk at a glance — the same numbers as the MIS office.
Data protection officers
No learner personal data leaves the college. Anonymised locally, by design.
Auditors & compliance
Versioned rules, fully itemised breakdowns and an audit trail for every figure.
Process learner data locally. Share intelligence online.
Many colleges are rightly cautious about uploading learner-level data to third-party systems. So we don't ask you to.
- Desktop connector (FundingSync)Reads your MIS export and processes it on your network.
- Automatic anonymisationNames, addresses, ULNs, emails and phone numbers removed before upload.
- Live shared dashboardsFinance, MIS and SLT see the same forecast — never a learner name.
Plain-English guidance for every funding stream
Generated from the versioned rulesets and refreshed when official guidance changes.
16–19 study programmes
How the national 16–19 funding formula works — band hours, the programme cost weighting, retention, disadvantage and area uplifts.
Adult Skills Fund (ASF)
The Adult Skills Fund (formerly AEB) for learners aged 19+, including full and co-funding, the disadvantage uplift and how devolution changes the rules.
Apprenticeships
How apprenticeship funding bands, on-programme and completion payments, and EPA work — plus the monthly earnings forecasting logic.
T Levels
Two-year technical programmes for 16–19 students, funded within the 16–19 formula with a large industry placement.
High needs funding
The three-element model for students with SEND, including the £6,000 of additional support and local authority top-up.
Advanced Learner Loans
Loans for learners aged 19+ studying at levels 3 to 6, with a bursary fund and ILR loan indicators.
Skills Bootcamps
Flexible, employer-led courses of up to 16 weeks for adults, with a guaranteed job interview or progression on completion.
Free Courses for Jobs (Level 3 entitlement)
The level 3 adult skills entitlement that fully funds a first full level 3 qualification from an approved list for eligible adults.
ESOL funding
How English for Speakers of Other Languages is funded through the Adult Skills Fund, including fee remission and entitlements.
Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs)
Level 4–5 technical qualifications approved as HTQs, and how they are funded through ASF, loans or HE student finance.
Multiply (adult numeracy)
The adult numeracy programme funding flexible maths provision for adults without a level 2 in maths.
Live funding rule updates
When DfE/ESFA change the rules, we update the engine once — every college benefits immediately, with history kept for audit.
Level 7 apprenticeship funding withdrawn for most apprentices
Government funding for level 7 apprenticeships is being removed for most apprentices from January 2026. The rule engine …
ILR Validation Rules 2025–26 — Version 5 published
A new version of the ILR validation rules was published. Uploaded data is checked against the current version before pro…
16–19 funding rates and formula confirmed for 2025–26
National funding rates, the programme cost weighting and disadvantage factors for 2025–26 were confirmed and loaded into…
Connect your MIS
Download the connector and point it at your EBS/ProSolution/UNIT-e export — no integration project required.
Anonymise locally
Every personal identifier is stripped on your network before anything is sent.
Forecast & monitor
Live dashboards show income, achievement and funding risk for finance, MIS and SLT.
Stay compliant
The rule engine keeps you current; FundingGPT answers the awkward questions with sources.
Live in days, not a 12-month integration
The biggest value isn't the calculators — it's the central intelligence layer above them, continuously updated for funding rule changes, that your whole team can trust.
An assistant that won't make funding up
Ask anything from “is this postcode devolved?” to “explain the apprenticeship completion payment”. Answers are retrieved from the rule engine and official guidance first, then explained — and always cited.
- Grounded retrieval (RAG)No hallucinated rates or eligibility.
- Always cites sourcesLinks to the exact funding rule, ILR or QAR guidance used.
- Provider-flexibleWorks with OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure or offline.
A continuing apprentice with a planned end date after 30 Sep and July earnings of £350 carries that £350 forward each month until the month before their end date.
What funding teams tell us they need
“We used to rebuild the apprenticeship income forecast in a spreadsheet every month. Now finance and the MIS team look at the same live number.”
“The thing that won over our DPO was simple: no learner names ever leave the building.”
“Asking 'is this postcode devolved?' and getting a cited answer in seconds saves constant back-and-forth with the funding team.”
Illustrative of the feedback we hear from colleges.
Questions colleges ask first
Do you store learner personal data?
No. The public site needs no learner data at all. In the college workspace, a desktop connector anonymises records locally — names, addresses, ULNs and contact details are removed before anything is uploaded. Only anonymised, aggregated data ever reaches the cloud.
How do you stay current with funding rule changes?
Funding logic lives in a central, versioned rule engine rather than hard-coded spreadsheets. When DfE/ESFA publish a change, the rules are updated once and every college benefits immediately — with historical versions retained for audit.
Which funding streams are covered?
16–19 study programmes (including T Levels and high needs), the Adult Skills Fund and apprenticeships today, with advanced learner loans and devolved adult education handled through guidance and the eligibility tools.
Is FundingGPT just a generic chatbot?
No. Every answer is retrieved from the official knowledge base and rule engine first, then explained conversationally. It is built so it never invents funding answers, and it cites the exact guidance it used.
Who is it for?
MIS and data managers, finance directors, curriculum managers and senior leaders at colleges and training providers who need reliable funding forecasts and compliance without exposing learner data.
See your funding future — without the risk
Bring finance, MIS and senior leadership onto one live forecast. No learner data uploaded. Always current with the rules.