FEFunding Academy · 2026–27
Understand it. Check it. Fix it. Evidence it.
The practical layer between official FE funding rules and the people who have to apply them. Built for everyone from a finance director in their first month to an ILR officer with a validation report open on the other screen.
Free to use, no account needed. Every rule-sensitive page names the official source behind it and when that source was last checked.
In the Academy today
- 26 topic and stream modules, each at three depths
- 14 diagnostic records in the error lookup
- 153 canonical glossary terms
- 32 branching scenarios with full consequence chains
- 16 source-backed checklist templates
- 11 role-based learning journeys and 21 audio lessons
What do you need today?
Most people arrive with a problem, not a curriculum
So the Academy is built to be used while you are doing something else. Pick the thing that is actually in front of you.
Something looks wrong
Search a rule, a report, an ILR field, or just describe what you are seeing. Every record explains the meaning, the likely causes, how to investigate, how to fix it and how to stop it recurring.
Open the error and assurance lookupA return is coming
The full collection year with what each return drives, what your role should check before and after it, and full explainers for R04, R10 and R14.
See the return calendarAn audit is coming
Generate a checklist scoped to your funding stream, return and role. Every item names the rationale, the owner, the evidence expected and the red flags.
Generate a readiness checklistI am new to this
Three questions and you get a six-week path built around your role, plus the handful of things you probably need today. It is a suggestion, never a lock.
Start hereBy role
The same rules, explained for the job you actually do
A finance director and an ILR officer need different things from the same funding rule. Choosing a role changes the emphasis and the examples, never the underlying rule.
Senior leader, principal or COO
Where the money comes from, what puts it at risk, and what to ask for assurance.
See the pathFinance director or finance manager
Income, allocations, reconciliation, forecasting and the audit position.
See the pathHead or director of MIS
Data architecture, returns, quality control and the team's capability.
See the pathMIS or ILR officer
Getting the ILR right: source data, validation, returns and corrections.
See the pathFunding or compliance officer
Rules, eligibility, evidence and the defensibility of every claim.
See the pathApprenticeship manager or coordinator
Starts, breaks, changes, completion, employer alignment and evidence.
See the pathCurriculum manager or head of department
What curriculum decisions do to data, funding and performance.
See the pathData, BI or performance analyst
Schema, snapshots, funding reports, QAR and reconciliation analysis.
See the pathEnrolment, admissions or registry staff
Capturing the right data at the front door, first time.
See the pathAuditor, governor or assurance
Evidence, controls, risk indicators and the audit trail.
See the pathWhat is in here
Not a course library. A working reference.
Funding streams
How each stream actually works
16 to 19, Adult Skills Fund, tailored learning, apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, devolved funding, learning support and high needs, each with its mechanism, its evidence and its traps.
Scenarios
Follow a situation to its audit test
A learner withdraws in week six. What happens next, through the source data, the ILR, validation, funding, the reports, the evidence, the achievement rate and the audit.
Glossary
Every term, defined once
Canonical definitions with the acronyms people actually type, the terms each is confused with, and a permanent page you can link a colleague to.
Ask FEFunding
Grounded answers, or an honest refusal
Answers come from reviewed Academy content and approved official sources, with visible citations. When the evidence is not there, it says so instead of guessing.
Listen
Lessons you can listen to
Short audio lessons with full transcripts and chapters, for the commute, the walk between buildings, or a screen-free ten minutes.
Tools
Job aids, not just reading
Checklist generator, manager question sets, the ILR anatomy explorer and printable aids you can take into a meeting.
Funding streams
Start from the money
16 to 19 study programmes
National formula funding for students aged 16 to 18 on 31 August, and for students aged 19 to 24 with an Education, Health and Care plan, delivered as a study programme or a T Level.
Adult Skills Fund
Formula funding for regulated learning aimed at adults aged 19 and over, covering entitlements, co-funded and fully funded provision, earned through the ILR and reconciled against an allocation.
Tailored learning
Non-formula-funded adult provision, previously community learning and non-regulated learning, recorded under its own ILR funding model and reconciled against a separate allocation.
Apprenticeships
Employer-led training funded through negotiated prices within funding bands, drawn from the levy or co-investment, and earned monthly through the ILR alongside the apprenticeship service.
Skills Bootcamps
Short, employer-linked adult training funded against delivery and outcome milestones rather than a formula, recorded under its own ILR funding model.
Devolved adult funding
Adult skills funding devolved to combined and strategic authorities, where a learner's home postcode determines which authority's rules, rates and reporting apply.
High needs
Additional funding for students with significant special educational needs or disabilities, built from place funding and local-authority top-up alongside the core programme funding.
Learning support
Funding claimed for the additional support a learner needs to take part in and complete their programme, with the need, the provision, the cost and the evidence all required to line up.
How to trust this
What we will and will not do
What we do
- Name the official source behind every rule-sensitive page, and when it was last checked.
- Label an official requirement differently from our explanation of it.
- State the funding year on every page, because rules are set per year.
- Say plainly when a source has not been verified recently, rather than implying it is current.
What we will not do
- Quote a funding rate or threshold. Those are set annually and belong in the official document.
- Publish a software menu path we have not verified for a stated version.
- Let the assistant answer a funding question from its own memory when retrieval finds nothing.
- Accept learner data. The Academy holds none and is not connected to your systems.
FEFunding Academy explains official guidance. It does not replace the funding rules, your funding agreement or professional advice. Read more about the sources we use and how the assistant is grounded.