Glossary
Funding audit
An independent examination of whether funding claimed was properly earned and can be evidenced.
In full
A funding audit tests whether the funding a provider claimed was correctly earned under the rules and whether the evidence supports it, usually by sampling records and following them through to source evidence.
It tests what you can show, not what you know. A defensible claim is one where the evidence can be located quickly and was created at the time.
The rules behind this
Evidence is strongest when it is created at the time of the event it describes and is retrievable without reconstruction. Evidence assembled after a query is asked is weaker and takes longer to produce.
Where this comes up
module
Being ready for a funding audit
What an audit tests, how sampling turns a few errors into a large adjustment, and the preparation that actually helps.
module
Closing the funding year properly
At the final return the funding, the achievement rates and the audit population are all fixed at once. Everything that will be corrected has to be corrected before it.
module
From a learner walking in to funding arriving
The full chain: a learner event, the operational action it triggers, the source data it creates, the ILR fields it populates, validation, funding, reports, evidence, performance and audit.
scenario
A governor asks what the funding risk actually is
At a board meeting, a governor asks what would have to go wrong for the funding position to be materially misstated. What is a good answer?
module
What curriculum decisions do to funding
Curriculum teams make funding decisions every week without calling them that. This module connects each decision to the data it creates and the money it moves.
diagnostic
An aim is on the ILR but generates no funding
The aim validates and appears on the ILR, but generates no earnings. Validation and funding are different tests: a record can be perfectly valid and still not qualify for funding.
Sources
These are the official documents this page rests on. Where a figure, a deadline or an exact rule matters, the document is the authority and this page is the explanation.
Content reused from GOV.UK is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. FEFunding is not endorsed by the Department for Education.