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Glossary

Devolution (adult skills)

The transfer of adult skills funding responsibility from national government to combined and strategic authorities.

In full

Where adult skills funding is devolved, the responsible authority sets its own rules, rates, eligibility conditions and reporting requirements within a national framework.

Which authority is responsible for a learner is determined by their home postcode at the start of the aim, not by where the college is or where the teaching happens.

Devolved areas have expanded across successive funding years, so always check the position for the year and postcode in question.

The rules behind this

Official requirement

For adult skills provision, the learner's home postcode determines whether their funding is national or devolved to a combined or strategic authority, and therefore which rules apply.

Where this comes up

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.

Adult Skills Fund funding and performance management rules 2026 to 2027 (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding document2026–27Awaiting first verification

Content reused from GOV.UK is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. FEFunding is not endorsed by the Department for Education.