Glossary
ESFA
Education and Skills Funding Agency
The former executive agency of the Department for Education that funded education and skills providers in England. It was merged into DfE on 1 April 2025.
In full
The Education and Skills Funding Agency administered funding allocations, data collection and funding assurance for further education providers. It no longer exists: GOV.UK records it as merged into the Department for Education on 1 April 2025, and DfE now does what it did.
Older documents, web addresses and system names still carry the ESFA name, so you will meet it constantly. Read it as DfE for anything current, and remember that adult skills policy and apprenticeships have since moved to the Department for Work and Pensions. Always check which body publishes the current document for the funding year you are working in.
Where this comes up
diagnostic
The aim must have 1416_EFA Validity category in the Validity table in the LARS database
For new starts on or after 1 August 2023 and are 14-16 ESFA funded provision, then the aims must have 1416_EFA Validity Category in the Validity table in the LARS database
diagnostic
The learning aim is not valid for Adult skills funding
If the learning aim started on or after 1 August 2015 and the aim is funded by the ESFA adult skills funding methodology and the learner is either OLASS or RoTL, then they cannot be funded through the Adult skills funding model for Security License to Practise learning aims
diagnostic
The Learning aim reference is not valid in the LARS database for this Funding model and this Learning start date
For new starts on or after 1 August 2021 and are 14-16 ESFA funded provision, then the learning aim start date must not be before the validity start date or be after the last date for new starts (unless the restart indicator is present) for the corresponding validity category in the Validity table in the LARS database
diagnostic
The Learning aim reference is not valid in the LARS database for this Funding model and this Learning start date
If the learning aim is funded as 14-16 ESFA funded provision, then the validity end date (if entered) on the record with the latest validity start date in the LARS database for this Learning aim reference must be after the end of the previous teaching year for the corresponding Validity in the LARS database
diagnostic
The Learning aim reference is not valid in the LARS database for this Funding model and this Learning start date
For learning aims ending on or after 1 August 2020 and are 14-16 ESFA funded provision, then the Learning start date of the aim must be between the validity start date and end date for the corresponding validity category in the Validity table in the LARS database
diagnostic
The Learning aim reference is not valid in the LARS database for this Funding model for this teaching year
For learning aims ending on or after 1 August 2020 and are 14-16 ESFA funded provision, then the Learning Actual End Date of the aim must be before the validity end date for the corresponding validity category in the Validity table in the LARS database