Glossary
Funding band maximum
The cap on the price that may be funded for a given apprenticeship standard.
In full
Every apprenticeship standard sits in a funding band with a maximum. The negotiated price may exceed it, but anything above the maximum is paid by the employer and is not funded.
Band maximums are published and change from time to time, so the band that applied when an apprenticeship started is the one that governs it.
The rules behind this
An apprenticeship is funded against a price negotiated between the employer and the provider, capped by the funding band maximum for the apprenticeship standard. Any amount above the band maximum is paid by the employer and is not funded.
Where this comes up
scenario
An employer agrees a price above the band maximum
A negotiated price sits above the funding band maximum for the standard. Who pays the difference, and what is recorded?
module
Apprenticeship funding: price, band, service and evidence
A price negotiated with each employer, capped by the band maximum, paid monthly with a completion element, and dependent on the ILR and the apprenticeship service agreeing.
scenario
Hours are planned to reach a band rather than to deliver a programme
A programme is designed with just enough hours to reach a higher funding band. Is that legitimate?
module
How further education funding actually works
Colleges are not paid a block grant for teaching. They are funded through several separate streams, each with its own rules, and each earned by recording delivery in the ILR.
diagnostic
Planned hours do not match the timetable that is actually delivered
The planned hours recorded for 16 to 19 students do not reconcile to the timetable being delivered, so students may be in the wrong funding band.
diagnostic
Funding dropped this month and nobody can explain why
The funding report for this period shows less than expected, or less than last period. Because every return restates the whole year, a change made this month can move earnings reported in earlier months, so the drop may have nothing to do with this month's delivery.
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.