Funding rule updates
Funding logic lives in a central, versioned rule engine — not hard-coded spreadsheets. When DfE/ESFA publish a change, it's updated once and every college benefits immediately, with history kept for audit.
From official source to your calculation
Detect
Scheduled checks watch official pages, the ILR site and data downloads for new versions and 'last updated' dates.
Version
Changed rules are captured as a new version with a diff; prior versions are retained for audit and back-calculation.
Test
Automated tests confirm sample calculations still match the published guidance before a change goes live.
Alert
A plain-English 'what's new' summary tells colleges what changed and what it means for them.
Recent funding rule changes
Indicative timeline — each entry links to its official source.
Level 7 apprenticeship funding withdrawn for most apprentices
Government funding for level 7 apprenticeships is being removed for most apprentices from January 2026. The rule engine selects fundability by start date so calculations reflect the cut-off automatically.
Apprenticeship funding rulesILR Validation Rules 2025–26 — Version 5 published
A new version of the ILR validation rules was published. Uploaded data is checked against the current version before processing so invalid funding models or codes are flagged early.
Submit learner data (validation rules)16–19 funding rates and formula confirmed for 2025–26
National funding rates, the programme cost weighting and disadvantage factors for 2025–26 were confirmed and loaded into the rule engine.
16 to 19 education: funding guidanceAdult Skills Fund funding rules 2025–26 — Version 2
Version 2 of the ASF funding rules was published, including updated earnings thresholds for low-wage full funding. The new values feed straight into ASF calculations.
Adult skills fund: funding rulesLARS / Find a Learning Aim 2025–26 dataset released
The new Learning Aims Reference Service dataset was published with updated aim funding values, levels and eligibility flags for the year.
Find a Learning AimFunding Rules Monitoring 2025–26 areas updated
ESFA refreshed the in-year funding monitoring areas (continuing learners, planned hours, withdrawals, eligibility). The monitoring checks were updated to match.
Funding monitoring informationIn the college workspace, MIS users can subscribe to alerts when underlying rules change.
Never swap a rule set by hand again
Ask FundingGPT what changed between funding years, or model the impact in the calculator.