Section 5 - Earnings Adjustment Statement (EAS)
EAS claims
As documented in this guidance, the WMCA DO NOT expect any provider to use the following to claim funding for Students that start on or after 1st August 2022:
- MCA Adjustment 1
- MCA Adjustment2
- MCA Adjustment 3
The coding guidance above states the alternative methods to claim funding for work experience and lot 3 in 22/23. Students on continuing aims will need to use the 20/21 coding guidance to return any information for work experience or lot 3.
The EAS is a way to record some types of funding that providers cannot report in the ILR.
The following guidance will detail how the provider will use EAS in terms of the following two funding claims:
- Excess Learning Support
- Student Support Funding
Within the EAS file, there will be two different types of Adult Education Funding Lines, non-procured and procured. Providers will need to populate the appropriate lines dependent on the type of aims being claimed funding for.
Types of Funding Lines available:
- Adult Education - Eligible for MCA/GLA funding (non-procured)
- Adult Education - Eligible for MCA/GLA funding (procured)
- Level 3 free courses for Jobs - Eligible for MCA/GLA funding (non-procured)
- Level 3 free courses for Jobs - Eligible for MCA/GLA funding (procured)
New for 22/23 will be those Funding Lines that are being collected for National Skills Fund, which if are being claimed, need to be separated out to regular AEB funding by using one of the two new Funding Line’s above.
Types of Adjustment Lines available:
- Authorised Claims
- Excess Learning Support
- Princes Trust
- Student Support 19+ Hardship
- Student Support 20+ Childcare
- Student Support Residential Access Fund
- Student Support COVID-19 Response
- Student Support Administration Expenditure
The collection of Student Support Funding data through EAS. The provider will be required to submit this data on each return to show how much they have spent on Student Support Fund. This will still be asked for at the Mid-Year, End of Year and Final funding returns also, but we now require the actual spend on a monthly basis.
Contract for service provider will be expected to submit a full breakdown of claims which should be submitted to AEBDataReturns@wmca.org.uk.
How to create and submit an EAS claim (Subject to ESFA update)
To submit an EAS claim, providers must upload a CSV (comma-separated values) file to the Submit Student Data portal. The format of which will remain the same throughout the entire academic year.
When adding claims to your CSV file, providers should use a separate row for each funding line (FundingLine) and category (AdjustmentType) that they are claiming against in any given month. The provider must also ensure they have supporting evidence for each claim they make.
Each row in the EAS CSV file represents a value for delivery in a calendar month and year. We will add together the values from each month to calculate total earnings.
If providers need to change or add EAS values for a previous calendar month, they would include these changes in their latest CSV file along with values for the latest month.
For instance, the CSV files submitted in November 2022 could include rows with Calendar Months from 8 to 11, representing August to November.
The validation rules will prevent providers returning data for calendar months after the month relating to the current collection. For example, the R06 collection in the 2022 to 2023 year is open until 06 February 2023, but the latest calendar month which may be returned in this file is calendar month 1 (January) in calendar year 2023.
Providers should only return records for delivery that has taken place within the associated funding year.
For example, a provider can submit an EAS for the 2022 to 2023 year any time up to the close of R14 in October 2023, but it will only affect EAS funding earned on activity that took place in the 2022 to 2023 funding year between August 2022 and July 2023.
Each time providers submit an EAS claim the CSV file should include the rows for any previous claims from the current academic year.
Not including rows from previous claims will remove them from your EAS data. This means we will subtract any funding associated with those rows from the next payment that will be made. Providers must continue to submit any data submitted previously. Any previous month's claims should remain unaltered unless the WMCA has audited and asked the file to be adjusted.
Providers will only need to submit an EAS claim for SWAP if they wish to claim any funding for the reporting month in question or need to make a change to the previous month's claims. If providers have nothing to claim in the reporting period and/or no changes to make in previous months, then we do not require providers to submit an EAS return for SWAP.
Filename
Providers must give all files a specific filename followed by the CSV file extension. The filename format is EASDATA-LLLLLLLL-yyyymmdd-hhnnss.CSV
The filename is case sensitive and has several sections separated by hyphens: Each section in the filename represents a specific piece of information.
LLLLLLLL - the UK provider reference number (UKPRN) which is eight characters.
yyyymmdd-hhnnss - the date and time stamp when you generated the file. This should appear in the format above and be 15 characters long, with a hyphen separating the date and time (y is the year, m is the numerical value of the calendar month, d is the numerical value of the day, h is the hour in 24-hour format, n is the minute and s the second).
Providers can find more information about submitting an EAS and the format it should be in, by clicking on the following link and looking at the 22/23 section
Submission
This file will be needed to be uploaded to the ESFA’s Submit Student Data portal in line with the data collection timetable for ILR returns 22/23.
- The WMCA will monitor the use of DAM code 023 and if it is not used in one of the ways detailed in this document then the WMCA will not pay for it.
- Monitor the use of DAM codes 014, 018, 019, 020 and 021. These codes are 20/21 codes that should only be used with 20/21 starters
- Monitor the use of DAM code 043. This code is only to be used with explicit permission from the WMCA.