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WMCA Coding Guidance 2021/2022 - For the funding year August 2021 to July 2022

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 2021 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 2021 to 2022 year is open until 06 February 2022, but the latest calendar month which may be returned in this file is calendar month 1 (January) in calendar year 2021.

Providers should only return records for delivery that has taken place within the associated funding year. 162.1. For example, a provider can submit an EAS for the 2020 to 2021 year any time up to the close of R14 in October 2021, but it will only affect EAS funding earned on activity that took place in the 2020 to 2021 funding year between August 2020 and July 2021.

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 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 previous months 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.

File Name

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 21/22 section:

Find out more

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 21/22.