Level 3 National Skills Fund
The WMCA will be fully funding those Students who are aged 19 or over, studying the first full level 3 on qualifications designated for the National Skills Fund (NSF).
The following conditions apply:
- Aged 19 on the 31 August within the funding year they start a learning aim
- The Student has not studied a full level 3 or higher previously.
- The Level 3 aim must be on the list published by the ESFA AND agreed for delivery by the WMCA.
The ILR must be coded as followed:
ILR Name |
ILR code |
Mandatory |
Notes |
|
PriorAttain |
9, 7, 1, 99, 2 |
Y |
Entry, Other qualifications below level 1, Level 1, No Qualifications, Level 2 |
|
LSDPostcode |
Student Postcode |
Y |
Students must have a WMCA postcode |
|
EmpStat |
11 or 12 |
Y |
Employment Status at the start of the learning aim |
|
FundModel |
35 | Y | |
|
SOF |
112 |
Y | |
| FFI | 1 | N |
Indicates the learning aim is fully funded |
|
DAM |
002 | Y |
Required for Procured AEB i.e. All ITP provision and if an activity is part of the Grant Growth Contract award |
|
LDM |
378 | Y |
Level 3 Adult offer (Needed to generate uplift payment and identify as NSF) |
There is no requirement for the provider to use DAM code 023 for these aims. Please do not input this into your ILR data as the aim may not be valid when received by the WMCA and may not be paid.
The WMCA will pay the same uplift rate as the ESFA. Only level 3 qualifications on the NSF list adult offer will attract an uplift. There are two different uplifts:
National Skills Fund level 3 adult offer rate 1: £600 for eligible aims in category code 45 on LARS
National Skills Fund level 3 adult offer rate 2: £150 for eligible aims in category code 46 on LARS
When qualifications are added to the funding eligibility list, they will become eligible for funding from that publication date, and not be backdated to the start of the Level 3 adult offer (1 April 2021).
Only providers and aims that have been approved by the WMCA for delivery can be submitted in the ILR.
Any that have not been approved and sent in the ILR will not be paid.
ILR Name |
ILR code |
Mandatory |
Notes |
|
LSDPostcode |
Student Postcode |
Y |
Students must have a WMCA postcode |
|
FundModel |
35 |
Y |
|
|
SOF |
112 |
Y |
|
|
FFI |
1 | Y |
Fully Fund the aim |
|
OtherFundAdj |
XXX |
N |
Depending on the proportion agreed to be funded (25, 50 or 75) |
|
DAM |
023 | Y |
Prevents validation error |
|
LDM |
002 | N |
Required for Procured AEB i.e. All ITP provision and if an activity is part of the Grant Growth Contract award |
**Please note that the Student must first be assessed to see if they can exercise their legal entitlement at level 3**
The only aims that can be delivered as part of level 3 flexibilities are those that the provider has had explicit written permission from the WMCA. Please ensure that you are aware of this, as the provider may not be funded for aims that are not pre-approved.
Within this approval process, providers will be told the amount of funding they will get for that aim depending on what has been agreed. The WMCA will state whether this is 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of an aim value. Other than 100%, the amount agreed will need to go in the ‘OtherFundAdj’ field in the ILR.
The restriction on employment status has been lifted and there is no limitation to whether you wish to enrol an employed or unemployed Student to a level 3 flexibilities learning aim.
If the provider is delivering learning or training at level 3 that does not currently have a LARS code with an applicable Adult Skills funding rate, then the provider will need to contact WMCA at AEBDataReturns@wmca.org.uk. We will work with the ESFA to ask for a new LARS code to be generated and made available for use, but please note this could take up to a month to be created.