What evidence is needed for Learner Support Funding?

Learning Support Funding helps ensure that everyone can benefit from apprenticeships, further education and employment opportunities in the UK if they would otherwise struggle.

This includes those who are currently experiencing financial difficulties or those who would otherwise struggle to fulfil their learning potential because of their circumstances.

Anyone on a further education course and suffering from learning or physical disabilities and facing financial hardship can apply for Learner Support. It can be used to cover the costs of assistive software, pay for extra time with tutors and implement adjustments to help support the learner.

In this article, we will explain how Learning Support Funding works and what evidence is required.

How does Learning Support Funding work?

Learning Support Funding is available from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and offers:

• Payments of £1000 for apprentices aged 19-24 with EHCPs and care leavers
• Funding of up to £150 per month to meet costs associated with learning aids and adaptations

The training provider will need to apply for the funds on the learner’s behalf and provide evidence to the ESFA to enable the learner to access the help they need.

How does Learning Support Funding help learners?

The ESFA have created learning support funding to help empower learners with disabilities or learning difficulties and ensure they can achieve their best.

It can be used to provide the adjustments needed to support a learner through their journey, to complete their Functional Skills qualifications and after Gateway at end-point assessment.

Even if the learner hasn’t had their learning difficulty or disability formally identified, the required initial assessment can help uncover barriers to learning, boost their confidence and understand that there could be a reason for the difficulties they’ve encountered previously when undertaking education or training.

How does Learning Support Funding help you?

Learning Support Funding means that training providers can also invest in additional staff and provide the assistive technology and equipment that can benefit the learner and future learners with learning difficulties or physical disabilities.

It also shows Ofsted that you intend to evaluate your support infrastructure and provide high-quality training education that meets the unique needs of your learners.

Finally, this focus on learners as individuals means you’re better prepared to reduce disengagement and dropout rates and stay on track with their learning.

What can make the funding process easier?

Everything starts with a detailed initial assessment that helps uncover the learners’ hidden needs and whether adjustments need to be made. It also allows you to plan your curriculum more effectively and take a proactive approach that boosts engagement and learner confidence from day one.

Any reasonable adjustments should be agreed by the learner and signed off before it can be delivered. You cannot apply for monthly funding without it.

Once you’ve done so, you’ll need to focus on collecting evidence and data to ensure you can continue to receive the funding, meet Ofsted requirements and can meet the requirements outlined in the Equality Act 2010.

Evidence required for additional funding

To access the additional funding, the training provider must:

• Provide evidence of an initial assessment that identifies the learner’s support needs
• Report in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) that the learner has a support need
• Provide evidence of the planned additional learning support (such as a commitment letter or individual learner plan and how you plan to meet these needs)
• Show how you will meet these needs and review progress
• Confirm that the learner accepts the additional learning support
• Show evidence of the start of additional learning support activities

To claim the ongoing monthly support, you should also provide:

• Evidence that the learning support has been delivered
• Copies of the reviews to check that the learner is making progress in their learning plan
• Evidence of any outcomes or changes made
• Evidence of the date the additional learning support activities end

As a training delivery platform designed around compliance, Bud automatically captures all the evidence listed above so that our customers can be confident in their funding claims.

What role does the ESFA play in this?

As the UK government website states: “The ESFA brings together the former responsibilities of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to create a single agency accountable for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults.”

They created the Learning Support Fund and ensure that funding is given when most needed.

Concerned about the complexity of applying for Learner Support Funding?

Don’t be. The Bud training management platform can help you streamline the process by automatically gathering the evidence and data you need. Contact us today to find out more.