Adult learning and skills service fees and charges policy 2023/24

The level of government contribution for education and skills funding agency funded adult education budget is as follows.

All learners must be aged 19 or over on 31 August 2023 and must meet the residential eligibility criteria for funding. Please refer to the glossary definition of ‘learner residency’ and the devolution postcode checker data set. This is available from your local area adult learning and skills service office. The information below relates to qualifications which are approved for funding as defined by the qualifications information guide.

Fee remission 

The education and skills funding agency will meet the full cost of certain courses for learners in one of the following categories: 

• receive jobseeker’s allowance, including those receiving national insurance credits only
• receive employment and support allowance
• receive universal credit, and their take-home pay as recorded on their universal credit statement (disregarding benefits) is less than £617 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £988 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner) 
• are released on temporary licence, studying outside a prison environment, and not funded by the ministry of justice

The education and skills funding agency may also fully fund learners who are employed, or self-employed, and would normally be co-funded for provision, up to and including level 2 if they meet the following criteria:

• you are eligible for co-funding
• you earn less that £20,319 annual gross salary

Additionally, at the discretion of the adult learning and skills service, the education and skills funding agency will meet the full cost of certain courses for those learners who are:

• in receipt of other state benefits (not listed above) and their take home pay (disregarding benefits) is less than £617 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £988 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner)
• motivated to be employed, or progress into more sustainable employment, and their take-home pay (disregarding benefits) is less than £617 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £988 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner), and you are satisfied identified learning is directly relevant to their employment prospects and the local labour market needs
• learners aged 19 to 23 and aged 24 and over, who have already achieved at level 2, or above can undertake learning up to and including level 2 qualifications from the local flexibility offer or qualifications for the level 2 legal entitlement available on the qualifications website or find a learning aim
• learners aged 24 and over who have not achieved a level 2 qualification can undertake learning up to and including level 2 qualifications from the local flexibility offer, or qualifications in the level 2 legal entitlement list available on the qualifications website or find a learning aim

We support the government’s digital skills framework which provides an entitlement to allow learners of all ages to thrive in the information and technological age. For adults with low digital skills, Essential Digital Skills Qualifications aimed at both life and work will be funded through a legal entitlement (digital entitlement) which will bring ICT into line with maths and English by applying funding for these entry 3 and level 1 qualifications.

The examination costs are:

• examination, membership, and materials costs are in addition to the course fees, unless stipulated in the prospectus 
• learners who are entitled to free accredited courses and who are fully funded do not pay examination, membership, or material costs

We will fully fund individuals, including individuals who are employed, aged 19 or older, who have not previously attained a GCSE grade 4 (C), or higher, in English and Maths, as part of their legal entitlement on the day they start the following qualifications:

• GCSE English language or maths
• functional skills English or maths from entry to level 2
• stepping-stone qualifications (including components, where applicable) in English or maths approved by the department for education and education and skills funding agency
• if a learner wants to ‘retake’ their GCSE English and maths qualification because they did not achieve a grade 4 (C), or higher, we will not fund the learner to only resit the exam

Learners who have studied GCSE with adult learning and skills service and wish to re-sit their GCSE English or maths examination in November without any further learning will have to pay the appropriate costs, which are the full exam, registration, and certification fee plus a £45 administration charge. 
 
For all other qualification types (with the exception of functional maths and English) where there is an examination fee any re takes are to be paid for by the learners plus a £20 administration charge.

Please also refer to Absence information. 

From 1 August 2019, anyone who is 19 or over and wishes to study for a qualification at level 3 to level 6, will be able to apply for an advanced learning loan to cover tuition fees. Applications can take time to process. Please ensure you are in receipt of the loan prior to the start date of the course.

The Student Loans Company is responsible for assessing eligibility and administering the loan. Find further information on the application process is available from the Adult Learning and Skills Service or go to the GOV.UK Advanced Learning Loan page.

As part of the lifetime skills guarantee, a targeted level 3 adult offer has been developed to support adults without an existing full level 3 qualification and, from 1 April 2022, adults who meet the definition of ‘low wage’ or ‘unemployed’. This offer is also known as the free courses for jobs offer.

The offer includes:

• level 3 qualifications which will support the development of new skills for adult learners and improve the prospects of eligible adults in the labour market. In particular, eligible adults aged 24+ can now access fully-funded level 3 provision from the list of level 3 free courses for jobs qualifications available via the Department for Education list of qualifications approved for funding
• additional level 3 qualifications for 19 to 23-year-olds that are not included in the legal entitlements
• once a learner has been funded by free courses for jobs, in line with guidance, they will have exhausted their eligibility for the offer and can no longer access funding. Learners accessing the low wage and unemployment flexibilities cannot be funded if they have previously been funded via free courses for jobs

If you are unemployed and actively seeking work and in receipt of one of the benefits mentioned previously the cost of a course is £2.20 per hour (plus the costs of any resources if required).

If you are not in employment and not in receipt of one of the benefits mentioned previously and your income is below £20,319 annual gross salary, the cost of the course is £2.20 per hour.

If you are in employment and earning over £18,525 or not seeking work the cost of a course is £5.20 per hour.

These courses are offered to enable you to develop or maintain your skills in a range of subjects. These courses are only partially subsidised by the education and skills funding agency and therefore incur a cost which is priced individually and available as publicised or on request.

In addition to course fees, the adult learning and skills service will determine measures to increase the value of funding received for community learning. This is in line with the Pound plus concept.

Family Learning classes are run in many schools in the county. They give parents and children the opportunity to find out how things are taught in their children’s school as well as a chance to share ideas with other parents and develop their own skills.

Family learning can benefit the parents and carers who attend the programmes as it is a powerful resource which enables individuals to take their first steps back into education. It is a valuable progression pathway to higher level skills and jobs.

These courses are offered free to parents and carers to support their children’s learning.

Our payment by instalment method is to help you spread the cost of fees and are available on all courses with tuition fees greater than £100.

The first payment is 30% of the tuition fee plus the cost of materials, examination and registration fees. The remaining amount due will be split over a maximum of six consecutive monthly payments, or for courses of a shorter duration at least one week before the expected end date of the course. The exam and registration fees are an additional cost to the course fees – these must be paid at the time of enrolment with the first instalment.

For example, if the course is for 10 months and the tuition fee is £700 and the other associated costs are £40, the instalment fee will be £210 plus £40 initial payment, then a monthly payment of £81.66 over six months. If a learner wants to pay it off earlier, that can be adjusted at enrolment.

The first instalment must be paid prior to the course commencing. The six remaining payments must be paid over the next six consecutive months. The final payment must be made before the end of the course.

Learners cannot attend the course until the first payment has been received, including any of the additional costs are paid in full.

If learners leave the course early or do not complete they will still be required to pay the fees in full and must be made aware of this at the time of enrolment.

Signing the enrolment form is the contract to confirm acceptance of the payment plan.

Learners cannot pay for classes on a weekly basis. If the learner joins a class late they will still pay the full course fee.

For some of the courses there will be specialist resources required with the costs being paid directly to the teacher.

A full refund of course fees paid will only be made if the service is unable to provide the course.

Pro Rata refund of fees may be claimed for:

1. temporary cancellation of classes for more than two sessions, where the revised arrangements for future meetings are not satisfactory to the learner
2. permanent withdrawal from a course by a learner due solely to a long-term newly diagnosed medical condition which prevents attendance on the course
3. extenuating personal circumstance at the discretion of the area manager

Other refund requests will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

All requests for refunds should be put in writing to the area manager.

Examination entry fees are non-refundable once paid to the awarding organisation unless that organisation offers a refund and the service has received the refund.

Refunds for original payments made by credit/debit card must be refunded onto the original card. As card details are not stored, the cardholder will be required to present the card or card details again before the refund can be processed.

When a session must be closed due to severe weather, every effort will be made to ensure that an additional session is provided in lieu as follows:

• an extra session may be added on to the end of the course
• an extra half hour may be added onto the remaining weeks of the course, up to the number of hours missed - for example for a 2 hour course an extra half hour could be added to the last 4 sessions

Refunds for other reasons are not generally given, but if a refund is granted there will be an administration charge of £20. 

The adult learning and skills service will automatically withdraw a learner from a course because of non-attendance or non-participation of any element of their agreed learning plan after two consecutive weeks of absence from planned sessions of their course. If a learner knows of a reason, they are going to be absent for more than two weeks, they must send information to their teacher explaining why they are going to be absent, and the timeframe of this absence. The adult learning and skills service reserves the right to withdraw the learner after a two-week absence if they are not satisfied that the learner is going to genuinely return to their programme of learning and to invoice for any outstanding fees.

Please refer to learner attendance and absence policy.

Learners who fail to attend the exam without notice may be charged for subsequent exams or refused entry onto other courses.

Additional support and access to funds may also be available if you cannot meet the cost of your course. Funding is limited and we cannot guarantee its availability, but if awarded can be put towards your registration fees, professional membership fees and exam fees, travel, books or childcare. Funding must be applied for before you start the course, to apply you will need to have an interview with a Learner Engagement Officer who will provide you with further information and help you to complete an application form. This funding is only available to those wishing to attend an accredited course. You may be able to claim assistance to pay the course fees to help you start or stay in learning.

Adult learning and skills service offers a range of additional support for learners to be able to start and stay in learning, these can be assessed following a discussion with your course teacher and/or a learner development advisor.

The adult learning and skills service does not ordinarily enrol learners onto any course where they do not meet the education and skills funding agency eligibility criteria, however a request can be made through relevant curriculum manager and if suitable a fee will be applied based on individual circumstances and the course applied for. If approved this will have a fee based on the full cost of the provision with no option for an instalment plan.

Residents of some postcodes which are part of a devolved authority area are not eligible for funded programmes in the North Yorkshire county, please seek the advice of the adult learning and skills service to discuss.

You can check your post code by using the GOV.UK adult education budget page.

The education and skills funding agency may also fully fund learners who are employed, or self-employed, and would normally be co-funded for provision, up to and including level 2. 

You must meet the following criteria: 

• you are eligible for co-funding
• you earn less that £20,319 annual gross salary

Additionally, at the discretion of the adult learning and skills service, the education and skills funding agency will meet the full cost of certain courses for those learners who are: 

• in receipt of other state benefits (not listed above) and their take-home pay (disregarding universal credit payments and other benefits) is less than £617 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £988 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner)
• wants to be employed, or progress into more sustainable employment, and their take-home pay (disregarding benefits) is less than £338 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £541 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner), and you are satisfied identified learning is directly relevant to their employment prospects and the local labour market needs

The adult learning and skills service can offer bespoke training to meet the needs of employers or external organisations, these can be discussed on an individual basis and will be costed by applying the formulas in the full cost calculator.

The adult learning and skills service reserves the right to amend a course fee, alter dates times even if it has been advertised previously. We exercised the right to amend if an error has been made, or if there are changes to funding rules, the type of provision, minimum numbers or costs.

All learners are informed at enrolment and through the prospectus that their learning is by education skills funding agency co-financing arrangement.

Sub-Contracting declaration

The adult learning and skills service receives a separate funding grant to deliver high needs study programmes to young people who have an education, health and care plan to support the local offer.

The high needs study programme is individual to the young person and as such, there may be a number of bespoke requests. This would make it unrealistic for the service to offer all of the provision in-house. It is likely to be cost ineffective in terms of the cost of acquiring all the necessary equipment and facilities to meet the needs of the individuals.

The high needs study programme is provided in-house by the adult learning skills service. However, the approved provider list relates to more specific specialist aspects of the high needs delivery which adult learning and skills service cannot meet internally. For example, provision of equine management or farming skills, work experience.

In line with our procurement rules our subcontracting is undertaken through the YOR-Tender and our procurement rules and procedures which ensures a robust due diligence procedure and ensures compliance with the education and skills funding agency subcontracting rules and guidelines. The subcontracting arrangements are also published on the GOV.UK website.

Payments are made to each subcontractor in accordance with our financial procedures and the service level agreement and contract.

Currently we subcontract with the following organisations and we passport our funding to them and report to the education and skills funding agency on activity, we hold back a percentage per learner as a management fee (pro rata up to a maximum of 20%) to cover the supervision of the subcontracting which includes quality assurance processes for example including specialist careers advice, observation of teaching and learning, delivery of coaching and professional development activities and other bespoke support to the organisation to ensure the highest quality of learning delivery is made available, demonstrating value for money and a positive impact on learner lives. 

What is Pound Plus?

The purpose of community learning is to develop the skills, confidence, motivation and resilience of adults of different ages and backgrounds in order to:

• progress towards formal learning or employment 
• improve their health and well-being, including mental health  
• develop stronger communities 

Community learning courses fall under the following four strands:

• personal and community development learning - learning for personal and community development, cultural enrichment, intellectual or creative stimulation and for enjoyment (in most cases not leading to a formal qualification)
• family English, maths and language - learning to improve the English language and maths skills of parents, carers or guardians and their ability to help their children
• wider family learning - learning to help different generations of family members to learn together how to support their children’s learning 
• neighbourhood learning in deprived communities - supports local Voluntary and other third sector organisations to develop their capacity to deliver learning opportunities for the residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods

Pound plus

Pound plus is a term used by the education and skills funding agency to describe and represent additional income generated by providers of adult education over and above the core funding. It is anything else we can do to generate additional income, such as fee income or funding in kind, for example free venues. In generating additional income it allows us to maximise the value of public investment and is used to increase the offer we can provide to our communities and residents in North Yorkshire. Any Pound plus fee income is used for the people who most at need, and can least afford, community learning provision.

What we do

In order to receive this money, we must ensure that public funding is focused on people who need it most, those least likely to participate in learning. We therefore collect fees from people who can afford to pay, unless otherwise prescribed by the education and skills funding agency, and use these to extend provision to those who cannot.

Our adult learning and skills service adds value to the adult education budget by working closely with partners. In doing so this reduces costs by sharing resources and attracting in kind funding to widen the offer available to disadvantaged learners who otherwise may not be able to afford course fees. We have a differentiated fees policy is in place, which includes a mix of fee-paying public courses and free targeted provision.

The main contributors of Pound plus in adult learning and skills service include:

• appropriate fee income (those who can afford to pay and reinvests this by providing access to courses free of charge to those who cannot)
• provide a fee structure which is competitively priced, ranging from workshops and other community learning courses with concessionary fees available
• to work collaboratively with other providers in the county
• curriculum efficiency – avoiding duplicate provision
• curriculum planning – to ensure the course offer meets both the government priorities and the needs of the local communities
• curriculum offer that is open to all adults in North Yorkshire 
• the offer of progression opportunities leading to increased participation through to other funding streams including accredited courses
• access to venues at no or reduced costs
• the use of volunteers to support learning
• the use of shared resources
• partnership working and offering a bespoke curriculum to their client groups 
• access to other funding sources or equipment

Partnerships

Our community learning outreach provision mainly developed with and delivered to community organisations consists of bespoke and specific programmes designed to meet the particular needs of targeted groups of learners, usually the clients of organisation. The programme of learning activities are proposed in partnership with local community and voluntary organisations and schools. There is an expectation that adult learning and skills service funding is a contribution to overall costs of delivery and that partners will add value by contributing in kind (such as offering free venue or expertise) or through cost savings (such as recruiting and supporting learners). There is an expectation that the provision will in turn reduce costs to other services for example, interventions to improve health and wellbeing to keep people mentally healthy and fit will reduce visits to GPs, through reducing rural and social isolation (which is a major cost to services). The ongoing partnerships with Department for Work and Pensions job centre plus aim to reduce costs to local government through a structure that helps unemployed people get back into work.

Monitoring

Adult learning and skills service undertake regular reviews of provision and take feedback from partners and communities to widen participation. We monitor through our quality processes and self-assessment process.