Condition of funding on provision of English and mathematics in 2017 to 2018
The latest guidance from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) states that full time students starting their study programme who have a grade 3 or D GCSE or equivalent qualification in maths and/or English must be enrolled on a GCSE, rather than an approved stepping stone qualification.
Annex D: Condition of funding on provision of English and mathematics in 2017 to 2018 states:
"1. This annex gives a summary of the ESFA condition of funding for the provision of English and maths within young people’s study programmes. To assist institutions in planning to meet the condition of funding the ESFA has issued detailed guidance on the condition of funding and the exemptions, which is available on GOV.UK.
2. The teaching of English and maths qualifications is a condition of funding for students undertaking study programmes who do not hold either a grade 9 to 4 or A*-C in these subjects and are studying for 150 hours or more in the academic year. Students on programmes of less than 150 hours are not required to study maths and English qualifications, but institutions should include some maths and English content in courses taken by such students to facilitate their learning.
3. Full time students (those on a study programme of at least 540 planned hours if age 16 to 17 or at least 450 hours if age 18) starting their study programme who have a grade 3 or D GCSE or equivalent qualification in maths and/or English must be enrolled on a GCSE, rather than an approved stepping stone qualification.
4. A student who has grade 3 or D in both maths and in English will need to be enrolled on GCSE in both subjects in each academic year and is required to continue to study each subject until they achieve at least a grade 4 in each subject.
5. To meet this requirement, individual institutions should use the flexibilities available to tailor a study programme, so that each student can improve in maths and/or English to the best of their ability."
View the document in full (Annex D can be found on pages 50 - 51)
