Fees and Eligibility

Most individuals will be eligible for funding if they:

• Are individual’s resident in areas of England outside of devolved authority areas
• Are aged 19 or older on 31 August within the academic year that they are studying or are aged 16 to 18 in that academic year
• Fulfil the residency requirements that are set out in one or more of the categories found in the residency eligibility section:

We will not fund:

• qualifications, units or learning aims that are not listed on find a learning aim or on the DfE list of qualifications approved for funding
• provision to learners in custody – the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) funds prison education in England. Please note you can use your DfE funded ASF to fund individuals released on temporary licence
• end-point assessment outside of apprenticeship standards, which is subject to Ofqual external quality assurance and regulated as a qualification
• any part of any learner’s learning aim or programme that duplicates provision they have received from any other source
• training through DWP funded ASF, where a learner is undertaking an apprenticeship and where that training will:
  • offer career-related training that conflicts with the apprenticeship aims
  • be taking place during the apprentice’s working hours - where an apprentice has more than one job, working hours refers to the hours of the job the apprenticeship is linked to
  • approved English and/or maths qualifications which are required for an apprentice to complete their apprenticeship, where an apprentice does not already hold a suitable equivalent qualification.
• Any qualification where the learner has previously achieved it. The exceptions are that it is for any GCSE where the learner has not achieved grade 4 (C) or higher, or for English and maths where the learner has been assessed as having an existing skill level lower than grade 4 (even if they have previously achieved a GCSE or equivalent qualification in English or maths)
• a learner to sit or resit a learning aim assessment or examination where no extra learning takes place

Individuals will be eligible for funding if they meet the criteria in the who is funded section, the learning is taking place in England and they are ordinarily resident in areas of England outside of devolved authority areas undertaking learning.

Individuals who are not eligible for funding

Funding is not available for individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria set out in the residency eligibility section. Examples of individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria include the following. Please note this list is not exhaustive:
• who are here without authority or lawful status
• who are resident in the UK on a student or graduate visa
• who are in the UK on holiday, with or without a visa
• who are in the UK on a sponsorship visa, including skilled worker visas and seasonal worker visas
• whose biometric residence permit or residence permit imposes a study prohibition or restriction on the individual
Dependants of all individuals with sponsorship visa status, with the exception of seasonal workers, are eligible for ASF funding.

Learners with limited length visas

We will not fund learners who would not have enough time on their visa to complete their course and who do not intend to, or would not be eligible to, renew their visa. Where a course continues past a learner’s visa expiry date, we may at our discretion fund that learner only where there is documented evidence that the learner intends to, and is likely to be eligible to renew their visa.

Learners who have applied for an extension or variation of their immigration permission

Any person who has applied for an extension or variation of their current immigration permission in the UK is still treated as if they have that leave. This only applies if the application was made before their current permission expired. Their leave continues until the Home Office decides on their immigration application. Their leave will continue where they have appealed or sought an administrative review of their case within the time allowed to them for doing so.
Therefore, a person is considered to still have the immigration permission that they held when they made their application for an extension, administrative review or appeal, and their eligibility would be based on this status.
This is on the basis that the provider confirmed at enrolment that the learner intended to and will be eligible to renew their visa.

EEA and Switzerland frontier workers

An EEA or Switzerland frontier worker is someone who is employed or self-employed in the UK who resides in the EEA or Switzerland and returns to that residence in the EEA or Switzerland at least once a week.
Unlike other categories, a frontier worker or their eligible family member does not have to be resident in the UK on the first day of learning in order to have an eligible residency status.

Asylum seekers

Asylum seekers are eligible to receive funding if they:
• have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is being considered by the Home Office, and no decision on their claim has been made, or
• are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014
An individual who has been refused asylum will be eligible if:
• they have appealed against a decision made by the UK government against granting refugee status and no decision has been made within 6 months of lodging the appeal, or
• they are granted support for themselves under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, or
• are receiving local authority support for themselves under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989

No recourse to public funds conditions

The learner’s immigration permission in the UK may have a ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition. Public funds does not include education or education funding. Therefore, this does not affect a learner’s eligibility, which must be decided under the normal eligibility conditions.

Learners in the armed forces

British armed forces personnel, Ministry of Defence personnel or civil and crown servants resident in England, who meet the criteria in the who we fund section, are eligible for DfE funded ASF where learning takes place in England.
Members of other nations’ armed forces stationed in England, and their family members, aged 19 and over, are eligible for DfE funded ASF, set out in the who we fund section, if the armed forces individual is ordinarily resident in England on the first day of learning. We will not fund family members that remain outside of England.

What is funded?

Adult Education courses are for learners aged 19+, however funding is available for 16-18-year-olds on some accredited courses. Please ask for details.
Fee remission is available in accordance with Department for Education (DfE) co-funding rules.
• ‘Fully Funded’ – the course is free to learners and is fully subsidised by the DfE.
• ‘Co-funded’ – the learner pays the advertised fee which is subsidised by the DfE.
• ‘Loan funded’ – the learner pays 100% of the full fee and can apply for an Advanced Learning Loan. Learners in receipt of a loan who withdraw before the end of the course will be liable to pay the balance of the fees owed directly to Leicester Adult Education.
• ‘Not funded’ – The course costs will be the full DfE listed funded fee for the qualification or, for Tailored Learning, £14.00 per hour plus any materials / model costs.

The eligibility criteria for ASF funding includes having earnings below the threshold of £26,800. This includes individuals with no earnings, such as those who are unemployed or economically inactive.

We will fully fund learners who are taking qualification courses who are unemployed, employed, or self-employed, up to and including level 2 and the level 3 offers, if they earn below £26,800 annual gross salary. The policy entitlement includes learners who are employed or self-employed

A learner must provide evidence of their gross annual wages in these circumstances. This could be a wage slip or a Universal Credit (UC) statement within 3 months of the learner’s learning start date, or a current employment contract which states gross monthly or annual wages.

This list is not exhaustive, but you evidence is required to award full funding to an individual who would normally be eligible for co-funding.

Full level 2

The following qualifications are designated full at level 2:

• General Certificate of Secondary Education in 5 subjects, each at grade C or above, or grade 4 or above
• a Technical Certificate at level 2 which meets or has previously met the requirements for 16 to 19 performance tables

Full level 3

The following qualifications are designated full at level 3:

• General Certificate of Education at the advanced level in 2 subjects
• General Certificate of Education at the AS level in 4 subjects
• QAA Access to Higher Education (HE) Diploma at level 3
• technical or applied general qualification at level 3 which meets or has previously met the requirements for 16 to 19 performance tables - core maths qualification at level 3

The Right to Study Check is a legal process in place for all non British citizens to follow when applying for study. 

At enrolment it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct type of settlement status or immigration permission (visa) with which to study all of your course.

Failure to provide evidence of the correct type of immigration permission could result in you not being enrolled or being withdrawn from your course.

What Documents Do You Need?

We use the term ‘resident’ or ‘residence’ in this document for different purposes.
Residence in the UK, EU and EEA has specific definitions in education law, and this is set out in the ‘residency eligibility’ section.
Following the devolution of adult education functions, there is a new emphasis on residence in England, in determining and evidencing eligibility for DWP funded ASF - see who we fund.
This means the permanent residency of an individual in England (as in, not a temporary address for duration of learning taking place), immediately prior to enrolment determines eligibility for DfE funded ASF.