Institute consultations on funding and EQA extended by six weeks

The Institute understands that in the current climate many organisations are having to make difficult decisions about their businesses.

As a result we are extending both of our ongoing consultations on funding and External Quality Assurance (EQA) by six weeks.

We want everyone to have the chance to respond if they would like to do so and do not believe this to be the case due to the disruption brought about by the Covid-19 virus.

The consultation on the proposed new model for setting apprenticeship funding will close on Monday 18 May at midday.

The deadline for the consultation on a simplified and strengthened model of EQA of apprenticeship assessments will be Thursday 21 May.

For both of these consultations, we had plans for engagement events. These will be take place using a digital platform, the dates and further details of these will be updated shortly on the consultation pages of the Institute’s website. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If you have any questions on Covid-19 and the Institute’s response please contact us via Enquiries.IFA@education.gov.uk.

Background

Funding

Our intention with any new funding approach is to increase transparency and deliver value for money, which is why we launched our consultation on Monday 24^th February.

It remains our intention to conduct a pilot and we will keep under review the most appropriate time to conduct it. We will give details of how the pilot will take place at least one month’s notice before we begin piloting.

The extension to the consultation and delay to the start of the pilot mean that we will not rollout the new model to the original planned timetable – summer 2020. Instead, working closely with the sector, we will ensure that transition to a new process is done so at a time and in a way that minimises unnecessary disruption.

EQA

The EQA consultation, which launched on 27 February 2020, sets out a proposal to move to a simplified and strengthened model of External Quality Assurance of apprenticeship assessments.

The Institute remains committed to running a full and meaningful consultation on the proposed EQA model, and to giving all interested stakeholders the opportunity and time to feed in. This will enable us to fully understand how the proposed model can be developed to be as strong as possible and deliver a high-quality EQA system across apprenticeship standards.