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We would work out their average weekly hours by multiplying weekly hours by the number of weeks they actually work, then dividing by 46.4 (the normal working weeks for a full timer once you take off statutory leave). If you use the number of weeks actually worked, then divide by 52, that's not a true comparison, as full timers don't work 52 weeks.
We find most of our term time only apprentices actually still average 30+ hours a week, so we just treat as full time, don't extend durations, and make sure they do 46.4 x 6 hours a year, which means they have to do more than 6 hours a week OTJ when they are working.
Hi Sarah Kelly and Ruth Canham-James,
Sarah Kelly, Thank you for posting your audit feed back, it is really interesting to hear about different providers experiences, and to see how auditors and providers are interpreting and applying the published rules.
We do our OTJ and duration calculations in exactly the same way as you Ruth Canham-James including our term-time apprentices doing more than 6 hours per week OTJ training on average.
Phil
Sarah, can you confirm whether you were using 52 weeks or 46.4 weeks in your calc?
If they were 37 hours a week, then it makes a difference as, under the method we're describing, they are "full time" (31.1 average) over 46.4 weeks and thus no extension, but "part time" (27.75) over 52 weeks and the latter is not correct...
Sarah Kelly
ESFA audit feedback
Created
We had an audit in May and there was a question raised about how we had calculated off the job hours for learners who started prior to this funding year. All of our learners are term time only so I took the hours they work each week over the 39 weeks and averaged them over the 52 weeks. This made them part time so I extended the programme length.
However the auditor, her manager and policy have said this is wrong- we have now had a response from policy. Where your learners are on a term time contract off-the-job training is calculated as though the apprentice is working 52 weeks per year (minus statutory leave), therefore if they work 37 hours per week in the contract then 37 hours is what needs to go into the calculation.
I have been instructed to change their planned hours in the ILR and paperwork. However because I extended their end date as I made them part time, they now have to have planned hours based on a longer programme length.
I`m sharing this as I have looked back over ESFA communities and can see that other providers have also calculated in this way before the 30 hour cap came in.