EEF 4 not triggering bursary payment

You will receive this in full when the apprentice is still in learning at 60 days.

Thanks Martin, the apprentice has been in learning for well over 60 days however the payment has still not been released.

Hi, same here. Student started in January, the care leaver was reported on R11. Haven't received the Bursary payment, however we received the 500 additional payment for the provider. 

Update on this one - the ESFA have advised that the EEF4 must be added to the ILR within the first 60 days to trigger the bursary payment. I've asked them to confirm where this requirement is stated as, unless I've missed it, all I can see is that the payment will be issued once the apprentice has been in learning for 60 days, not that you must have detailed the entitlement on the ILR by that point.

Darren Vidler

We've just had the exact same thing happen with EEF4 not triggering a payment. Like you we recorded it after 60 days. We have an example from last year, where we recorded it beyond the 60 days (at about the same point as the current apprentice is at), but we still got the payment. It shows as earned in one month and paid 2 months later, as that is when we recorded it.

Have you had any further information on this from the ESFA? I also can't see anything that states it must be recorded by 60 days.

I'll also try reaching out to them about this.

Hi, has anybody had a response in relation to this? We are also experiencing the same issue even though the ILR has been recorded correctly?
I sent an email to servicedesk a few weeks ago now who said it was being passed to the in-year funding team to investigate and I've heard nothing.

Thank you

Becky O'Brien Christopher Ashfield

Been on leave so hadn't seen your comments. I challenged the ESFA position on this and the query was escalated for review a couple of weeks ago. I haven't yet heard back I'm afraid.

Darren

Received a response this morning to advise that the relevant team will respond by year end... that would take the request to a possible 3 months before a response is provided which really isn't acceptable.

Absolutely ridiculous. 

Incredibly unfair to the affected apprentices. That is money that we believe they are owed.

Darren Vidler - just received a reply asking for the ULN of the apprentice. Let's see what happens next.

Darren Vidler Istvan Ladunga 

I've received another update already, having been asked to provide the ULN of the apprentice due the Care Leaver's bursary.

I will ask another team to authorise payment for the bursary and get back to you.

Ideally EEF4 should be recorded from the start, however, as long as EEF4 is recorded in the funding year in which the 60th day in learning falls, the system will generate the payment. If you discover / record it later than that, please still record it, but the system won't pay so please get in touch with the team. Learner does need to be in learning 60 days to release the payment too.

So, perhaps opening another ticket with the relevant ULNs is the way to go?

I remain slightly baffled at the as it indicates that as long as it is recorded in the same funding year as the 60th day, it should generate automatically. We did record it in the same funding year! However, I'm wondering if the fact that the individual did an apprenticeship before the current one (didn't know their CL status at the time) might have thrown things off.

I'll continue updates with whatever happens next. 

Thanks Becky, that's really useful info. Will go back to my contact and see if they can proceed on this basis.

Darren Vidler Istvan Ladunga

Not counting my chickens before they are hatched, but I received a reply today, with authorisation to use the EAS (my understanding is that it it is a category where you have to have prior authorisation/instruction to use it).

Also, the issue in our case was that the apprentice had previously been on an apprenticeship that was still in our data. We hadn't got our ducks in a row to claim it then (Delivery didn't know about the bursary, I didn't know we had a care leaver...), and of course the start date was in a previous funding year, so we recorded it on the second apprenticeship. We've now been told to record it on the first apprenticeship and use the EAS.

While this likely isn't the same scenario, it does give some hope that the ESFA are willing to make some allowances and that there is a mechanism to by-pass their restrictions.

No idea why all my metaphors are bird based today....

(PS we hadn't known that the 2 apprenticeships was an issue, hence why I hadn't mentioned it before)

Thanks Becky, I've had the same approval for EAS which is good. Positive news to share with the apprentice.

We haven't quite got to the bottom of the reason for non-payment on my ticket but I'm glad to have closed this one off finally. It'll be useful to bear this escalation route in mind moving forward!

Excellent news!

Now the wait until R13 period end reports come out to see if it has worked.

Hi all, for those who are submitting an EAS claim, can you confirm what 'adjustment' type they have used for this?

Hi SDevonCA

• Authorised claims - Additional payments for apprentice - For claims relating to the £1,000 Additional Payments we make to you on behalf of the apprentice, for apprentices who are care leavers (aged up to 24 years old).

We received recently the same answer from ESFA. My question is if I would like to submit the EAS for R13 what calendar month should I add to the EAS form. As it is 22/23 submission all data must be within the current funding year. Or wait until R2 2023/24?

Thanks,

Hi Christopher Ashfield, as per Istvan's response above we've used the Authorised claims - Additional payments for apprentice row to submit the claim.

Istvan Ladunga we used July as the month as it is the latest month in the funding year that can be selected. Advice from the Agency was to include the claim as part of R13.

Darren