Ruth Canham-James

ASF/Apprenticeship Learning Support

Created

I'm really struggling to find details about what we can claim for for ASF Learning Support. I found some good guidance for apprentices, but can we apply that to ASF? It's the same £150 a month plus EAS if needed. I'm particularly interested in buying resources. The Apps guidance says:

If one-off costs are more than £150 in a month, claim the additional amount through the earnings adjustment statement, alongside the monthly fixed amount.

Example

You buy a specialised laptop that costs £1,000, which a learner will use for the duration of the apprenticeship.

You can claim for one month’s learning support, which is the £150 fixed amount.

You can also claim £850 through the earnings adjustment statement.

 

You cannot claim further monthly learning support claims for this piece of equipment.

Does that go for ASF too? If so, where is that guidance? That's a peculiar method, claiming £150 for the initial outlay, then claiming the rest via EAS. We can't then claim for that item if we then use it for another person, only when we first buy it. If we already have resources, we can't claim Learning Support for them when provided to a student who needs it. It'll be pretty arbitrary which student gets the Learning Support cost attached to them.

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Steve Hewitt

I mean, there's no change from what we've always done for AEB? The Apps guidance was mainly produced because (almost) no one was claiming it, so they had to spell out what was allowed.

So, yeah, new, specialised laptop, not a problem. Attach it to the first person who uses it, make sure it's all documented as you would for any other ALS and there you are.

Ruth Canham-James

Fair enough no change, but if you were a new provider, or new to claiming ASF, how would you know what to do and what to claim for?

From talking with other providers, I think lots of us could claim more than we do, but are put off by the complexity and fear of doing it wrong. We've been looking at all we do and trying to increase support for adults and apprentices (helping them be more confident to declare needs for a start), but also trying to make sure we get all the funding we're due to help us do that.