Understanding the ESFA Remittance Advice

Hi Ian

The Apps Monthly Payment report that is produced around the same day as the remittance is sent out *usually* matches up pretty well? I'd advise using pivot tables to sum by funding type and then using the R* Total columns which should give you values that look somewhat like the remittance!

Hi Steve,

Thanks very much and I eventually found the you report you mentioned :)

I've started to create pivot tables and now looking at the remittance advice, it mentions 'reconciliation' a few times but I can't see what exactly is being reconciled. Is this related to backdated payments i.e. starts/completers being added in later months? I did read the 2020-21 ILR Funding Reports manual but there's no mention of this.

Hi Ian

I have the same problem.  Where did you find the 'Apps Monthly Payment report'

Thank you

Hi Yvonne,

You will find the report in Submit Learner Data. Go to 'Reports'  and then 'Submission History'. You will then see the previous R returns and the Apps Monthly Payment Report is in the 'Period End reports' zip file.

Hi all - sorry to resurrect an old topic - can I ask where you find the remittance advice? I've always looked at the period end reports from Submit Learner Data. Is the remittance advice the same as the payment history section of Manage your education and skills funding? Or is there something else I've been missing?

Hi Luke

Someone in your organisation (Head of Finance? CEO?) will get actual pdfs emailed from ESFA detailing (for some values of "detail") the money coming into your bank account. This is what we usually mean by "remittance advice" but, you're right, it's the same information as that contained in the Payment History section of MYESF.

At the time of writing, this *usually* matches to the Apps Monthly Payment Report, give or take a penny (unless you've got something pretty weird happening).

Thanks Steve, that's really helpful. I've tried to summarise this below, does it all make sense to you?

Apps Indicative Report

An estimated breakdown of apprenticeship payments by learner, month, and type - but without factoring in key funding considerations and realities. Only useful for providing a rough idea of income. For the actual funding, we have...

Funding Summary Report

A top level summary of funding grouped by contract and learner type. Represents the funding that the ESFA intends to pay (excluding co-investment payments due directly from the employer). Does not offer much detail about which enrolments are triggering the payments. For that, there’s...

Apps Monthly Payment Report

Learner-by-learner breakdown of enrolments generating funding, the contract being used, and the amount (split by type and month). Should, in theory, offer a detailed breakdown of the money paid by the ESFA to the training provider. Speaking of which...

Remittance Advice

This is a list or record of the actual payments made by the ESFA to the training provider's bank account. It’s the actual money, but summarised by contract and category (with various ad hoc tags added to the ends of the payment descriptions to provide more detail).

PDF copies of the remittance advice are emailed to training providers monthly, but the same data is also available under the Payment History section of MYESF. If you want to understand why the payments are what they are, you need to go back up to the Funding Summary and Apps Monthly Payment reports for a more detailed breakdown.

Let me put it this way, I'm totally nicking this explanation ;)

Haha - that's a solid endorsement!