Claim LSF for English/Maths FS for 19+ and upskill learners

Hi,

There's a reference to LSF being fundable for English and maths in this guidance.

What you can use learning support funding for

You can use learning support funding to make reasonable adjustments to support a learner who has learning difficulties or disabilities, so they can complete their apprenticeship or apprenticeship unit.

This could include reasonable adjustments to complete:

• English and maths requirements

• the end-point assessment

For 19+, we had a similar concern and queried with the helpdesk and got the below response (which I interpreted as it's okay to claim)

"Your ticket number is  1273975.
 
I understand from your email that you are inquiring about the possibility of claiming learning support funds for functional skills training, even though it is no longer mandatory for apprentices aged 19+.
 
 According to the funding rules, providers can claim funding for apprentices who have not previously attained a GCSE grade A* to C (or 9 to 4) in English or maths, or Functional Skills English or maths up to level 2."

They need to have an identified need (usually a disability or learning difficulty) that means they require more support than their peers without that identified need to claim Learning Support. If you can't identify a need then, no, you can't claim it.

"it's costing us more than £724 to get this person through their FS" is NOT a reason to claim it.

Thank you Steve Hewitt.  They do have an identified need but we started to doubt whether we could claim due to the fact it isn't mandatory for them to pass the FS to complete the overall apprenticeship.

Ah, I see. It is part of their personal programme though, so I can't see that it would be a problem as long as it meets the three tests?