On-demand webinar

Part 2: Understanding the 2023 apprenticeship funding rules with RSM

Name: Part 2: Understanding the 2023 apprenticeship funding rules with RSM
Start: 2023-06-09T00:00:00.000Z

Dr Louise Karwowski and Lisa Smith of RSM UK on the 2023 learning support funding rules: screening, assessing need and evidencing support. Recorded in 2023.

Recorded · 9 June 2023

This is an older recording. Some of it is out of date: see what's still relevant and what has changed.

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Part 2: Understanding the 2023 apprenticeship funding rules with RSM

Speakers

Dr Louise Karwowski
Former VP Neuro-inclusion Training, Cognassist
Lisa Smith
Risk Assurance Director, RSM UK

Understanding the apprenticeship funding rules with RSM

Dr Louise Karwowski, Director of Education at Cognassist, and Lisa Smith, Risk Assurance Director at RSM UK, take a detailed look at the learning support funding rules that came in for 2023 to 2024.

What we cover

A deep dive into the updated rules, and what a screening activity is for learning support
The importance of thorough assessment to identify learning difficulties and disabilities
Best practice for evidencing support
Your questions

For the rules as they stand now, see learning support funding.

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Recorded June 2023 · reviewed October 2026

What's still relevant

Screening at the start of every apprenticeship is still required, and an automated assessment is still only a starting point that must be followed by a conversation.
Support is still claimed only in the months it is delivered and evidenced, and the apprentice still agrees the plan in writing before any claim.
Self-declared and previously unidentified needs still count as eligible, and gaps in knowledge with no learning difficulty or disability still cannot be claimed.
Turning the ILR claim on and off to match delivery, and keeping evidence from the outset, still apply.

What's out of date

Who checks claims (from 14:38). It says costs claimed through the earnings adjustment statement sit outside the ESFA's funding assurance, so are less likely to be examined. Now: The ESFA closed on 31 March 2025, and DWP and DfE may now examine and investigate claims; don't assume any part of a claim is outside checks.
Review frequency (from 42:42). Learning support must be reviewed monthly, separately from the 12-week progress review. Now: Reviews are required at least every 3 calendar months, the first one month after adjustments start, and can be combined with the three-monthly progress review if both are evidenced.
Adult education budget (from 17:45). Adult education budget learners are covered, with devolved areas starting to write their own rules. Now: The Adult Skills Fund replaced it, DWP has set adult skills policy since 16 September 2025, and nine combined authorities and the Mayor of London publish their own rules.
Support for 16 to 19 study programmes (from 17:45). Study programmes get a block of funding for additional support needs. Now: For 2026 to 2027, the Inclusive Mainstream Fund gives 16 to 19 settings a whole-setting grant, allocated by formula with no application.
Ofsted and the three I's (from 4:45). Intent, implementation and impact are presented as Ofsted's three I's, with SEND a growing focus. Now: The three I's are not a requirement of Ofsted's renewed framework, in use since November 2025, which grades inclusion in its own right.