Industry Placement - Employer Support Fund (ESF) update

The Employer Support Fund (ESF) was made available as a one-year trial fund in FY23-24 to support employers with the costs associated with industry placements. The fund came to a close on 31st March 2024 and we emailed providers on the 17th April to inform them of the closure of the fund.

We are grateful for all the efforts happening in your institutions to ensure that every student has access to a placement. Overall, the ESF have proven to be a valuable way of testing employer need and we will be monitoring the evidence from the pilot to inform any future support offer.

In the meantime, we remain committed to delivering high-quality industry placements and encourage you to make use of the extensive additional support available on our provider and employer support websites.

Outstanding ESF claims to the online ESF data tracking tool should have been uploaded before 5th May 2024.

FAQ

Why was the ESF not extended beyond FY23-24?  

We are grateful for the important role employers play in hosting industry placements and we remain committed to delivering high-quality industry placements. However, the ESF was always intended to be a one-year fund for FY23-24 and our evidence indicates that the majority of employers are able to host placements without the ESF.  The ESF have proven to be a valuable way of testing employer need and we will be monitoring the evidence from the pilot to inform any future support offer.  In the meantime, we will continue to offer our comprehensive package of support already in place for employers and providers.  

Employers will continue to face cost barriers when hosting placements. How are we supposed to mitigate these cost barriers without the ESF?  

Our evidence tells us that the majority of employers did not perceive the ESF to be a deciding factor when hosting placements, and we know that many employers are able to host students without it. However, we also know that there are costs associated with hosting industry placements which is why there are additional funding streams that providers may wish to draw from:  

  • £550 per student for the industry placement element of the T level programme, delivered as part of the 16-19 per student funding allocation. This funding is to support the infrastructure and resource required to plan, source, deliver and monitor industry placements. It helps providers to fund staff time for sourcing industry placements and other related costs such as IT software to manage placements. The fund can also be used to support students’ travel to industry placements.  
  • The 16-19 discretionary bursary funds can also be used to cover travel and subsistence, to ensure eligible students are not financially disadvantaged by undertaking their placements. This fund has previously supported travel from students’ homes to provider locations. The bursary allocation methodology now includes an element for student travel to industry placements. Funding is not ring-fenced for this, but we encourage providers to make use of this funding to support industry placement travel. 

Full funding guidance can be found on T Levels funding guide 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

We also have a comprehensive package of support available to support employers and reprocured our Employer Support Package in September 2023. This package provides online guidance materials, workshops and webinars, and direct, hands-on support to employers. 

The CITB also offer an ‘Into Work’ Grant to help employers recruit and retain talent within the construction industry. This grant offers financial support to employers who offer an initial work experience placement which starts on or after 1 September 2023.  

If you have any other questions, you can get in touch with us at Employer.SUPPORTFUND@education.gov.uk.

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