The Government Says

Guidance: Uplift factors and postcode files

Updated: New file titled 2017 to 2018 uplift factors by postcode and LLSOA: CSV files uploaded on 11 August 2017.

This data is used in funding calculations by both the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to support publicly funded education and skills in England.

Postcodes area cost uplifts

The area cost uplift reflects the higher cost of delivering provision in some parts of the country, such as London and the south east.

Large employer file

The large employer file is used to apply the large employer discount in the funding calculation by providing a list of workplace location identifiers which can be matched to the ILR to identify the record to which the discount applies.

The large employer discount up to and including 2015 to 2016 has been based on whether the employer is a large employer for the current year. From 2016 to 2017 the status of the employer as a large employer will be determined from the start date of the aim.

This means for example if the aim was started in the academic year 2015 to 2016 the value in the 2015 to 2016 large employer file would be used, conversely if another aim started in the academic year 2016 to 2017 the value in the 2016 to 2017 large employer file would be used.

Postcodes disadvantage uplift factors

This is an uplift for learners living in the most disadvantaged areas of the country.

We have based these on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 up to and including 2015 to 2016. From 2016 to 2017 it is based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015.

The uplifts are calculated depending upon which Lower Layer Super Output Area (LLSOA) the postcode is in. For learners who started before 1 August 2016, the SFA’s funding calculation will continue to use the factors which applied at the end of the 2015 to 2016 funding year.

For learners who started on or after 1 August 2016 in the 2016 to 2017 funding year, the factors in the 2016 to 2017 tables will apply.

An additional column was added in January 2017 to support the apprenticeship funding calculations for starts from 1 May 2017. More information can be found within the Apprenticeship Funding Technical Guidance.

LLSOA factors

The LLSOA file (above) shows the disadvantage uplifts that apply to lower layer super output areas. Super output areas are a set of geographical areas developed following the 2001 census with the aim of defining areas of consistent size whose boundaries would not change between censuses.

Postcodes may change their assigned Lower Layer Super Output Area (LLSOA) during the course of the year due to boundary changes. Uplift factors have been frozen based on a postcode’s LLSOA at the start of the academic year and this can result in some postcodes within a LLSOA having a different rate to the one published in the LLSOA Uplift factors table.

We use LLSOA values based on the 2011 census for analysis and reporting. Up to 2015 to 2016 we have used the 2010 Index of Multiple Deprivation which uses the 2001 LLSOAs as the underlying mapping between postcodes and LLSOAs. Therefore the disadvantage uplift factors to calculate funding are produced using the same mapping.

From 2016 to 2017 onwards we are using an updated version of Index of Multiple Deprivation by the Office for National Statistics which is the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation. This uses the 2011 LLSOA values and this has been used to generate the funding factors for 2016 to 2017.

TGS