How we work with you
Working in line with the annual budget, targets and priorities set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills through the Skills Investment Strategy, we allocate funding to colleges and providers, who have discretion over expenditure to meet the needs of local businesses and communities. The Skills Funding Agency funds and regulates the adult learning and skills sector. It is a funding body intended to facilitate the sector delivering the services that meet the needs of business and individuals and the government’s ambitions. We apply funding policy fairly, consistently and professionally on a national basis.
We operate single account management, which partners each college or provider with one Account Manager, through which the college or provider can access guidance for all their adult and Apprenticeships skills business. Single account management works nationally, with account management teams based in one of the Skills Funding Agency offices in England and managing accounts which are delivering across the country. Single account management applies to contracts for Learner Responsive, Train to Gain, Apprenticeships, European Social Fund and Programmes for the Unemployed.
The Account Manager will continue to work closely with the college or provider throughout the delivery of the learning or training, managing performance and working with the college or learning provider to ensure that our quality standards are met.
The areas below give more detail on the elements which form part of our working relationship with colleges and providers.
The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation
The Skills Funding Agency has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (OFQUAL), this document sets out the principles that will underlie our relationship. The memorandum will support effective working relations between our organisations.
The Provider Gateway
The Provider Gateway is a web-based system on which providers can upload critical performance, financial and quality reports to share with Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted. The Provider Gateway also carries a timetable of dates when the upload of various reports is required.
The Learning Provider Register
The
Learning Provider Register (formerly known as the UK Register of Learning Providers) allows providers to update their information in one place and share this across the Skills Funding Agency, the Careers Advice Service, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Higher Education Funding Council for England and UCAS.
The Information Charter
We need to handle personal information about you so that we can provide services for you. Our Information Charter sets out the standards that you can expect from the Skills Funding Agency when it requests or holds your personal information, how you can get access to your personal data and what to do if you do not think that standards are being met.
Skills Funding Agency Information Charter
Information Management Services
Information Management Services is a shared service which supports the Young People’s Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency (including the National Apprenticeship Service) and is located within the Skills Funding Agency, providing a number of services such the information technology infrastructure, telecoms and business applications support to the two organisations and developing and implementing major IT-enabled change programmes. Information Management Services also provide a range of services to the wider education and skills sectors, these are:
The Data Service provides a data collection and management information service for the further education sector. Contact The Data Service by email or call 0870 267 0001.
The Learning Records Service (formerly MIAP, Learner Registration Service and UK Register of Learning Providers) enables access and sharing of learning records, and provides free products and services for the benefit of the whole of the education sector, such as Unique Learner Numbers, Personal Learning Records, the Learning Provider Register and Provider Reference Numbers. Contact The Learning Records Service by email or call 0845 602 2589.
The Information Authority is an independent body established to set and regulate data and collection standards for further education and training provision in England. The information authority is hosted within the Skills Funding Agency. Contact The
Information Authority by email or call 02476 825658.
Sharing data with third parties
Whenever personal data is shared with a third party, the Skills Funding Agency will always require a Data Sharing Agreement to be entered into by the data sharing partner (third party) to ensure that the purposes for which the personal data are shared are clearly understood and agreed, the personal data is properly shared, used, retained and destroyed, and all parties acknowledge their responsibilities in relation to these activities.
Under section 122 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 the Skills Funding Agency is permitted to share information for education and training purposes with other parties specified in that section for the purposes of enabling or facilitating the exercise of any relevant function as described under that section 122(5) of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.
