In-year redistribution of student support funds 2023-24
Purpose
- This letter announces the in-year redistribution of student support funding from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to colleges for Academic Year (AY) 2023-24, and details the recovery and reallocation of unspent funds to support student funding needs across the sector.
Background
- Demand for student support is difficult to predict. Therefore, to match annual SFC funding to demand as closely as possible, we carry out an annual in-year redistribution exercise. Colleges are not permitted to use student support funding for purposes other than those specified, and we recover funds that colleges do not expect to use in the current year, as well as any unspent funds from the previous year. We use the funds returned to us to re-allocate to colleges that need additional student support in the current year.
- SFC invited colleges to relinquish unspent student support funds or request an increase to their AY 2023-24 student support funding allocations in a ‘Call for Information’ published on 23 November 2023 (In-year management of student support allocations 2023-24 – SFC/CI/05/2023).
Additional funding requested/relinquished for AY 2023-24
- The total amount of additional student support funding requested by colleges for AY 2023-24 is £2.2 million. SFC will be able to meet this request in full.
- The table in Annex A details the funding amounts requested or relinquished by each college/region. The table shows the total additional funding to be paid out in AY 2023-24, along with a breakdown across the two Financial Years (FYs) 2023-24 and 2024-25. Any relinquished funds will be recovered from colleges in FY 2024-25 (between April – July 2024).
Recovery of unspent funds and adjustments to budgets
- Colleges receiving additional funds will have their AY 2023-24 student support funding budgets increased by the amount of additional funding that they have been allocated, as detailed in the table at Annex A. These updated budgets will be reflected in incorporated colleges’ monthly cash-flow pro-formas. Colleges should continue to drawdown funding based on need, whilst giving due regard to their revised AY (and FY) budgets.
- For multi-college regions, we have set out in Annex A the amounts requested by individual colleges within each region. Regional Strategic Bodies should note the allocations to individual colleges. Multi-college regions may action in-year transfers of student support funding between colleges within their region.
- The table in Annex B details the student support funding amounts remaining from AY 2022-23 to be returned by each college/region. Colleges that are returning unused funds will have their overall FY student support budget reduced by the amount of funding that they are returning. For those colleges that have already adjusted their budgets in July 2023, the March 2024 adjustment to be made will take into account the funds previously not drawn down. This is shown in Annex B, under the column ‘Remaining funding adjustments to be made in March 2024’.
- Newbattle Abbey College, SRUC, Orkney College, and Shetland College do not submit cash-flow pro-formas. For these institutions, unused funds will be recovered in March 2024. If these institutions are to receive additional funds, payments will be adjusted in March and April 2024.
- Colleges will not be able to claim funding above their revised budgets. Should this cause any short-term cash-flow issues, please contact Catherine Atkinson, Senior Budgeting & Reporting Officer, tel: 0131 313 6540, email: catkinson@sfc.ac.uk immediately. Any general queries on the payment process should also be directed to Catherine Atkinson in the first instance.
Management of payment of funds
- SFC will contact colleges in early June 2024 to seek clarification of their near final position on student support spend in AY 2023-24. Colleges that have drawn down their full student support budget but are forecasting a significant underspend against their budget will be asked to reduce their July 2024 drawdown of funds or return surplus funds to SFC in July 2024, rather than waiting until the AY 2024-25 redistribution exercise in Autumn/Winter 2024.
Conditions of grant and reporting requirements
- The reallocation of student support funding set out above must only be used for the purpose(s) for which it is being allocated. SFC retains the right to audit relevant documentation to satisfy itself that this is the case (and the institution undertakes that it will provide such assistance as SFC reasonably requires).
- These student support funds are for AY 2023-24. Colleges/regions will be asked to report on their use of these funds after the end of AY 2023-24. Any unspent funds will be recovered as part of the AY 2024-25 in-year redistribution exercise.
- SFC may recover funding for non-compliance of any of the conditions of grant or reporting requirements.
Further information
- If you require any additional information, please contact the SFC Student Support Team at studentsupport@sfc.ac.uk.
Richard Maconachie FCCA
Director of Finance
Annex A: In-Year Redistribution of Student Support Funds AY 2023-24
| College/Region | Additional funding requested/ relinquished for full AY 23-24 |
Additional funding requested to end Mar 2024 | Additional funding requested Apr – Jul 2024 | Total adjustment to funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayrshire | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Borders | £300,000 | £150,000 | £150,000 | £300,000 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Dundee & Angus | -£750,000 | £0 | £0 | -£750,000 |
| Edinburgh | £86,400 | £86,400 | £0 | £86,400 |
| Fife | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Forth Valley | -£500,000 | £0 | £0 | -£500,000 |
| Glasgow | £350,000 | £300,000 | £50,000 | £350,000 |
| Glasgow RSB | ||||
| City of Glasgow College | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Glasgow Clyde College | £350,000 | £300,000 | £50,000 | £350,000 |
| Glasgow Kelvin College | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Highlands & Islands | -£709,000 | £0 | £0 | -£709,000 |
| UHI RSB | ||||
| UHI Inverness | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| UHI Moray | -£565,000 | £0 | £0 | -£565,000 |
| UHI North, West & Hebrides | -£120,000 | £0 | £0 | -£120,000 |
| UHI Orkney | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| UHI Perth | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| UHI Shetland | -£24,000 | £0 | £0 | -£24,000 |
| Lanarkshire | £350,000 | £175,000 | £175,000 | £350,000 |
| Lanarkshire RSB | ||||
| New College Lanarkshire | £350,000 | £175,000 | £175,000 | £350,000 |
| South Lanarkshire College | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Newbattle Abbey | £81,000 | £20,000 | £61,000 | £81,000 |
| North East Scotland | £300,000 | £200,000 | £100,000 | £300,000 |
| SRUC | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| West | -£2,500,000 | £0 | £0 | -£2,500,000 |
| West Lothian | £750,000 | £250,000 | £500,000 | £750,000 |
| TOTAL | -£2,241,600 | £1,181,400 | £1,036,000 | -£2,241,600 |
Annex B: Recovery of Unspent Funds and Adjustments to Budgets
| College/Region | Funding adjustments made in July 2023 | Remaining funding adjustments to be made in Mar 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Ayrshire | £0 | £600,510 |
| Borders | £0 | £91,526 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | £0 | £501,817 |
| Dundee & Angus | -£2,629,752 | £426,674 |
| Edinburgh | £0 | £823,648 |
| Fife | -£1,304,915 | £1,059,071 |
| Forth Valley | -£891,316 | £661,150 |
| Glasgow | -£496,754 | £1,422,661 |
| Glasgow RSB | £0 | £0 |
| City of Glasgow College | £0 | £149,111 |
| Glasgow Clyde College | -£496,754 | £399,865 |
| Glasgow Kelvin College | £0 | £873,685 |
| Highlands & Islands | -£666,057 | £1,941,537 |
| UHI RSB | £0 | £450,715 |
| UHI Inverness | £0 | £502,963 |
| UHI Moray | £0 | £248,425 |
| UHI North Highland | £0 | £442,554 |
| UHI Orkney | £0 | £22,276 |
| UHI Outer Hebrides | £0 | £55,241 |
| UHI Perth | -£666,057 | £175,675 |
| UHI Shetland | £0 | £43,688 |
| Lanarkshire | -£405,000 | £2,521,280 |
| Lanarkshire RSB | £0 | £0 |
| New College Lanarkshire | £0 | £2,422,098 |
| South Lanarkshire College | -£405,000 | £99,182 |
| Newbattle Abbey | £0 | £36,462 |
| North East Scotland | -£500,000 | £1,261,939 |
| SRUC | £0 | £620,457 |
| West | £0 | £1,175,778 |
| West Lothian | £0 | £34,594 |
| TOTAL | -£6,893,794 | £13,179,104 |
SFC Strategic Plan 2022-27
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