Funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors
What the Department for Education defines as a ‘high risk’ provider, the decision-making process and the possible actions it can take.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to have regard to the policy.
The policy applies to all public and private sector providers accessing post-16 funding streams.
It does not apply to:
- schools and academies (unless they hold a funding agreement for post-16 apprenticeship training and education services)
- training providers that only deliver Skills Bootcamps
- budgets associated with functions transferred from the Secretary of State for Education to local government institutions (known as devolution)
Updates to this page
Last updated
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The policy has been updated to expand the criteria for identifying high risk providers, and to clarify when the policy applies and the actions the Department for Education can take.
Update history
2026-02-10 10:12
Updated the ‘Ofsted assessments and safeguarding’ section of the ‘Funding higher risk organisations and subcontractors policy’.
2025-01-09 10:00
The policy has been updated to expand the criteria for identifying high risk providers, and to clarify when the policy applies and the actions the Department for Education can take.
2022-06-20 11:00
We have amended the references to ESFA and the Department to reflect organisational changes following the recent arm’s length body review of ESFA.