The Department for Education has published the initial list of qualifications with low or no publicly-funded enrolments in scope for the potential removal of post-16 funding approval.

The move is the latest step in the Government’s wider review of post-16 qualifications at Level 3 and below which aims to ensure that all qualifications are high quality with a distinct purpose, necessary and support students to progress into employment or further study.

Stage one of this two-stage review included proposals to withdraw funding from qualifications with a history of low or no uptake post-16 in England. The DfE is now enacting these proposals based on qualifications with less than 100 enrolments in each of the last three years.

Funding will be withdrawn from 1 August 2021 but any student enrolled before that date will be funded through to completion. For most programmes, this suggests a final enrolment date of September 2020.

Qualifications on the lists can continue to be offered to pupils on pre-16 programmes or on privately-funded courses or where they are offered outside England.

There is a six-week appeals process to highlight any qualifications with low or no enrolments which should remain approved for public funding. Following the appeals process, the outcomes and the final list of qualifications that will have public post-16 funding removed will be published by 31 July 2020.

OCR is currently checking the list of qualifications being defunded very carefully, and will consult with colleges and training providers to make sure there will be no adverse impact, particularly on students with protected characteristics.

The DfE will conduct annual reviews of qualifications approved for public funding in the future.