Bedfordshire Employment and Skills Academy (BESA), part of Central Bedfordshire Council, delivers training for Early Years and Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools qualifications, in most cases these qualifications are free subject to meeting funding criteria.
Visit www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/besa for more information about the full range of courses and support provided by BESA.
Criteria for funding
Full funding is available from the Adult Skills Fund in the following cases:
- Funding Guidance from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025.
- Learners must be 19 years or older on 31 August 2024.
We can apply for funding if you are unemployed and certain criteria applies.
For funding purposes, we define a learner as unemployed if one or more of the following apply.
They:
- receive Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), including those receiving National Insurance credits only
- receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- receive UC, and their take-home pay as recorded on their UC statement (disregarding UC payments and other benefits) is less than £892 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £1,437 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner)
- are released on temporary licence, studying outside a prison environment, and not funded by the Ministry of Justice.
You will need to provide evidence of any benefits dated one month before the course start date.
Earnings threshold
The new eligibility criteria enables learners to be fully funded if they earn below £25,000. The policy entitlement includes learners who are employed or self-employed.
You may fully fund learners who are employed, or self-employed, up to and including level 2 and the level 3 offers, if they earn below £25,000 annual gross salary.
You would need to email us evidence of your gross annual wages in these circumstances. This could be a wage slip and if applicable a Universal Credit statement within 1 month of the learner’s learning start date, we can also accept a current employment contract which states gross monthly/annual wages, if you have recently started a position.
Residency
Learners must be resident in the UK or any EU country for three years.
If you have pre-settled or settled status in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme (you will need to share this evidence where applicable)
There are a few exceptions to the 3-year residency rule and we would need to see evidence as appropriate.
Co-Funding is where you can get half of your level 2 course funded and the remaining half needs to be paid privately to us.
Co-funding is available in the following cases:
- Unemployed and not actively seeking work.
- Unemployed and not claiming any benefits.
- Employed and earning more than £25,000.
Course costs
Please contact Bedfordshire Skills and Employment Academy for details.