Funding
£199 million was allocated for the provision of Further Education in Northern Ireland in 2009-10. Of this, £176 million related to recurrent funding, and £23 million to capital funding.
£120 million of the recurrent funding related to Further Education provision, including £8.3 million for Essential Skills provision. A further £24.9 million funding was made available for Higher Education in Further Education provision. All this funding was allocated among the colleges through the Funded Learning Unit [FLU] funding model.
The FLU funding model is based on planned provision rather than historic provision, and it has three elements:
1. The College Development Plans, which each set out each college’s intended provision for the incoming year, are the basis for negotiation between colleges and the Department, and when agreed are the basis for funding allocations.
2. A series of bi-laterals in which the Department agrees with each college the amount and types of provision that will be funded, and the target amount of provision to be made in each broad category. Each college’s performance in the previous year is taken into account.
3. The FLU Distributive Mechanism, which converts actual and planned provision into standard Funded Learning Units in order to inform the CDP and bi-lateral processes, to determine funding allocations, and to monitor the achievement of colleges’ and the Department’s targets. The basic Unit of Resource is £3,400 per FLU for all FE and HE in FE provision; for Essential Skills provision the Unit of Resource is £3,300.
Funding is also provided to colleges and students through a series of special initiative earmarked funds that are designed to widen access, increase participation, address skills shortages and align provision with the Department’s objectives under Strategy 2010. These include the Additional Support Fund and Support Funds (Discretionary).
