Learner Eligibility, Funding and Fee Statement 2026-27

Purpose

This statement explains the eligibility criteria and fee policy for community learning courses from 1st August 2026 to 31st July 2027, in line with the Adult skills fund: funding and performance management rules 2026 to 2027 - GOV.UK

Our subcontracted partners can apply their own Fee Policy if this is in line with the Adult skills fund: funding and performance management rules 2026 to 2027 - GOV.UK. Partners must make their Fee Policy available to new learners before they enrol on a course.

Eligibility

Staff that deliver learning must check and confirm your identity and eligibility when you enrol on a course. They will ask to see an identification document e.g. driving licence, passport, biometric residence permit. They will check your eligibility against the following criteria:

Your availability: Staff will tell you the course dates and the dates of any exams with you before you enrol. You must be able to commit to attending the full course and any exams. If you are in the UK on a visa, the expiry date must not be before the end of the course.

Your age: You must be aged 19 or older on 31st August 2026, unless you are a parent aged under 19 and enrolling on a Family Learning course.

Your residency: You must be living in a Staffordshire district: East Staffordshire, Cannock, Lichfield, Tamworth, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, or Staffordshire Moorlands.

Other conditions:

You must be ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of your course.
You must not be in the UK without authority or lawful status, or only on holiday.
You must not be in the UK on a student on employment-related sponsorship visa, including skilled worker or seasonal worker visas.
You must not have a biometric residence permit or residence permit that imposes a study prohibition or restriction, or that expires before the end of the course.

If you are an asylum seeker, you are eligible if you:

have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while your claim is being considered by the Home Office, and no decision on your claim has been made, or
are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014

Course Fees

Non-accredited courses

There are no course fees if you meet the eligibility requirements of age, availability and residency, and are enrolling on a non-accredited course in any of the following curriculum areas:

Wellbeing and Independence
Community and Family Progression
English, Maths and Digital
STEM and Vocational
Community and Family Learning Responsiveness Fund

If you do not meet the eligibility requirements, we charge a fee of £10.00 per learning hour.

Accredited courses

There are no course or exam fees if you meet the eligibility criteria of age, availability and residency, and you can provide evidence that your gross income is less than £26,800 per year (£2,233.33 per month).

We will ask you for evidence of your income if you tell us your income is less than £26,800 per year. This could be a wage slip or a Universal Credit statement within 3 months of the learning start date, or your current employment contract which states gross monthly/ annual wages.

As part of your enrolment, we will ask you to tell us if you are not in paid employment and looking for work, and if you are receiving:

Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA),
or Universal Credit (UC)

If your gross income is more than £26,800 per year, we will charge you £5.00 per hour of the course, plus exam fees, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria of age, availability and residency.

If the course is accredited, and you do not meet the eligibility criteria of age, availability and residency listed above, we will charge you a fee of £10.00 per hour of the course, plus exam fees.

Exam fees

Exam fees for Ascentis ESOL assessments are:

£21 for Reading,

£21 for Writing,

£37 for Speaking & listening

Additional Costs

If you request a replacement certificate this will cost £50, or £15 for digital-only e-certificate.

Refunds

Fee refunds are at our discretion. We will only refund you if:

we cancel the course, or
if you are unable to complete the course for an unavoidable reason e.g. severe illness and you have attended less than 50% of the course.

Fees are refunded by BACs within one month of the course cancellation date.

If you have a query about fees, please:

email us at: communitylearning@staffordshire.gov.uk

or telephone us on: 01785 278770

Statement reviewed: June 2026

Next review due: by 31/7/2027

Learner information

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