mteb/FeedbackQARetrieval huggingface dataset:
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship training frequently asked questions
Will training providers be paid more for rescheduling off-the-job training and bringing it forward?
No, the normal monthly payment profile will apply over the length of the
apprenticeship, as it currently does whether providers deliver blocks of
training or more evenly spaced training. Providers should factor this in if
they are considering a change to the delivery methodology and timetable.
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship training frequently asked questions
Can training continue for furloughed apprentices?
Yes, where apprentices are furloughed, they can continue to train for their
apprenticeships, as long as it does not provide services to or generate
revenue for their employer.
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship assessment frequently asked questions
Apprentices are ready for EPA but can’t take it. Should they be paid more than the apprenticeship minimum wage now?
An apprentice is classed as an apprentice until they have taken their EPA.
Apprentices must be paid at least the apprentice minimum wage, but an employer
can choose to pay an apprentice more than this, all employers must comply with
National Minimum Wage legislation.
*[EPA]: end-point assessment
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship assessment frequently asked questions
What will happen if an apprentice’s line manager has been furloughed and their employer is unable to confirm their readiness to take EPA with their training provider and EPAO?
If the person who would normally sign an apprentice off as ready to take their
EPA has been furloughed, and there is no suitable alternative, we support
providers to make the gateway decision. This temporary arrangement can only be
relied upon where the provider can provide evidence to the EPAO that the
apprentice has met the relevant gateway requirements and is ready to sit their
EPA. Where this is not the case then the EPA should be rescheduled.
Apprentices whose gateway is delayed can have an extension to the assessment
timeframe.
*[EPA]: end-point assessment
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship training frequently asked questions
Will employers and training providers need to revise the price of the apprenticeship if the delivery method is changing?
The price of an apprenticeship is negotiated and agreed upon by an employer
and provider. If any material changes occur to the agreed delivery method that
may result in a change in price, then this should be discussed and amended.
We accept that this might be challenging in the current environment and so,
while we would encourage material changes to be recorded, we understand it may
not be possible to do it immediately.
Employer-providers will need to ensure that they are only claiming for the
actual costs incurred throughout the apprenticeship and that these might now
have changed.
Guidance Guidance for apprentices, employers, training providers, end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) and external quality assurance providers about changes to apprenticeships due to coronavirus (COVID-19)
Apprenticeship training frequently asked questions
Can a furloughed apprentice use work technology (laptop etc) to access apprenticeship off-the-job training?
Yes, a work laptop can be used to access apprenticeship training if this is
the only option, but the apprentice must be mindful of the fact that whilst
they are furloughed they must not carry out their normal work.
Guidance Guidance for current students
I am still being charged for childcare although my children cannot attend. Will my Childcare Grant still cover this?
Yes. If you are still being charged by your childcare provider, and you’re
still a student, your Childcare Grant will still be paid. The amount payable
will remain capped at 85% of the cost charged, or the maximum applicable rate
of Childcare Grant, whichever is lower.
If you use the Childcare Grant Payment Service, you will need to continue to
review the invoices and approve your Childcare Grant payments online.
Guidance Guidance for current students
I cannot send new medical evidence from my GP because of COVID-19. Do I have to wait until I have new evidence to make my application for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs)?
No. Due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, we understand that you may not be
able to get any new medical evidence or diagnostic assessment reports. You
should send us any evidence you already have so we can check your eligibility
for DSAs. If we need additional evidence, we will let you know.
Student Finance England will accept an evaluation of need in place of a full
diagnostic assessment if you have Specific Learning Difficulties. If you have
an evaluation of need, you should email it to
dsa_medical_evidence@slc.co.uk along
with your full name, customer reference number and date of birth. Student
Finance England will accept any evaluation of need completed up to and
including 31 August 2020.
Guidance Guidance for current students
Will I still get student finance next year if I have to repeat or extend my study?
Yes. We already have a process for handling this type of situation where
students sometimes have to repeat a year for various reasons.
For any period of previous study you will still be able to get a Maintenance
Loan.
A Tuition Fee Loan is available for the full length of your first course, plus
one extra year if needed. If you don’t have enough years of funding left to
cover your course fees, you may be able to get an extra year of support due to
compelling personal reasons.
If you’re eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), you’ll receive
DSA support for the duration of your studies. DSAs are unaffected by previous
study.
Guidance Guidance for current students
If my placement is delayed what impact will this have on my student finance?
If your current academic year gets extended, meaning your course lasts longer
than 30 weeks and 3 days, we will assess you for what we call a ‘Long Courses
Loan’.
The Long Courses Loan is part of the Maintenance Loan so to be eligible, you
must be getting the extra Maintenance Loan that depends on your household
income.
Your university or college will have to tell us about this extension before we
can assess you for the Long Courses Loan.
Guidance Guidance for current students
My childcare provider has closed and you’ve sent me a CCG2 form. If I can’t send this back will I still be paid Childcare?
Don’t worry about sending us a CCG2 form just now if you’re not able to. Our
priority is your health and well-being so stay at home. When we get your form
later in the year we’ll finalise your payments then.
If you have been overpaid, we’ll reduce your 2020/21 grant entitlement by the
overpayment amount. We understand this may cause you financial hardship.
Should this happen, we will work with you at the time to find a more
affordable way for you to pay back the overpayment.
Guidance Guidance for current students
If my academic year gets extended, will student finance be extended to help me cover that?
Yes. If your current academic year gets extended, meaning your course lasts
longer than 30 weeks and 3 days, we will assess you for what we call a ‘Long
Courses Loan’.
The Long Courses Loan is part of the Maintenance Loan so to be eligible, you
must be getting the extra Maintenance Loan that depends on your household
income.
Your university or college will have to tell us about this extension before we
can assess you for the Long Courses Loan.
If you’re eligible for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs), you’ll receive
DSAs support for any extensions given by your university or college.
Guidance Guidance for current students
Can I still contact you if I need help?
We’re pleased to confirm that we have now began to operate a partial service
in our contact centres for students in
England,
Wales and Northern
Ireland following a temporary closure.
We only have a limited number of staff available and we are prioritising
urgent enquiries so please do not call if you have a general enquiry.
Our Student Finance England social media team are now available to answer
questions about your funding on Facebook
and Twitter.
Students in Wales can find out general information on the Student Finance
Wales Facebook and
Twitter pages.
Guidance Guidance for current students
I am looking to reapply as a Migrant Worker, how will the COVID-19 outbreak affect this?
We understand that you may be worried about qualifying as a Migrant Worker due
to changes in your employment. We are working with the government to answer
any questions you may have and will have an update soon.
If your employment hasn’t been affected, you should apply now for 2020 to
2021.
If your employment has been affected, you can apply now as an EU student to
ensure your Tuition Fee Loan is in place. You can apply for Migrant Worker
funding later, once we have clear guidance for you.
Guidance Guidance for current students
Will I still get paid if I’m not studying on campus anymore or my school, college or university has closed?
Further Education
For Advanced Learner Loans, we will continue to make scheduled fee payment to
providers. Providers must continue to inform us if and when a learner’s
circumstances change.
For Education Maintenance Allowance in Wales, colleges are allowed to continue
EMA payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, at their discretion. Learner
absence for reasons of illness, self-isolation or college closure can all be
treated as authorised absences.
Guidance Guidance for current students
My parent/partner has recently lost their job. How will this affect my student finance?
Some student finance is based on your household income so we’ll need financial
details from your parent(s) or partner to calculate how much funding you can
get. However, we understand that financial circumstances can change and we
have a process in place to help with that. This process makes sure you won’t
lose out on any student finance you’re entitled to.
During the student finance application process your parent(s)/partner will be
asked to provide financial details from a previous tax year. If they’ve lost
their job and are not earning as much now as they did then, we can look at
your application based on their ‘Current Year Income (CYI)’. But this can only
be done after they’ve given us the details of the previous tax year.
There are different rules for the CYI process depending on where you live in
the UK and also the type of student finance you’re applying for – to find out
the specific rules that apply to you go to the relevant website:

Student Finance England
Student Finance Wales
Student Finance Northern Ireland
Guidance Guidance for current students
I cannot get to a Study Needs Assessment Centre because of COVID-19. What should I do?
Needs Assessments can be done remotely if you cannot attend in person. The
Assessment Centre will confirm in their report that your assessment was
completed remotely.
If you prefer a face to face assessment, or the disability/condition you have
cannot be assessed remotely, you should contact your Assessment Centre as soon
as you can. They will give you further information about booking your Needs
Assessment.
If your Needs Assessment is completed remotely or face to face, we will only
process your application for Disabled Students’ Allowances once we receive the
report from your Assessment Centre.
Guidance Guidance for current students
My parent/partner has recently lost their job. How will this affect my student finance?
2019/20 Academic year
If your student finance has already been calculated for 2019/20 using the CYI
process, we may need to contact your parent(s) or partner for financial
evidence for the 2019/20 tax year. In this case, we’ll get in touch with them
in late 2020. If their income is different to what they estimated previously,
your student finance will have to be recalculated.
Guidance Guidance for current students
How is my non-medical helper support affected by COVID-19?
If the type of support offered by your non-medical helper is now done
remotely, your Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs) will still cover the cost
of this. You should agree that remote support is acceptable with your non-
medical helper provider.
We understand that you may not have been able to attend classes because they
were cancelled by your university or college, and this could have impacted
your non-medical helper support. For Student Finance England, cancellations of
your non-medical helper will not be paid from your DSAs allowances.
The rules are different for Student Finance
Wales and Student
Finance Northern Ireland.
Guidance Guidance for prospective students
I am looking to apply as a Migrant Worker, how will the COVID-19 outbreak affect this?
We understand that you may be worried about qualifying as a Migrant Worker due
to changes in your employment. We are working with the government to answer
any questions you may have and will have an update soon.
If your employment hasn’t been affected, you should apply now.
If your employment has been affected, you can apply now as an EU student to
ensure your Tuition Fee Loan is in place. You can apply for Migrant Worker
funding later, once we have clear guidance for you.
Guidance Guidance for prospective students
Can I still apply for student finance?
New and existing students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can continue
to apply for student finance and we will continue to process any applications
that have been received as quickly as we can.
Postgraduate and part-time undergraduate student finance applications for
academic year 2020 to 2021 are scheduled to open later this year. We will keep
you updated on our social media channels.
Guidance Guidance for prospective students
I cannot post my DSA1 form to you because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Can I email it?
Yes. If you’ve printed and signed your DSA1 form, we can accept a scanned copy
of it. We can also accept a digital version of the form with your digital
signature.
The process is different depending on who is providing your DSAs.

For Student Finance England, send your form to dsa_team@slc.co.uk
For Student Finance Wales, send your form to sfw_dsa_team@slc.co.uk
For Student Finance Northern Ireland, send your form to the DSAs officer are your local Student Finance NI (SFNI) office.

Please be aware, these email addresses may not be able to respond to general
DSA queries.
Guidance Guidance for prospective students
I cannot complete my DSA1 form as my university or college is closed. What should I do?
When filling in the DSA1 form, you can leave Section 5 blank. You should ask
your university or college to send us an email confirming:

your full name
your customer reference number (if known)
the academic year you’re applying for
your course start date
your course end date
your year of study. For example, year 1 of 3
your level of study. For example, undergraduate or postgraduate
whether you’re in attendance on your course or studying as part of a distance learning course
whether you’re studying full-time or part-time
if you’re studying part-time, the intensity of your course. For example, 50% of the full-time equivalent

For Student Finance England, your college or university should email
dsa_team@slc.co.uk
For Student Finance Wales, your college or university should email
sfw_dsa_team@slc.co.uk
For Student Finance Northern Ireland, your college or university should email
the DSAs officer at your local Student Finance NI (SFNI) office.
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
Should social care visits to extremely clinically vulnerable children and young people continue?
Extra care should be taken visiting children and young people who are
extremely clinically vulnerable and so are at very high risk of severe illness
from coronavirus because of an underlying health condition. They should follow
shielding guidelines and stay
at home at all times and avoid face-to-face contact where possible.
Coronavirus brings additional risk and complexity to social work practice and
may necessitate some different ways of working which should always be risk-
based.
Visits to provide essential support such as social care or personal care
should continue only following a robust risk assessment.
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
How should I care for young children or children with special educational needs who do not understand why they must stay apart or who ignore distancing guidelines?
Young children and children with special educational needs may not be able to
understand the need for social distancing and may also seek close interaction
with their peers or adults to provide reassurance at a period of disruption to
their routines.
It is imperative that education, childcare and children’s social care settings
conduct risk assessments around managing groups of children within the
setting. This should include limiting the number of children in each group and
reducing this to provide more space in each classroom or learning area.
As far as possible, small groups of children should be supported by consistent
staffing, and groups should remain as consistent as possible throughout the
outbreak.
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
How should PPE and face coverings be disposed of?
Used PPE and any disposable face coverings that staff, children, young people
or other learners arrive wearing should be placed in a refuse bag and can be
disposed of as normal domestic waste unless the wearer has symptoms of
coronavirus, in line with the guidance on cleaning for non-healthcare
settings.
Any homemade non-disposable face coverings that staff or children, young
people or other learners are wearing when they arrive at their setting must be
removed by the wearer and placed into a plastic bag that the wearer has
brought with them in order to take it home. The wearer must then clean their
hands.
To dispose of waste from people with symptoms of coronavirus, such as
disposable cleaning cloths, tissues and PPE:

put it in a plastic rubbish bag and tie it when full
place the plastic bag in a second bin bag and tie it
put it in a suitable and secure place marked for storage for 72 hours

Waste should be stored safely and securely kept away from children. You should
not put your waste in communal waste areas until the waste has been stored for
at least 72 hours. Storing for 72 hours saves unnecessary waste movements and
minimises the risk to waste operatives. This waste does not require a
dedicated clinical waste collection in the above circumstances.
Settings such as residential care homes or special schools that generate
clinical waste should continue to follow their usual waste policies.
Further information is also available in the cleaning non-healthcare settings
guidance.
*[PPE]: personal protective equipment
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
What care should be taken in residential settings, including residential schools, residential special schools and children’s care homes?
Residential settings in which no one is showing symptoms should respond to
coronavirus like any other domestic household. However, it is important that
soft toys are not shared between children.
Where a child in a residential setting develops symptoms of coronavirus:

staff can continue to enter and leave the home as required, consistent staff rotas should be used where possible and staff should follow good infection prevention control
the isolation guidance for residential settings should be followed
staff should wear PPE for activities requiring close contact
staff should adhere to social distancing guidelines as far as they are able to, but should take account of children’s emotional needs

*[PPE]: personal protective equipment
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
What care should be taken in foster care settings?
Foster homes in which no one is showing symptoms of coronavirus should respond
to coronavirus like any other domestic household. This should not prevent the
delivery of care to children.
If foster carers are caring for a child who develops symptoms of coronavirus,
their fostering service should:

assess the ability of the carer to continue to deliver care to the child
ensure the foster home follows the guidance for households to avoid the spread of infection
consult the foster carer on how best to protect themselves and the child

If foster carers develop symptoms of coronavirus, their fostering service
should:

assess the ability of the carer to continue to deliver care to the child
ensure the foster home follows the guidance for households to avoid the spread of infection
if additional support is needed for the carer or child, ensure that staff providing this care are provided with PPE prior to entering the home and follow the guidance below on home visiting

Foster carers are able to request PPE from their fostering service provider,
if needed, in line with guidance for local authorities on children’s social
care.
*[PPE]: personal protective equipment
Guidance Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care settings, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
Is PPE required for tasks involving changing nappies or general care for babies?
Staff should follow their normal practice when changing nappies and caring for
babies more generally, provided the child is not showing symptoms of
coronavirus. This includes continuing to use the PPE that they would normally
wear in these situations, for example aprons and gloves. If a child shows
symptoms, they should not attend a childcare setting and should be at home.
*[PPE]: personal protective equipment