<p>Providers which meet the following criteria will be funded nationally by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for a period of two years (academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21) following devolution of the Adult Eudcation Budget (AEB):</p><p> </p><ul><li>Qualify for a residential uplift for their learning provision, and</li><li>Receive more than two thirds of their income from the AEB, and</li><li>Predominantly target their provision at the most disadvantaged in society.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Following devolution in 2019/20 providers who currently deliver AEB provision nationally who fall outside of the above criteria for national funding will continue to receive funding for the learners residing in non devolved areas from the ESFA. It will be for the Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to decide which providers they award funding to in their respective areas.</p><p> </p><p>The department is planning to devolve the AEB to MCAs and the GLA in 2019/20. We have carefully considered the case for centralised funding for specialist providers for an interim period following devolution to ensure continued support for both providers and their learners through a longer transition period. Providers who deliver residential provision have distinctly different funding arrangements, and we felt an additional period of two years of national funding would be in the learners best interests, in order to avoid destabilising provision to vulnerable learners and to allow time for MCAs to better understand the specialist nature of the provision they deliver.</p>