Running Funding Reconciliation in PICSWeb
Once you have received your monthly Funding Reports from the ESFA, you can upload them to PICSWeb to run the reconciliation process. This can be run for the following report types:
Apps Monthly Payments – This report shows your actual payments for FM36 apprenticeships. Reconciling this report will also give you the option to update PICSWeb data, as explained below.
Apps Indicative Earnings – This report shows your expected payments for FM36 apprenticeships.
Apprenticeship Data Match – This report shows any differences between the learners reported in your ILR submission and those found in the ESFA apprenticeship service.
Apps Co-Investment Contributions – This report shows the employer contributions for co-invested apprenticeships that have been paid and those that are still due. This data will be reconciled against the Payment Records (PMRs) in your learners' ILR Summaries. Reconciling this report also gives you the option to generate missing PMRs, as explained below.
Main Occupancy – This shows the monthly funding generated for your FM35 and some FM25 apprenticeships.
Adult Devolved Education Occupancy – This shows the monthly funding generated for Adult Devolved Education learners.
Trailblazer Apprenticeships Occupancy – This shows the monthly funding generated for Trailblazer Apprenticeships learners.
Advanced Learner Loans Bursary (ALLB) Occupancy – This shows the monthly funding generated for ALLB learners.
To run a new funding reconciliation, select New Reconciliation from the top-right corner of the Funding Reconciler. This will open a window where you can specify the following details:
UKPRN – If you have set up PICSWeb for multiple providers, you can choose which provider you want to reconcile funding for by selecting a UKPRN from the drop-down menu.
ILR Year
Reconciliation Type – Here you can specify which ESFA funding report you are reconciling, as explained above.
Select New File to Reconcile – If you have already run reconciliation for the same UKPRN, ILR Year and Reconciliation Type, the report file may have been saved. If so, this option will appear, allowing you to use the previously uploaded report file or to upload a new file.
File – Selecting this field will open a window where you can upload the ESFA funding report. Alternatively, you can drag and drop a file onto the field from another window. Both .csv and .xlsx file formats will be accepted.
Store Uploaded File for Reconciliation Updates – If this is ticked, the file uploaded will be saved for future reconciliation. When a user tries to run a reconciliation with the same UKPRN, ILR Year and Reconciliation Type, they will have the option to use the saved file or upload a new one.
Make sure that you only upload the original file as downloaded from the ESFA. Opening a file and saving it in Excel can cause some data to be reformatted, which will affect the reconciliation process.
Once you have configured your options, select Continue. If you have selected any other Reconciliation Type than Apps Monthly Payment, the reconciliation will be added to the list with the Processing label.
You will be notified by email once the reconciliation has been completed. You can then return to the reconciler and view the Reconciliation Report.
Extra Options for Apps Monthly Payments Reconciliation
If you are running the Apps Monthly Payments reconciliation, some additional options will be displayed after you select Continue. Selecting the button by each option will toggle it off or on.
Update ACT records – If this is switched on, any incorrect ACT codes found in the Learner ILR Summary will be updated to reflect ESFA data. Any necessary adjustments will also be made to financial data in PICSWeb. If this option is switched on, the other three will not be available. Similarly, if any of the other three are switched on this option will not be available.
Perform Levy Adjustments – If this is switched on, the reconciler will look for depleted funds from the employer’s Levy pot in the report and make the necessary adjustments in PICSWeb data.
Update Apprenticeship Service Status – If this is switched on, learners that are found in the report will have their Apprenticeship Service Status updated to On Apprenticeship Service if necessary. This status field is found in the ILR Learner tab in their ILR Summary.
Update Incentive Payments – If this is switched on, any Young Apprentice Incentive payments found in the report will be used to update the corresponding payments in the PICSWeb Payment Records tab to Paid. Any necessary payment records for Employer Forwarding payments will also be created.
Selecting Continue > Back will return you to the New Funding Reconciliation window explained above. Selecting Continue will run the reconciliation and make data changes according to the options you have chosen.
Extra Options for Apps Co-Investment Contributions Reconciliation
If you are running the Apps Co-Investment Contributions reconciliation, an additional option to Add outstanding PMR will be displayed after you select Continue. Selecting the button by this option will toggle it off or on.
If this is switched on, after the reconciliation has been run, an additional Payment Record will be generated for each learner who has a shortfall in the amount of co-investment contribution in PICSWeb funding data compared to the ESFA report. The amount of shortfall will be rounded to the nearest pound. This means that if the shortfall is under 50p, it will be rounded to 0 and no payment record will be generated.
This payment record will have a status set to Expected with the Expected Date set to the date that the reconciler was run. It will be linked to the Organisation currently set as the employer in the learner’s current Employment Status. If the learner’s programme is spread across multiple episodes, the payment record will be attached to the most recent one.
If this option is ticked, the format of the report will also be affected, as explained in the Funding Reconciliation Reports page.
Selecting Continue > Back will return you to the New Funding Reconciliation window explained above. Selecting Continue will run the reconciliation and make data changes according to the options you have chosen.
Rerunning Funding Reconciliation
You can only have one reconciliation report available at a time for the same ILR Year, UKPRN, and Reconciliation Type. If you create a new reconciliation with all three fields set to values for an existing reconciliation, the old item will be replaced by the new reconciliation.
Alternatively, you can select … > Update by a reconciliation in the list. This will open a window where you can upload a new reconciliation report against an existing UKPRN, ILR Year, and Reconciliation Type. Once you have uploaded the new report, select Continue to rerun the reconciliation. This will work in the same way as explained above.