Please refer to the ACE in Communities funding conditions for details of eligibility criteria. The 2021 funding conditions will be published in due course.

TEO eligibility

TEOs must be one of the following:

• a private training establishment (PTE) that specialises in foundation learning;
• a Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) provider; or
• a community organisation

Programme eligibility

From January 2021, the priorities of ACE in Communities funding are for programmes that:

• Improve employability
  • Courses focused on employability
  • Life skills such as financial literacy
  • Introductory ‘taster’ courses
• Promote social inclusion and cultural inclusion and participation
  • Languages, including Te Reo Māori, New Zealand Sign Language (including ESOL), Pacific languages (especially Realm languages) and Asian languages
  • Courses supporting digital inclusion
• Raises foundation skills
  • Courses in literacy, numeracy and/or digital literacy
• Improve health and wellbeing
  • Courses such as parenting, mental health and resilience, or conflict resolution/anger management.

ACE funding does not prioritise provision broadly classed as hobby courses (e.g., arts, crafts and music, personal fitness and recreation, and home maintenance). Any funding requests for ACE provision must demonstrate how it meets one of the programme priorities listed above, as well as how the provision addresses community learning needs.

Learner eligibility

TEOs must ensure that learners are domestic students. They must also be aged 16 years or over and not full-time secondary school students unless they met specific criteria set out in the funding conditions. 

TEOs are required to work with Regional Skills Leadership Groups, local iwi, local organisations, peak bodies, local industry, local employers, and communities, including other TEOs involved in ACE, to identify and meet community learning needs, when appropriate for their overall portfolio of ACE provision.

Each TEO must ensure that its funded ACE programme will:

• address the needs of target learner groups (including the priority learner groups set out in the Tertiary Education Strategy,
• target ACE provision in foundation skills to learners who have low or no formal qualifications, and
• target ACE provision in English language/ESOL to learners who identify as having English language needs.

Please refer to the ACE in Communities funding conditions for details of your responsibilities. The 2021 funding conditions will be published in due course.

The Adult and Community Education funding mechanism is issued by the Minister responsible for tertiary education. The funding mechanism outlines the general form and essential components of the fund. It provides the mandate for us to allocate the funding and what the funding can be used for, and details how we administer the fund.

Funding is agreed through a tertiary education organisation's (TEO’s) Investment Plan (Plan) unless exempt.

A TEO that receives ACE Fund funding is required to:

• comply with the requirements of the Education and Training Act 2020, and
• comply with the conditions specified in its funding approval documents.

Please refer to the ACE in Communities funding conditions. The 2021 funding conditions will be published in due course.

Funding rate

There is no fixed rate for ACE in Communities funding as the funding allocation, course funding rate, mix of provision (MoP) and contracted volume of delivery is agreed with each TEO through the Plan process. 

ACE in Communities allocations for 2021 have increased to accommodate a 1.6% increase in course funding rates.

We determine the amount of ACE in Communities funding for a TEO.

Payment

We pay funding for ACE provision in monthly instalments on the first banking day of each month.

Payment amounts are equal from January to June, and equal from July to December.   

2021 ACE in Communities indicative allocations

Purpose of ACE in Communities funding

The purpose of the ACE in Communities is to purchase provision that provides adults with community-based education foundation skills, and pathways into other learning opportunities which meet community learning needs.

How we calculated your 2021 indicative allocation for ACE in Communities

The information below provides a summary of how your indicative allocation was calculated. For more details regarding your specific allocation, please contact customerservicegroup@tec.govt.nz or your Relationship Manager.

Your prior performance information was used to calculate your 2021 indicative allocation.

Starting point

To determine the starting point for calculating your 2021 indicative allocation we compared your 2019 actual ACE in Communities delivery with your 2020 allocation.

Note: Your 2019 actual delivery has been adjusted for any additional funding provided (including flexible funding), funding rate increases, and significant policy changes. Your reviewed 2020 allocation includes plan changes and excludes one off adjustments. We make these adjustments to ensure we are accurately comparing your 2019 actual delivery with your 2020 allocation, in dollar terms.

If your 2019 actual delivery was below 100%, we used the lesser of either your:

• 2019 actual delivery, or
• 2020 allocation

If your 2019 actual delivery was 100% or above, we used your:

• 2020 allocation

If you delivered ACE in Communities for the first time in either 2019 or 2020, we used your:

• 2020 allocation

Determining your final 2021 funding allocation

To determine your final 2021 allocation and Plan approval, we will consider the following information in our assessment and/or engagements with you:

• Your actual delivery volumes as submitted through Workspace2.

Key changes to our approach for 2021

In previous years, the starting point was calculated using actual delivery and was not adjusted based on whether delivery was below or at 100%. Further plan increases or in-year adjustments were not accounted for.

We will now take into account if delivery volume was at or below 100% and will include in-year Plan adjustments where necessary.

TEOs are required to submit a final report to us for each calendar year (the full year Actuals Report).

The TEO must report on each ACE course in its MoP, including recording demographic data about learners. The TEO must submit the completed full year Actuals Report (using the template provided) through Workspace 2 by 31 January of the following year.

Please refer to the ACE in Communities funding conditions. The 2021 funding conditions will be published in due course.

In the report we require collated data for all courses that were approved for delivery through the Plan approval process (i.e. before the delivery took place), and any additional and substitute courses, as follows:

• number of learners and hours of delivery (contracted and delivered)
• hours of learner attendance
• region of delivery
• gender of learners
• ethnicity of learners
• English language status of learners
• number of learners with low or no qualifications
• number of migrants
• number of refugees, and
• age of learners.

Individual learner data

TEOs must collect and retain accurate data on each learner enrolment, including demographic information at the time of enrolment, and up-to-date records of learner attendance. This data is required for audit purposes, but does not need to be submitted to us with the full year Actuals Report.

TEOs should also collect and retain learner outcomes data for each course, including in relation to the outcomes that the TEO intended to achieve (which includes outcomes identified in the TEO’s funding application).

We monitor tertiary education organisation (TEO) performance and practices to understand TEO performance in the sector, and to inform our decisions about future funding a TEO may receive.

We monitor TEOs funded through ACE against the following commitments:

• number of learners and hours of delivery (contracted and delivered)
• hours of learner attendance, and
• regions of delivery.