News story: Director of Funding appointment and new single Funding Operations Centre of Excellence

Following a competitive recruitment process, to recruit a new Director of Funding to lead a new Funding Centre of Excellence, I am pleased to announce that Kate Josephs has been appointed and will start with us in April.

Kate is currently Director of National Operations for Academies and Regional Delivery within the Department for Education (DfE). She will bring with her extensive knowledge in performance management, performance improvement and public service delivery.

Educated at The London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Oxford Kate is a highly professional leader of policy and operations and has a wealth of experience in US and UK national governments, having worked in senior roles in HM Treasury, the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and also in time spent working for the United states federal government during the Obama administration.

Kate will report to myself and be part of the ESFA’s executive team. She will lead and oversee the creation and operation of a single Funding Centre of Excellence that is solely responsible for all schools, academies and post-16 funding. This includes the allocation of all schools and academies funding including the national funding formula, the post-16 funding agenda, apprenticeships funding and adults skills funding. She will be responsible for allocating over £58 billion of funding, representing one of the single biggest funding operations anywhere in government.

The new single Funding Centre of Excellence will bring together existing functions to deliver an excellent and expert funding service. The centre will be responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of an ever more efficient system across the agency with potential to grow and develop the scope of work undertaken still further.

There are no current plans to recruit staff to this new function, vacancies will be filled through existing posts.

I am thrilled to join the ESFA and take on this important new role. I look forward to building upon the already excellent skills and expertise that exist within the teams who deliver such a significant funding operation, and working with service users and our stakeholders to create a truly 21st century funding system.

Our job is to make it as straightforward as possible for schools, trusts, colleges and work-based learning providers to engage with us and, whilst we do this, provide rigorous scrutiny and oversight to ensure that every pound of public money spent is invested wisely.