The RBF annual data return is a voluntary collection from institutions with an allocation of RBF funding. The aim is to obtain data on the numbers of students supported in each of the defined categories of spend and the amount of funding spent in each category, in the previous academic year. The data is used to inform the next year's RBF allocation for each institution. A reconciliation exercise is also undertaken to recover any unspent funds. The collection is undertaken once a year between September and October. It is collected directly by the EFA from each of the 43 institutions with RBF allocations.
