In Northern Ireland the Department for Employment and Learning’s Strategy is to provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses as part of its mainstream Further Education provision.
Provision is accessible through the network of Further Education Colleges located across all areas of NI. Although most colleges offer access to ESOL free of charge (subject to standard residency requirements, applicable across the UK) some colleges exercise their right to charge a small registration fee.
The Department gives the highest weighting within the Further Education Funding Formula to ESOL provision. There is no cap on provision and the funding incentive for colleges has clearly benefited the uptake and delivery of this provision.