Significant Plan Amendment and Replacement Plan threshold criteria

The tables below outline the threshold criteria when you need to apply to us for a Significant Plan Amendment (SPA) or Replacement Plan (RP). We may also initiate an SPA if we believe you meet threshold criteria.

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Significant Plan Amendment threshold criteria

The following tables contain information for:

all TEOs
TEIs
PTEs

All TEOs

Criteria – proposal to	Template to use
Increase funding (TEC- or TEO-initiated)	Additional funding request template*
Decrease funding (TEC- or TEO-initiated)**	Funding decrease table template (DOCX 99 KB)
Reduce or stop delivering priority provision and increase provision that is not a TEC priority	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)
Deliver existing provision in a new region	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)
Reduce commitments in your Plan, this could include Educational Performance Indicator Commitments (EPICs) or any adverse changes to learner success milestones	Commitments change table template (DOCX 101 KB)
Increase work-based learning (WBL) EFTS between existing WBL programmes	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)
Change an existing, or add a new, WBL programme or activity, including changing the region or mode of learning	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB) Work-based learning provision funding

^{* If additional funding is available in 2026, we will link the relevant application template here.}
^{** If you forecast under-delivery in the SDR or ITR and request a decrease to your funding allocation it is an SPA, as per clause 22 of Schedule 18 of the Education and Training Act 2020 – to ensure accountability for public funding. Although it is not covered by the published SPA threshold criteria we have included it in the guidance for ease of application.}

TEIs

Criteria – proposal to	Template to use
Introduce new programmes or activities in a new field of study	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)

PTEs

Criteria – proposal to	Template to use
Introduce new programmes or activities not provided in your Plan	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)
Change a programme or credential, region (if currently provided for in its Plan), and/or the mode of delivery of its approved EFTS: by more than 10 EFTS where a PTE has 100 or fewer EFTS in a fund by more than 10% where a PTE has 101 to 249 EFTS in a fund by more than 25 EFTS where a PTE has 250 or more EFTS in a fund	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)
For hours-based funds only, a change by more than 5,000 hours in: the number of hours the PTE will deliver in a region (if currently provided for in its Plan) the number of hours associated with a particular mode of delivery	MoP change table template (DOCX 99 KB)

Replacement Plan threshold criteria

All TEOs

Criteria – proposal to

Template to use

Change the TEO’s mission and role detailed in its Plan in a way that is not consistent with the mission and role in its approved Plan

2026 Investment Plan templates

Change to 50% or more of the TEO’s total programmes or activities when measured by hours; or
Change to 50% or more of the TEO’s total programmes and activities when measured by EFTS (where the change is 50 EFTS or more).

This includes the cumulative total of changes to programmes, credentials, regions and modes.

2026 Investment Plan templates

Further guidance for applications

Tertiary education institutions (TEIs) need to use course NZSCED (rather than qualification) to determine if a new programme is in a different field of study than those approved in the mix of provision.
When a private training establishment (PTE) is determining whether an amendment to a mix of provision (MoP) is a significant amendment for the purposes of the criteria below, they must consider all changes to the Plan in the calendar year. The maximum changes without requiring an SPA application are if the cumulative total of all changes made in the calendar year are below the threshold criteria. This total excludes changes to work-based learning, shifts from priority to non-priority provision and introducing existing provision into a new region, which all require an SPA application.
Any over-delivery for which a TEO will receive flexible funding, or any delivery up to 105% (if such a limit is specified in the relevant funding conditions), does not require a significant amendment to a Plan and is treated as if it is specified in the MoP.