ILR Data Management FAQs

1. Should colleges include every learner in the ILR?
2. Should colleges include enrolments for learners that never attend?
3. If a learner transfers from one course to another, what is the new course start date?
4. How accurate does the start date need to be?
5. What is the appropriate treatment for recording a learner who is enrolled on a National Diploma (2 year) but fails to reappear for year 2?
6. What should colleges do if a learner's Individual Learning Plan is altered?
7. How should Skills for Life spiky profiles be recorded for achievement?
8. How should a learner be recorded if they transfer between funding streams?
9. Should Guided Learning Hours be amended to reflect actual hours delivered?
10. How quickly does the learning aim reference need to be agreed and recorded? (NEW)
11. Are there any circumstances when the details recorded in the learning aim reference field (A09) can be changed after the funding start period? (NEW)
12. Do key skills, functional skills and Skills for Life qualifications have to be agreed and reported within the funding start period? (NEW)
13. What are the rules for recording ESOL qualifications? (NEW)
14. What should be recorded when a learning aim has not been approved for funding or published on the LAD? (NEW)

1. Should colleges include every learner in the ILR?

Colleges must include a record on the ILR for all learners whose learning aims are delivered by the college, apart from those that are delivered on behalf of a school or on behalf of a Higher Education Institution (this data relates to non-FE provision that recorded in either the schools data return or the HESA return by the school or HEI which is directly funded for it).

Colleges must report data about franchised in school learners or those franchised in from an HEI on the ILRFRANIN return. This is an aggregate data return, which is sent at the same time as the Learner Responsive ILR, indicating the total numbers of learners in each subject area.

Learning aims delivered on behalf of a local authority (for LR and ASL learning) must be included on the ILR.

All learning aims recorded on the ILR where the college does not receive the funding for them directly from the LSC must be recorded using code 99 in the LSC Funding Stream field (field A10) and the organisation from whom any funding is received recorded in the Source of Funding field (field A11) where applicable. These learning aims must all be recorded on the Learner Responsive ILR return.

For example:

College delivering ASL provision for the local authority - learning aim must be included on the ILR and coded A10=99 and A11=026.
College delivering the technical certificate of an Apprenticeship for an independent private provider - learning aim must be included on the ILR and coded A10=99 and A11=015.

The guidance given about recording ASL provision funded by a local authority and delivered by a college is consistent with the current published guidance (see Paragraph 49 of the Learner Responsive provider support manual for 2009/10) and is not new. If you have not included these learners in your F01 return, then they should be added to your subsequent F0 returns for 2009/10.

We recognise that there may be issues with different field requirements for LR and ASL returns and we will investigate this as part of the on-going ILR development process. In general, the data requirements for an ASL return are fewer than for an LR return and so many LR fields would be returned with a null value in an ASL return - your MIS software may be able to do this automatically when creating an ILR export file.

2. Should colleges include enrolments for learners that never attended?

Colleges must include learners who have attended one episode of learning. If the learner withdraws without completing one episode of learning - for example, without attending the first class - then they must not be included in the ILR.

3. If a learner transfers from one course to another, what is the new course start date?

If a learning aim is closed as a transfer (code 4 in A34), there should always be a new learning aim record for the aim that the learner has transferred to. The start date of the new learning aim cannot be any earlier than the actual end date of the learning aim that the learner has transferred from. The start date may be the same as the actual end date of the aim that the learner has transferred from, or it may be slightly later is there is a delay in the learner starting the new aim.

We do not intend to give prescriptive guidance as to the exact time period in which it is allowable to record a transfer, as it will vary for different learners. For example, if a learner withdraws from their course just before the Easter holiday, they may not be able to start on the new aim until term re-commences. The transfer should take place as quickly as possible to ensure that the learner does not drop out completely. From a data recording perspective, the key point is that if one aim is recorded as transferred, then there should always be another learning aim record recorded for that learner to show what they have transferred onto.

We have raised the issue of funding for learners who transfer to an unlisted qualification with the LSC Funding Policy team and will publish any additional information received back from them.

4. How accurate does the start date need to be?

The learning aim start date should be accurate to within a week.

It is important that where a learning record spans across more than one academic year that the start and planned end dates recorded are identical between academic years. These data fields are used for matching records between academic years for success rate purposes. If the dates do not match, there is a risk that a second 'ghost' record will be created, and the provider's success rates negatively affected.

5. What is the appropriate treatment for recording a learner who is enrolled on a National Diploma (2 year) but fails to reappear for year 2?

The ILR should record the outcome of the learning aim that the learner set out to achieve as recorded in their Individual Learning Plan. Consequently, if a learner sets out to complete a National Diploma and later withdraws from the aim at the end of the first year, then in the ILR:

the Learning Aim Reference field (field A09) should be that for the National Diploma
when the learner withdraws, the Completion Status field (field A34) should be set to '3', meaning the learner has withdrawn and the Learning Outcome field (field A35) should be set to '3' meaning no achievement
the National Certificate should not be recorded on the ILR as this was not the learning aim that the learner set out to achieve and for which funding was generated.

Success in FE is always measured against the outcome of the learning aim that the learner set out to achieve. The same principle applies to all "nested" qualifications where the learner does not complete the learning aim as agreed at the start.

6. What should colleges do if a learner's Individual Learning Plan is altered?

Providers are expected to have identified and agreed with the learner by the end of the funding start period, the learning aim and the level that is being undertaken. This should be recorded in the learner's Individual Learning Plan and signed by the learner as part of their Learner Agreement.

If circumstances change and the provider and learner agree that it is in the learner's interests to transfer to a different learning aim, then this should be recorded in the Individual Learning Plan and agreement to it confirmed with the learner's signature. The original learning aim should be closed and recorded as a transfer (A34=4) and a new learning aim opened with new start and planned end dates, as appropriate.

Providers must not just amend the Learning Aim Reference code in field 09 in these circumstances.

7. How should Skills for Life spiky profiles be recorded for achievement?

Providers are asked to record the learner's final achievement outcome grade in field A36 of the ILR for all Skills for Life provision.

For Entry Level Skills for Life provision, a single learning aim is recorded and the learner may achieve at either Entry Level 1, 2 or 3. Providers should record the level at which the learner has achieved in field A36.

This should be possible in all cases for the approved Certificate in Adult Numeracy and the Certificate in ESOL Skills for Life, because both of these qualifications are awarded at the level of the lowest unit achieved.

Functional Skills in English and Maths at Entry Level are currently a single unit. Learners can take assessments at each level - Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3 - and will be certified accordingly, so their final outcome grade can be recorded.

The Certificates in ESOL Skills for Life are accredited and approved at each of the steps of Entry level, so learners can be enrolled onto a Certificate in ESOL Skills for Life Entry 1 qualification and, if achieved, the outcome grade should correspond with the level of the award.

For the Certificate in Adult Literacy, learners may achieve at different Entry levels for the three separate components (speaking and listening, reading, and writing). Where this is the case, providers are advised to record the overall achievement level as that of the lowest achieved. For example, if a learner achieved Speaking and Listening = Entry 3, Reading = Entry 2 and Writing = Entry 1, then providers should record the achievement grade as that of the lowest level. This is in line with how final grades are awarded for the Certificate in Adult Numeracy and Certificate in ESOL Skills for Life award.

8. How should a learner be recorded if they transfer between funding streams?

The current advice from the LSC's Funding Policy team is that a learner should not move funding streams in the middle of a learning aim, and that they should remain funded on the funding stream on which they started, even if their circumstances change. For example, learners who turn 19 during the second year of a course will continue to be funded from the 16-18 LR funding stream. An unemployed learner who starts an NVQ under the Adult Learner Responsive (ALR) funding stream would continue to be funded using this model, even if they become employed.

9. Should Guided Learning Hours be amended to reflect actual hours delivered?

The Guided Learning Hours (GLH) recorded are those that are planned at the outset and agreed within the learner's learning agreement. They should not be altered unless the delivery arrangements change significantly. For example, if a teaching session had to be cancelled due to tutor absence, then the planned GLH would not need to be amended. The current specification defines changed delivery arrangements as:

Where revised delivery arrangements result in a change to the GLH for all learners in a group, then the GLH field should be altered for all learners in the group.
Where revised delivery arrangements result in a change to the GLH for an individual learner and the actual Guided Learning Hours differ by 20% or more from those originally planned, the GLH should be updated for the learner.
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10. How quickly does the learning aim reference need to be agreed and recorded? (NEW)

Providers are expected to agree and accurately record the learning aim being undertaken on the ILR by the end of the funding start period. This applies to all types of learning aim apart from ESOL. See separate FAQ on ESOL for guidance on recording ESOL.

The funding start period is defined as follows:

Course Length	Funding Start Period
Less than 2 weeks	Enrolment and at least one course activity
Between 2 and 24 weeks	Enrolment and final attendance for at least the first two-week period of the programme
24+ weeks	Learner attends for 6 weeks or more

If the learner changes their learning aim during the funding start period then the learning aim details (including the start and planned end date) can be amended on the ILR record.

If a learner changes their learning aim after the funding start period then this must be recorded as a transfer. The learning aim record will need to be closed and recorded as “not achieved – transferred” and a new learning aim added.

Learning aims that are recorded as “not achieved – transferred” do not currently generate any funding and are excluded from the success rate calculations.

11. Are there any circumstances when the details recorded in the learning aim reference field (A09) can be changed after the funding start period? (NEW)

The data entered into field A09 can only be changed after the funding start period to correct data that has been entered incorrectly. This does not include cases where the aim is incorrect because the learner has changed the learning aim that they are undertaking. The learning aim reference must never be changed between reporting years for learners whose learning continues from one teaching year to the next.

12. Do key skills, functional skills and Skills for Life qualifications have to be agreed and reported within the funding start period? (NEW)

Yes, the standard rule of agreeing and accurately recording the learning aim within the funding start period applies. Any changes to the learning aim after this time should be recorded as a transfer.

13. What are the rules for recording ESOL qualifications? (NEW)

We recognise that for ESOL qualifications, the funding start period may not be long enough to agree and accurately record the level of qualification being undertaken by the learner, and that a provider’s funding can be affected by recording large numbers of transfers. For this reason the information authority is working with the Skills for Life and Funding Policy teams to try to agree a different approach for these types of qualifications.

Until further detailed guidance is available, providers are advised that they should agree and record the level of ESOL qualification that the learner is working towards as soon as possible after the learner starts.

14. What should be recorded when a learning aim has not been approved for funding or published on the LAD? (NEW)

If the learning aim has been accredited by the awarding organisation and is awaiting approval for funding but is not yet available on the LAD, then providers should enter the nearest equivalent aim (in terms of type of provision and funding rate) into the Learning Aim Reference field (field A09) and indicate in field A46 using code 118 that the learning aim reference recorded is being used as a proxy for the actual learning aim that is being undertaken.

Once the actual learning aim reference is available from the LAD, providers must update the code recorded in field A09 and remove code 118 from field A46.

In all cases, proxy learning aims must be amended (and code 118 removed from field A46) before the end of the academic year or before the learner completes or withdraws from the learning aim.

Providers should take into account that some accredited qualifications may not be approved for funding.