An aim is on the ILR but generates no funding
This has been flagged because it is worth checking. It may be entirely correct. Investigate before assuming anything is wrong.
In plain English
The aim validates and appears on the ILR, but generates no earnings. Validation and funding are different tests: a record can be perfectly valid and still not qualify for funding.
Why it matters
Delivery is happening and is not being paid for. The cause is usually knowable in advance, which means it is preventable at enrolment rather than discoverable at the funding report.
Funding
The aim earns nothing. Delivery cost is incurred with no income against it.
Performance
The aim may still count in performance measures even though it is unfunded.
Audit
Where funding has been claimed for an aim that was never eligible, it is recoverable in full.
Most likely causes
Ranked, because in practice a few causes explain most cases.
- commonThe aim is not eligible for funding under the stream it is recorded againstThe learning aims database records which streams may fund an aim and between which dates. Check the aim before blaming the record.
- commonThe learner does not meet the eligibility conditions for the streamAge, residency, prior attainment or employment status may all disqualify an otherwise valid record.
- commonA required monitoring or eligibility code is missingSome funding only flows when the record carries the code that establishes the entitlement.
- occasionalThe learner withdrew before completing the qualifying periodWhere a qualifying period applies, an early leaver generates no funding for the aim.
- occasionalThe aim start date falls outside the dates the aim can be funded betweenAims have start and end dates on the learning aims database, outside which they cannot be funded.
Check these first
- Look up the aim on the learning aims database and check it is fundable for this stream and these dates.
- Check the learner meets the eligibility conditions for the stream.
- Check the monitoring and eligibility codes that the funding depends on are present.
- Check whether the learner withdrew inside a qualifying period.
Learning aim referenceFunding modelLearning start dateFunding and monitoring recordsCompletion status
How to investigate
- Check the aim first, then the learner, then the codes. Most cases resolve at the first step.
- Check whether other learners on the same aim are also unfunded, which confirms an aim problem rather than a learner one.
- Where the aim is not fundable, this is a curriculum planning issue and needs raising there, not resolving in MIS.
In your system
These steps are system-neutral: they describe what has to be true in the data, which is the same whatever software your college runs. We do not publish supplier screen paths we have not verified, because menu locations differ by version and by local configuration, and a confidently wrong instruction is worse than none.
System-neutral
- Look the aim up on the learning aims database and read its funding attributes for the relevant dates.
- Check the learner's eligibility against the funding rules for the stream and year.
- Check the monitoring and eligibility codes on the record.
- Where the aim simply cannot be funded, stop delivering it as funded and escalate the decision.
Building your own map of where each of these lives in your system is the most useful induction document an MIS team can have. How to build one.
How to fix it
- Where a code is missing, add it in the source system and regenerate.
- Where the learner is ineligible, remove the funding claim rather than forcing the record.
- Where the aim is not fundable, escalate: continuing to deliver it as funded compounds the problem.
Stop this happening again
Fixing the record clears this case. A control is what stops the next one, so each of these names what to do, who owns it and how often.
Check every aim on the learning aims database before it is added to the curriculum offer.
An eligibility check at enrolment that must be completed before the enrolment can be confirmed.
A monthly report of aims generating no funding, reviewed and cleared.
The rules behind this
Adult Skills Fund eligibility depends on the learner's age, residency and circumstances, and the provider must hold evidence of eligibility before funding is claimed.
The funding model recorded against a learning delivery determines which funding rules, which calculation and which reports apply to it.
Sources
These are the official documents this page rests on. Where a figure, a deadline or an exact rule matters, the document is the authority and this page is the explanation.
Content reused from GOV.UK is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. FEFunding is not endorsed by the Department for Education.