Funding rules monitored: 31 official sources · awaiting first verified checkFunding Intelligence →
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Validation ruleConfirmed errorCross-cutting

The Employer identifier has not been returned

This is wrong and needs correcting. It is not a judgement call.

Funding year2026–27Awaiting verificationReviewed19 September 2026See the sourcesReport an issue

In plain English

If the learner is undertaking an apprenticeship programme, and the aim is a programme aim, and is 'in paid employment' on the programme start date, then there must be an Employer identifier that applies to the programme start date

Why it matters

A record that fails this rule may be excluded from funding until the underlying data is corrected.

Most likely causes

Ranked, because in practice a few causes explain most cases.

    Check these first

      Fields involved

      LearnerEmploymentStatus.EmpIdLearnerEmploymentStatus.EmpStatLearningDelivery.LearnStartDateLearningDelivery.AimType

      How to investigate

        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 We do not publish supplier screen paths we have not verified, because menu locations differ by version and by local configuration, and a confidently wrong instruction is worse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

        1. Read the official wording for this record in the source named below.
        2. Find the affected records in your own data using the fields listed.
        3. Trace each one back to the source system entry that produced it.
        4. Correct the cause in the source system rather than the generated file.

        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

          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.