Glossary
Break in learning
A pause in an apprenticeship or programme where the learner is expected to return, recorded as a temporary withdrawal rather than a withdrawal.
In full
A break in learning suspends the programme with the intention that the learner comes back. It is recorded as a temporary withdrawal, earnings stop for the period of the break, and the aim is preserved so it can restart.
Recording a break as a withdrawal, or a withdrawal as a break, misstates both the funding and the achievement rate. The distinction rests on the genuine intention at the time, evidenced.
The rules behind this
A break in learning and a withdrawal are different events with different funding consequences. A break pauses the apprenticeship with the intention that the learner returns; a withdrawal ends it.
Where this comes up
diagnostic
Should this be a break in learning or a withdrawal?
The learner has stopped, and the question is whether to record a break in learning, which pauses the programme on the basis that they will return, or a withdrawal, which ends it. The two have different funding and achievement consequences, so the choice is not administrative.
module
Withdrawals, breaks and restarts
How leaving is recorded, why the date matters as much as the fact, and where the line falls between a break in learning and a withdrawal.
scenario
An apprentice goes on long-term sick leave
An apprentice is signed off work indefinitely. Deciding between a break in learning and a withdrawal is a funding, performance and evidence decision all at once.
diagnostic
A learner left weeks ago but is still showing as continuing
The learner has stopped attending, but the ILR still shows their aim as open with no actual end date, so the system believes they are still in learning and keeps generating funding for them.
scenario
An adult learner withdraws in week six
A learner on a fully funded adult qualification stops attending six weeks in. Follow it from the tutor noticing to the audit test.
module
Apprenticeship funding: price, band, service and evidence
A price negotiated with each employer, capped by the band maximum, paid monthly with a completion element, and dependent on the ILR and the apprenticeship service agreeing.
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.
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