Glossary
Legal entitlement
An adult's statutory right to fully funded learning in defined circumstances.
In full
Certain adults are legally entitled to fully funded learning, for example to reach a defined level in English or maths, or to achieve a first qualification at a specified level within an age range.
The precise entitlements, ages and conditions are set out in the funding rules for the year, and evidence that the learner qualified must be held before funding is claimed.
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.
Where this comes up
scenario
A returning learner is enrolled as a new person
A learner returns after two years. The enrolment search does not find them, so a new record and a new ULN are created.
module
Adult Skills Fund: earning, evidencing and reconciling
An allocation you have to earn, with eligibility that must be evidenced before you claim, and a reconciliation at the end that can reduce what you keep.
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.
diagnostic
An aim is on the ILR but generates no funding
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.
module
Getting it right at the front door
Most funding-critical data is captured at enrolment. Front-door quality is the cheapest data quality there is, and the only kind that scales.
module
How further education funding actually works
Colleges are not paid a block grant for teaching. They are funded through several separate streams, each with its own rules, and each earned by recording delivery in the ILR.
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.