Glossary
Learner (ILR entity)
The ILR record that describes one person: their identifiers, demographics and circumstances for the funding year.
In full
The Learner entity carries the identifiers that locate the person, such as the ULN and the learner reference number, alongside demographic and circumstance information used for eligibility and uplifts.
Everything else about that person's learning hangs off this record, so an error here affects every aim beneath it.
The rules behind this
The ILR is structured hierarchically: a provider header, then one record per learner, and within each learner one record per learning delivery, with further entities for employment status, destination and outcome, learner funding and monitoring, and learning delivery funding and monitoring.
Where this comes up
module
The anatomy of the ILR
What is actually inside the Individualised Learner Record: the entities, how they nest, and which fields carry the funding.
diagnostic
An apprentice is on the ILR but is not generating any payments
The apprentice exists on the ILR and looks correct, but no earnings are being generated for them. Apprenticeship funding depends on the ILR and the apprenticeship service agreeing, so a record that is perfect in one and absent or different in the other produces nothing.
diagnostic
The same learner appears twice
One person has been recorded twice, usually with two different learner reference numbers, and sometimes with two different ULNs. The system treats them as two people.
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.
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.
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.
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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