Glossary
Validation rule
A published check applied to an ILR record, which the record must pass before it can be accepted and funded.
In full
Validation rules are published for each funding year. Each has an identifier, a message and a defined field scope, and each is applied to every record when the file is validated.
Rules check internal consistency and conformance with the specification: that dates are in a sensible order, that codes are valid for the year, that required fields are present given the other values recorded.
A rule failure is a statement about the data, not about the learner. The fix is almost always in the source system.
The rules behind this
An ILR file is validated against the published validation rules for the funding year. Records that fail a validation rule are rejected or excluded from funding until the underlying data is corrected.
Passing validation means the data is internally consistent and structurally acceptable. It does not mean the data is true, that the learner is eligible, or that the funding claimed is correct.
Where this comes up
diagnostic
A large number of validation errors appeared suddenly
Validation has produced a large number of failures that were not there before. A sudden change in volume almost always has one cause rather than many.
module
From a learner walking in to funding arriving
The full chain: a learner event, the operational action it triggers, the source data it creates, the ILR fields it populates, validation, funding, reports, evidence, performance and audit.
scenario
The first return of a new funding year fails badly
The first validation run of the new funding year produces hundreds of failures. What is the fastest route to a clean file?
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.
module
Closing the funding year properly
At the final return the funding, the achievement rates and the audit population are all fixed at once. Everything that will be corrected has to be corrected before it.
module
FIS and Submit Learner Data: the submission workflow
When to validate locally, when an actual submission is needed, what each report tells you, and how resubmission works within a collection window.
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.