Period 5, December · 2026–27
R05
A quieter return falling around the winter break, which makes the preparation window shorter than the calendar suggests.
Preparation
Preparation for this return normally starts about 14 days out.
Readiness checklist
Generate a checklist scoped to this return, your streams and your role.
Generate itThis date follows the published monthly pattern and is marked provisional in the Academy until it has been reconciled against the official timetable. Confirm it against Data Collection Timetable 2026 to 2027 before planning around it.
What this return drives
- Earnings for December and the first return after the allocation basis has been set.
What each role should do
MIS or ILR officer
Before
- Work backwards from the deadline through the holiday period: the working days available are fewer than they look.
- Correct anything identified during R04 that could not be fixed in time.
After
- Confirm the R04 issues log has been cleared or carried forward with owners.
Curriculum manager or head of department
Before
- Notify leavers from the autumn term before the break rather than after it.
Checks before you submit
- Clear the issues logged at R04.
- Run validation locally before submitting, and work the errors by rule rather than record by record.
- Check learners still recorded as in learning whose planned end date has passed.
- Check aims that have ended with no outcome recorded.
- Reconcile the funding report for the period against your own expectation, and explain any movement since last period.
- Confirm withdrawals notified by curriculum this month have actually been recorded.
Sign-off
- MIS confirms R04 issues have been addressed or carried forward with owners.
After submission
- Download and keep the funding reports for the period. They are your record of what the submission earned.
- Circulate the reconciliation position to Finance, with the explanation for any movement.
- Log any issue you could not resolve in time, so it is picked up rather than forgotten next month.
What commonly goes wrong
- Leavers from the end of the autumn term recorded late because of the holiday period.
Each of these has a full diagnostic in the error and assurance lookup, with the causes, the investigation, the fix and the control that prevents it.
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.