Period 13, closing · 2026–27
R13
The rehearsal for the final return. Whatever is wrong here is still fixable, and this is the last time that is true.
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
- A closing return that allows the year's record to be completed before the final hard close.
What each role should do
MIS or ILR officer
Before
- Treat this as a full dry run for R14: run every check you intend to run at the final return.
- Confirm every item on the pre-R14 action list is closed or has a date before the final deadline.
After
- Confirm the remaining R14 actions are achievable in the time left.
Head or director of MIS
Before
- Confirm resource is available to close the remaining actions before the final deadline.
After
- Escalate anything that will not be resolved in time, before the close rather than after.
Checks before you submit
- Run the full R14 check set as a dry run.
- Confirm every pre-R14 action is closed or dated.
- 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 the position is ready, or names exactly what is not.
After submission
- Confirm the remaining R14 actions, their owners and their dates.
What commonly goes wrong
- Treating R13 as routine and discovering the scale of the remaining work at R14.
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.
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