Funding rules monitored: 31 official sources · awaiting first verified checkFunding Intelligence →
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Scenario

An apprentice goes on long-term sick leave

An apprentice is signed off work indefinitely. Deciding between a break in learning and a withdrawal is a funding, performance and evidence decision all at once.

Funding year2026–27Awaiting verificationSee the sourcesReport an issue

The situation

Stream
Apprenticeships
Position
Fourteen months into a twenty four month standard
Event
Signed off work with no stated return date
Employer
Holding the role open for now

Constructed for teaching. No scenario in the Academy contains real learner data, and none ever will.

How should this be recorded?

The employer says they will hold the role but cannot say for how long.

The apprentice has not said whether they intend to return to the apprenticeship.

The rules behind this

Official requirement

A break in learning and a withdrawal are different events with different funding consequences. A break pauses the apprenticeship with the intention that the learner returns; a withdrawal ends it.

Recommended good practice

Evidence is strongest when it is created at the time of the event it describes and is retrievable without reconstruction. Evidence assembled after a query is asked is weaker and takes longer to produce.

Official requirement

An apprenticeship is funded against a price negotiated between the employer and the provider, capped by the funding band maximum for the apprenticeship standard. Any amount above the band maximum is paid by the employer and is not funded.

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.

Apprenticeship funding rules and assessment plan guidance 2026 to 2027 (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding document2026–27Awaiting first verification

Adult Skills Fund funding and performance management rules 2026 to 2027 (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding document2026–27Awaiting first verification

Content reused from GOV.UK is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. FEFunding is not endorsed by the Department for Education.