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

Earnings fall sharply after a bulk data update

A bulk update is applied to a cohort and the next funding report shows a material fall. Where do you look?

Funding year2026–27Awaiting verificationSee the sourcesReport an issue

The situation

Event
A bulk update applied to a cohort between returns
Effect
Material fall in the following period's earnings
Learner count
Unchanged

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

Where do you start?

The rules behind this

FEFunding explanation

Each ILR return is a complete restatement of the funding year to date, not an increment. Every return replaces the last, which is why an error introduced late can change earnings already reported.

Recommended good practice

When learner data is changed after it has been reported, the reason for the change and the authority for it should be recorded. An unexplained change between returns is a common audit query.

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.

Funding allocations and data returns information (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding documentAwaiting 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.