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I'd like to know the answer to this too. We have learners based in London and have never had this crop up until very recently when a handful contacted us to say their oyster card had been stopped. Apparently TFL said that we had listed the apprentice as ineligible so I sent the apprentice a screenshot of the Apprenticeship Service showing them as "Live" to share with TFL. I am not sure if they managed to resolve this with TFL but it would be helpful to have some guidance.
I wonder if Kelly Knights or Peter Keating could perhaps help us out?
Putting this back on the front page as we've had a few more learners report this issue. Has anyone been able to resolve this?
Kelly Knights, Peter Keating - please could you advise per Steve's comment?
Thanks
Jim
UPDATE: spoke to TFL and apparently this was a mistake that has since been amended.
Apprentices need to contact TFL to get their ULNs unlocked and then re-apply for their cards and request a refund. Training providers do not need to do anything - there is no registration / approval etc required.
Jim Thomas
Apprentice Oyster card cancellation
Edited
Hi
Has anyone had an issue with an apprentice's Oyster card being cancelled, or of a provider having to register an Oyster card with TFL (I have no idea how we can do this)?
We've been contacted by one of our apprentices who started with us in September and has just had her card cancelled. TFL have advised her that "once you are approved for an apprentice oyster card your training provider has to register it with ESFA within 100 days of [the] card getting approved. If this doesn't happen the card will be cancelled".
This isn't something we've ever encountered and there's no mention of this on the relevant TFL page Apprentice Oyster photocard - Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)
The learner was put on ILR when she started and is still in learning (no break, exit or course change). She's also live and confirmed details on DAS.
Is anyone able to advise/assist?
Thanks
Jim
EDIT/UPDATE: spoke to TFL and apparently this was a mistake that has since been amended.
Apprentices need to contact TFL to get their ULNs unlocked and then re-apply for their cards and request a refund. Training providers do not need to do anything - there is no registration / approval etc required.
UPDATE 2 - 7th February: TFL have called me per the ticket I raised and basically confirmed the above.
The confirmation TFL need is from the ESFA (not the training providers) and it seems they provided some incorrect information in error, which caused this issue.
Email I received states:
Due to some incorrect data we received regarding the status of a number of Apprentice applications, some cards have been hotlisted in error.
We will need to unlock ULN's for the affected customers so they can re-apply and they will be entitled to a refund of their second application fee as well as any interim fares.
Firstly I would advise you get all affected apprentices to contact us to unlock their ULN, I would suggest calling would be quicker as we do need to ask some information before unlocking.
In the meantime, suggest any affected people use the same method of payment in the interim, i.e the same Oyster card or same bank card and this will make the refund easier to process.
Although it says interim fares will be refunded, this will only apply to the difference in price between what they have been paying as an Apprentice and the adult price they will be paying in the interim as apposed to getting the full fares back.