Help with validation - ACT record

Um, what validation report is this please? 

Most Non-levy don't have PMR records, at least when they're created...

HI Steve 

It's the learner validation report on PICS.

I know this is why I'm so confused...the learners this error is against are all non levy with levy transfers. i could understand it if the donating employer hadn't covered the contributions but im guessing thats not the case as they are not on the co investment report?!?!

In PICS the only way to identify if a learner is levy or non-levy is to select that value specifically - provider MI systems have no direct access to the AS to be able to determine this (although it can be derived by linking to certain reports). Hence on PICS a learner ACT is either 1L or 1N.

If the Learner ACT is 1N, PICS then looks to see if any employer contributions have been recorded (i.e. PMR). If not, this is a potential anomaly and so an audit warning is given. In time PMRs do get entered and so the anomaly disappears from reports but for levy transfer learners it's usually a false-flag because PMRs may never be required.

So far as I know PICS can't tell if a learner is being funded through levy transfer (again, the ILR doesn't identify this so it would have to be a local system setting), so that circumstance won't prevent the warning being given. Remember that this is a PICS-only warning and not an ILR or AS error as such, so it is annoying rather than having any serious impact. I guess you could raise a change request with them to allow levy-transfer status to be identified and such learners identified, reported and excluded from certain validations.

Thank you Timmo

This makes sense, i have always thought it strange that there isn't a way to identify a transfer on PICS !!

Carla :)

For reporting purposes you can create a local field in PICS to identify any value in a report output but this wouldn't prevent the learners being included in the front page validation figures. Or I suppose you could create a separate PICS Contract, link just the levy transfer learners to it and then exclude that Contract from a manual or scheduled validation report run, but again they still get included in the front page figures.

In short, no easy way round it!

Thinking further, I'm not sure what happens if you record the learner aims in PICS as ACT1L. The L/N suffix is only used by PICS and not exported in the ILR, so it has no impact with ESFA or AS. That would stop the PICS audit warning (PMRs are not expected for ACT1L) but maybe looks odd in PICS reports. It would throw an anomaly if you use the PICS funding report reconciler (i.e. if the ESFA reports identify the learner as with a non-levy employer but PICS now has them as levy-funded). TBH I'm not sure how the ESFA reports now show levy-transfers?

Hi Timmo

Thank you - I think I will just carry on as I have been as long as I know it isn't something I have done wrong then I know its just the issue with how the levy transfers are linked on PICS. 

I was just concerned seeing it as an audit warning but as long as they dont show on the co investment report then I know they are being funded by the transfer :)

thanks again 

Carla