Rule violation LearnDelFamType_124

Hi Paul

We are having the same issue, however, we are not devolved.

Can you let me know if you hear what we need to do to resolve please?

Yes, we are getting these errors recently as well.

For us it's all learners who are 24+ years of age showing as fully funded on their local flexibility courses - with the reason being they are unemployed & on benefits. We do not have the LDM - 391 Earnings Threshold against these learners.

I've seen talks on JISC about this scenario regarding unemployed on benefits & guess we "could" put the Earnings Threshold against these students and "use our discretion" that learners are earning under 25k but it's not clear. I've not heard anything back from my helpdesk query yet to confirm if they want us to put the earnings threshold in or if these will change to a warning (only put it through on Tuesday 17th)

Yes same here on devolved funding ILR files.

Many errors of this type

The errors appear only on ILR put through 24-25 FIS version 4 of 13th December and on learners with start dates right back to September.

If the same file is put through FIS version 3 no such errors are returned.

Also still within the five days for helpdesk query. 

We are getting these errors this month too.  I've just been reading through some previous posts and others are suggesting that we need to use LDM 391 for those unemployed with JSA, ESA, UC as well as for earnings under threshold and unemployed/not receiving benefits/looking for work.  The BSI value alone for the benefit is not resolving the error.

This error is also showing when you upload a file to Submit Learner Data and not just the FIS.  I have lots of these now too.

I have received the reply below on this issue with the ESFA confirming that they will switch the error to a warning before the R05 deadline if it is not resolved before then.

This is not really sufficient, so I will be feeding this back to them and would encourage others to do the same if you have business processes affected by this. We want to use the associated funding reports to know what out income position is every week, not only at month end, and we are currently missing a significant chunk of YTD income due to this error. Similarly, we need to know our position for devolved ASF contract monitoring and forecasting. Fortunately, R05 is not a performance management point for any of our devolved ASF contracts but again we want to know where we are at any given point and not just find out what our income is post month end. Again, if you are feeling the pinch of any of these issues then please communicate this back to the Agency. 

The LearnDelFAMType_124 is currently on the know issues log linked below as it is not triggering correctly. The rule is currently being investigated by our technical team.

Submit_Learner_Data_Known_Issues_2024_to_2025_101224.xlsx

Unfortunately, I cannot give a date for when this will be resolved but if it is not fixed before the R05 deadline it will be switched off so errors do not trigger and funding is unaffected.

I have also reported this issue since 18th December - no luck as yet.

I also raised a ticket after we had the errors appear on19th December.

Have just in the last few minutes received a response directing me back here and the ticket is closed.

I can only assume I am expected to read Paul's message above rather than expect any direct response from the ESFA.

I can also only assume that with no new FIS release any switch of error to warning will only happen post submission.

The reply to my ticket is:

Same here, we are having the same issue, same errors "ILR error LearnDelFamType - The Full funding indicator is not valid for this learning aim". I also reported the  issue to the ESFA before submitting the R05 and also after submitting our R05:  we have some many errors related to this and that has affected  all our ASF funded learning aim.  Please see the ESFA response below: we hope that this issue is fixed before the submission window for R05 freezes: fingers crossed for us.

Hi again,

I was also going to point out that, if you have a contract with GLA, you may consider to add "DAM code 023 and FFI code 1 to claim full" to bypass this error: only for the group of learners below: "If the learner is unemployed and is claiming benefits".

81. ou may fully fund learners who are unemployed, employed, or selfemployed, up to and including level 2 and the level 3 offers, if they earn below 
the London Living Wage earnings threshold.

I just done that and it worked.

 DAM code 023 and FFI code 1 to claim full 
funding for learners who meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 81 to 
88.
90. If the learner is unemployed and is claiming benefits you must complete the 
Benefit Status Indicator (BSI) to identify the learner is in receipt of Jobseeker’s 
Allowance (BSI 1), Universal Credit (BSI 4), or Employment and Support 
Allowance (all categories) (BSI 5). (ILR Specification 2024 to 2025: Attribute: 
Benefit Status Indicator).

I raised it on 13 Dec with them. Still no resolution. I spoke to them this morning, was put on hold for 20 mins and then they hung up. I'm now waiting again for them to pick up. I did ask if they could make the error a warning until they sort out their end, as I need to do uploads within month for internal MI and finance reasons. Will post any updates here.

Good morning all. No updates from service desk since last week, so checked again this morning. The error is still there, and funding is affected by it (despite assurances in the chat above from ESFA that it wouldn't). I've spoken to service desk again, and no update. Does anyone have contact details for the development team or somebody within the Dfe/ESFA I can contact? Thanks in advance

Same situation for us - I have emailed again this morning as they are all still in error.  It will affect our funding as well

Good morning and Happy New Year to you.

We have a contract with GLA and based on par 81 to 89 (see below), our learners fall under that category and therefore with have applied relevant DAM code 23 + FFI  for learners unemployed & claiming benefits. After that, we have submitted our final R05 and there were no more errors related to "LearnDelFamType_124 ", and our funding is back to normal.

GLA ASF Grant Funding and Performance Management Rules 2024-25 

81. You may fully fund learners who are unemployed, employed, or selfemployed, up to and including level 2 and the level 3 offers, if they earn below 
the London Living Wage earnings threshold. 
82. The London Living Wage is an hourly rate of pay, calculated annually by the 
Resolution Foundation and overseen by the Living Wage Commission. It is 
currently set at £13.15 (November 2023).
83. Reviewed independently to reflect the high cost of living in the capital, it gives 
workers in London and their family enough to afford the essentials and to 

save. The basket of goods draws on the Minimum Income Standard to identify 
everyday living costs through public consensus.
84. The annual gross salary London Living Wage threshold is calculated based on 
the hourly London Living Wage at that point in time, multiplied by 37.5 (hours 
per week), multiplied by 52 (weeks per year). The current annual London 
Living Wage threshold is £25,642.50.
85. The London Living Wage earnings threshold may change within the academic 
year. When this occurs, you can use this methodology to calculate the new 
annual London living wage earnings threshold. We expect the London Living 
Wage to be revised in October or November 2024.
86. You must have seen evidence of the learner’s gross annual wages in these 
circumstances. This could be a wage slip or a UC statement within 3 months 
of the learner’s learning start date, or a current employment contract which 
states gross monthly/annual wages. Please note this is not an exhaustive list, 
but you must evidence your decision to award full funding to an individual who 
would normally be eligible for co-funding.
87. You may also fully fund learners who meet the London Living Wage earnings 
threshold criteria for qualifications included in the GLA’s flexibilities cited in 
paragraphs 120 to 148 unless otherwise stated in the relevant section.
88. You may use your discretion to fully fund learners who are out of work and are 
not in receipt of benefits, and
88.1 want to be employed, or
88.2 are seeking exceptional support with social integration, including 
those with no recourse to public funds
89. You must use DAM code 010, DAM code 023 and FFI code 1 to claim full 
funding for learners who meet the requirements set out in paragraphs 81 to 
88.
I hope that helps.

Glad

We're still affected by this issue.  Along with the Tailored Learning error 35% of our deliveries are erroring.

I've tried every avenue possible, but it seems impossible to talk to anybody within ESFA about a solution to this (even if they could make the error a warning until they clear the issue). It's so frustrating that we get absolutely no information or support from them. I've found a solution for our devolved learners (by putting in DAM code 023, and (if no solution by close of play today), will have to do that for every learner/qual overnight to avoid the financial implications of the error. Just not fair how the ESFA get away with such bad service.

Yep, I'm adding DAM codes in to clear the error but we have the thick end of 1,000 to do.  I don't think the ESFA appreciate that we providers need error-free ILRs so we can get our financial position. 

For those of you who use MIS ProSolution - remember that you can use bulk update feature to update all adult learners quickly with 023 Dam code- rather than one by one.

Re the points above from Dave and Simon on raising awareness of the issue and impact on the providers with the Agency I would encourage all on this thread affected to raise this point with the service desk and make this stick out in their stats. 

I've also fed back to the Agency the very specific impact of this particular issue, as well as a more general point on the impact of their approach to this issue on providers. There is data to suggest that most providers will send their ILR submissions on the 3rd working day and not the 4th so if the fix is to be implemented at month end then will this be today or tomorrow? I wanted to know our income position for December 3 weeks ago and every week since. We don't just cross our fingers and wait until month-end. I'm sure there is a genuine technical issue that they are trying to resolve here but it is important that we communicate the impact to them. For those with ASF devolved funding I would also suggest communicating this issue to your combined authority contacts.  

I agree with Paul - and I've informed our devolved authority. I know from what the service desk have said that they are aware of and are reading this thread, which only makes their radio silence even more unacceptable. Do I stop everything and spend the next day and a half putting DAM code 023 against every learner, or will the fix be implemented today? I'm so frustrated (I'm a Man Utd fan and even they don't get me as angry as ESFA sometimes).

Calling Henry from ESFA. Your service desk is getting inundated with calls about this issue. Could you give us an update on your plans? Any communication is better than none at all.

Do you know if this issue includes LearnDelFAMType_122 and LearnDelFAMType_123?  We seem to have the same issue as LearnDelFAMType_124.

I've now been told that this error will not be changed to a warning.

The policy team have changed the criteria for full funding in the 24/25 data for ASF.

The LearnDelFamType_124 error is triggering because your learners have been recorded as fully funded against the aim but you have not included LDM391 (Earnings Threshold). This code is recorded whether the learner is employed or unemployed and is relevant.

The learner needs be earning below the Earnings threshold with the LDM code recorded so that they are eligible to be fully funded against the aim.

So, although the known issues has said 'A defect has been identified with this rule and therefore it is not triggering as it should.', they are now saying that it's not a defect.

In the performance management rules, it talks about this for learners who are employed or self-employed and earn under £25k pa gross. The evidence requirements are wage slips (or UC statement), or contract of employment. 

My learners are all marked as unemployed. I'm sure this field hasn't been mandatory before. Am I being fobbed off?

We are in the same (somewhat listing, but still afloat) boat - it's preventing accurate internal reporting and payments to subcontractors. We've asked the ESFA helpdesk if it could be made into a warning, as would normally happen.

To get accurate funding reports/dashboards, I've used the older version of FIS which isn't throwing the LearnDelFAMType_124 error out.  Obviously, when this is clean and I run through the Hub, I'm getting over 400 'false' errors!  It's so frustrating as I know I can't say to my Finance Director "don't worry that they don't match, it's an issue with SLD"! 

I've then gone onto all the new false errors from the .csv generated in the Hub and changed LAM1 to '391 - earnings threshold' which has then gone through without any errors.  I'm lucky as we use ProSolution so I was able to import in the erroring students and do a bulk update (which I'm then going to 'undo' when I'm certain we're not going to make any changes to R05).  It's really not fair that we're having to go about this by trial and error when we're all so busy but I really can't risk a promise that the issue will be sorted then it not happening!

I chased this again this morning, sending my original correspondence.  I have just received a reply giving me a link on how to fix this error, no reference to the ongoing issue.  Frustrating

I have received another response from the Agency today suggesting that they will not be switching this from an error to a warning. I'm trying to substantiate if this is their final response and have asked for a call with someone who can clarify the approach, but for now we are in the process of updating Dam codes for affected learners to get most of these cleared today.

I notice that the Agency have added a pinned response today to this forum pointing to the September published guidance on how to resolve errors relating to this and other similar violations. This is not going to prevent several million pounds of income being missing from funding reports this month. I'm going to follow up the approach to this issue with whomever I can find to speak to in the ESFA, but again suggest that others do the same with combined authority contacts who will not see the implications of this until funding reports are returned to them later this week. 

So if they aren't switching it to a warning does that mean they don't believe it is an error and we all need to add either the DAM code or the ESFA 391 code?  Or are they saying they will resolve the issue for the following return?

This is the response below that I have had back. The top line clearly states that they are not changing this from an error to a warning but this is what I am asking for clarification on. The rationale needs challenging; 'it is triggering correctly in some circumstances' could mean that it working correctly 5% of the time and and not 95% of the time which in such a scenario should require further work by the technical team. The broader issue here is around the approach to dealing with this, the timing, and proactively supporting the sector to deal with the issue. As per my previous posts many providers will submit, or have already submitted, not understanding the workarounds that can be applied to resolve this and I suspect that a significant amount of income will be missing nationally because of this, which then requires another set of conversations, effort, and work to explain to associated parties.  

The error will not be changed to a warning as it is triggering correctly in some circumstances for providers.

The LDM code is a requirement to be fully funded as per the Adult skills fund: funding and performance management rules 2024 to 2025 (updated 18 July 2024).

Guidance as follows: -

Unemployed
We will update the Universal Credit (UC) thresholds to align to any revisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
For funding purposes, we define a learner as unemployed if one or more of the following apply. They:

• receive Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), including those receiving National Insurance credits only
• receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• receive UC, and their take-home pay as recorded on their UC statement (disregarding UC payments and other benefits) is less than £892 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £1,437 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner)
• are released on temporary licence, studying outside a prison environment, and not funded by the Ministry of Justice

Providers may also use their discretion to fully fund other learners if either of the following apply. The learner:

• receives other state benefits (not included in the list above) and their take-home pay (disregarding UC payments and other benefits) is less than £892 a month (learner is sole adult in their benefit claim) or £1,437 a month (learner has a joint benefit claim with their partner)
• not receiving any benefits, wants to be employed and you are satisfied that the identified learning is directly relevant to their employment prospects and local labour market needs. In order to claim full funding for learners who are unemployed and not receiving benefits, you must indicate that they earn below the earnings threshold by using LDM code 391 and FFI code 1

If the learner is unemployed and is claiming benefits, you must complete the Benefit Status Indicator (BSI) to identify the learner is in receipt of JSA (BSI 1) UC (BSI 4), or ESA (all categories) (BSI 5).

Earnings threshold
We have introduced the earnings threshold as part of a new eligibility criteria that enables learners to be fully funded if they earn below £25,000. The policy entitlement includes learners who are employed or self-employed.
You may fully fund learners who are employed, or self-employed, up to and including level 2 and the level 3 offers, if they earn below £25,000 annual gross salary.
You must have seen evidence of the learner’s gross annual wages in these circumstances. This could be a wage slip or a UC statement within 3 months of the learner’s learning start date, or a current employment contract which states gross monthly/annual wages. Please note this is not an exhaustive list, but you must evidence your decision to award full funding to an individual who would normally be eligible for co-funding.
To claim full funding for learners who earn below the earnings threshold, you must use LDM code 391 and FFI code 1.

Adult skills fund: funding and performance management rules 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK www.gov.uk.

The GMCA have told us that they have raised it as an issue with the ESFA and hopefully it will be resolved during the year.  In the meantime they have instructed us to add two DAM codes to all deliveries that are erroring with this issue.

Therefore, Ceri Fishlock, I think that means they aren't going to rush and you'll need to add the DAM or LDM code accordingly.