FUNCTIONAL SKILLS - REQUIRED RETURN DATE TO DFE 1/4/2025!

As I've been saying in other places, "what's going to happen if we don't?" I can't see how they can enforce it as a date, so would just make best efforts. If someone's still studying Maths in May and then decides to pack it in, you're as entitled to the funding as you were last week. We have no way of telling DfE any of this except through the ILR and the ILR just doesn't work like that.

Never known a date like this to appear in the Funding Rules, so wouldn't tie yourself in knots trying to meet an arbitrary date that has no real enforcement or meaning.

Thank you Steve, nice to hear this from someone I consider to be an apprenticeship funding rule God!  Thinking about it logically as you are, that is exactly correct.  If they decide at a later date to withdraw then so be it!

thanks again.

I was wondering how this date will affect learners on a break in learning. If a learner returns from a break in learning in May and they don't want to continue funcitonal skills are we required to get them to the end of Funcitonal skills training and sit all the exams with them?

No, the rules still apply and the learner doesn't have to continue. This April date is, as far as I can see, unenforceable.

In this particular situation, they'd end up with a last date of attendance way before 1 April anyway, cos you'd just bring them back without FS aims and fail them on the pre-Break aims...

Glad I stumbled across this thread.

So are we suggesting that the 1st April deadline isn't mandatory?

If we don't sign a learner off FS by then, we won't have to continue FS learning with them, effectively meaning some employers may decide to withdraw their learners after 1st April and we won't be penalised in any way?

Where/how can we get this as a formal piece of guidance? that learners can opt out after the 1st April deadline.

I have a learner/employer who didn't opt out but now wants to opt out due to a change in circumstances. I have been told he now cannot opt out because the deadline has passed. Which does seen a bit unfair as the period to opt out was a bit rushed and things were a bit unclear for many learners and employers.

It's not written down but the whole point is, if they stop attending their lessons then you withdraw them to their last date of attendance. This has nothing to do with the changes to this rule, it applies in every circumstance.

In this case, the learner won't need to have passed E&M to advance to Gateway, so it doesn't matter when they decide to stop, the point is they've stopped and you stop claiming funding at that point.

Thanks Steve, that makes sense and for a L2 apprentice that has been fine.

However, I am being told that since this learner is on a L3 apprenticeship who would ordinarily need to pass L2 E&M to advance to gateway but would not have needed to if he had opted out by 1st April. But since he didn't opt out he no has to pass his L2 FS to get to gateway. It doesn't seem to make sense to me, but maybe you can shed some light on this scenario?

Feedback from an event yesterday was that one of the speakers advised - Learners who did not 'opt out' by 1st April are expected to "take the tests" - and that if they dont they wont be allowed into gateway?
I've checked our data and can see that we do have a couple of learners who opted out after 01/04/2025 and who we have confirmed with the EPAO have been accepted through the gateway.
Has anyone else heard this guidance?  I have been trawling for the last 90 mins and cant find anything which resembles this?
TIA

I can't see how this would possibly be enforced, can guarantee the EPAOs won't care.

Hi

Just wondering if there was any further clarification on this.  We have a learner that originally opted in by the 01/04/2025, but has now changed their mind.  Can we just withdraw their FS?  Surely we can't make them sit FS exams?

No, there wasn't but also, yes, just withdraw them at their last date of attendance.