Please give your views on possible ILR changes for 2021-22

We are currently investigating changes we could make to the ILR for the 2021 to 2022 year. Before we make a decision on proposed changes, we would like your views please. 

Possible change 1:  Prior Attainment

We would like your views on this proposed change to the Prior Attainment field.

Proposal Summary

To remove the existing Prior Attainment field and create a new Prior Attainment entity to collect two pieces of data:

• Prior Attainment Level
• Date applies from 

The objective is to enable the collection of this data when a learner’s prior attainment changes.  We feel this would be beneficial, allowing for the accurate progression of the learner to be recorded, as well as driving the funding that follows on from updated prior attainment.

Proposal Detail

The example below shows the new Prior Attainment entity: 

By making this change, the field will capture more beneficial data. 

We are also proposing to change the code list for the Level field by updating: 

• Adding additional ‘Level 2’ and ‘Level 3’ codes 
• Removing the code ‘Other qualifications below Level 1’, as these qualifications are captured under the ‘Entry Level’ code.  

 
Code list example: 

These changes will make the data recorded more reliable, as we expect that you will have clarity around recording the level of qualification the learner currently has. The updated code list will also align with the data OFQUAL publishes for qualification levels. 

Guidance 

This field will be completed when the learning agreement has been agreed between the learner and provider. The prior attainment at that time relevant to that agreement is recorded on the ILR with the start date matching the earliest learning aim start date for that agreement.  

Where all learning activities relating to that agreement have been completed and if the learner progresses into further learning with the same provider, a new learning agreement is made and a new prior attainment to reflect that learning agreement is recorded.  

The prior attainment is not updated during the period learning where all activities relating to the learning agreement are continuing.  

The prior attainment is not updated at the end of all learning activities relating to the learner agreement. A new record is only added at the start of any subsequent learning where a new learning agreement has been signed.  

Migration 

Appendix B migration specification will contain details to migrate the existing prior attainment record using the start date of the earliest continuing learning aim for the date of the prior attainment record and mapping the previous code to the new code.

Possible change 2:  Employment Status Monitoring Type

Proposal

A new Employment Status Monitoring Type – ‘other employment type’ will be added to cover additional scenarios. Initially this will include a code for ‘Learner has been made redundant’.

This will be used in the funding calculations to allocate the appropriate funding for continuing learners who have been made redundant.

We will be adding ‘Unassigned’ codes in order to accommodate additional codes to be added by the business when applicable.

Providers should already have this information for their learners in order to claim continued for funding for the reason of redundancy, so it shouldn’t require additional data to be collected.

We are seeking your views to identify the impact to the sector of these changes.  We would particularly like to hear from you in response to these questions:

• Do you capture this information already?
• Is this reasonable to capture this information and collect it in the ILR?
• Do you foresee any issues or barriers with collecting this information?

If you would prefer to email us with your views on these proposals, please send them customer.experience@education.gov.uk  and we’ll get them to the ILR team.