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Thank you for your feedback regarding the recent changes to the Apprenticeship Service that support the transition to using ILR data to create and manage apprenticeship records.
As part of this change, the Apprenticeship Pause feature is being replaced by learner status updates. Going forward, learner statuses will be updated automatically based on the changes that providers already make within the ILR. A further enhancement will also update a learner's status to Stopped using the Withdrawal Date recorded in the ILR.
These improvements form part of the wider DfE programme to integrate systems, reducing duplicate data entry, minimising data mismatches, and helping to reduce the administrative burden and payment delays that can arise from inconsistent information across services.
To ensure employers retain control over apprenticeship funding, a new Payment Pause feature has been introduced on the learner record. This enables employers to pause payments by selecting a reason, which is then shared with the provider so they can take any appropriate action. Employers can also resume payments at any time while the learner's status remains Live.
We recognise the importance of providing providers with greater visibility of employer payment pauses, and an enhancement to notify providers when an employer pauses or resumes funding is due to be released shortly.
The introduction of the Payment Pause feature and the removal of the Apprenticeship Pause feature should not have affected any apprenticeships that were already in a paused state. If you have identified existing paused records that have been reset unexpectedly, please contact the Help Desk so the issue can be investigated.
Chris Bennett
Apprenticeship service changes to pausing payments for employers
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There have been some recent changes to the employer side of the Apprenticeship Service. Where an employer could previously edit the status of their apprentices to either Pause or Stop the apprenticeship, this route now only provides the option to Stop the apprenticeship.
A new Payments line has been added to the apprentice details for the employer, and there is a Change option on this which can be used to pause payments, with the following presented to the employer:
Some observations and issues I can see with this:
It looks like we would now need to submit an ILR and check the data match report to find out if payments are paused for a learner (e.g. when they return from a break). Before this could be quickly checked via DAS, with the bonus of getting an email notification once changed so you knew the employer had actioned a request to resume payments.
Unless there are changes coming to the training provider side of things to match up with the new employer options?