Section 1 How to use this manual
Contents
How to use this manual
This manual is intended to provide additional guidance to support you to meet the requirements for Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data returns . The document includes detailed guidance and examples for completing the ILR for different types of learning provision and in different scenarios, in some cases worked examples relating to funding are provided.
Not all of the guidance in this document will be relevant for all training organisations or learning providers, and you do not need to read all of the guidance in the document. For example, if you do not deliver traineeships then you do not need to read the guidance about recording traineeship programmes. You should refer to the sections that are relevant to you, the training you deliver and the data you need to record on the ILR.
Section 16 lists documents and web pages that are referred to throughout this manual.
Terminology
In the guidance that follows, the terms ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘us’ and ‘ESFA’ all refer to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
When we refer to ‘you’ or ‘providers’ this includes colleges, Higher Education Institutions, training organisations, local authorities and employers who receive funding from us or through Advanced Learner Loans from the Student Loans Company (SLC) to deliver education and training.
For ‘direct grant funded’ employers and ‘employer-providers’, any guidance addressed to ‘you’ or ‘providers’ applies to your organisation and the training you are delivering.
The generic term ‘apprenticeship’ is used to refer to all types of apprenticeship (frameworks and standards), unless we state otherwise.
When we refer to the ‘current year’, we are referring to 2023 to 2024 which is defined as 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2024.
When we refer to the ‘previous year’, we are referring to 2022 to 2023 which is defined as 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023.