Learning Delivery FAM records of Type ‘ACT’ are required in the ILR return since May 2017 as part of the recording of apprenticeships following the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy as defined in the ILR specification.
The records consist of the following elements:
- LearnDelFAMType - the funding or monitoring attribute being recorded, which in this case is the Apprenticeship Contract Type (ACT)
- LearnDelFAMCode - the value for this record, where there are two possible ACT values:
- 1 - Apprenticeship funded through a contract for services with the employer
- 2 - Apprenticeship funded through a contract for services with the Education and Skills Funding Agency
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LearnDelFAMDateFrom - the date the funding and monitoring status is effective from
For ACT, this field must be completed to indicate when this was effective from.
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LearnDelFAMDateTo - the date the funding and monitoring status is effective to
For ACT, this field must only be completed if the learning aim has a learning actual end date or if there is another ACT record with a later Date applies from.
There are two ways of creating programme aims in ebs:
- Using specified enrolments on courses that have an associated learning aim of AimType 1 (also referred to as a ‘UIO Programme Aim’).
- By only associating learning aims with the courses for the component elements of the programme and allowing ebs to generate the required programme aims for them.
If your institution takes the former approach then you should associate FAM records of Type ACT with the enrolments on those courses which have a ‘UIO Programme Aim’ learning aim.
If your institution chooses to specify the component aim details as enrolments and to allow ebs to create the programme aim record for them, then you should record the ACT FAM record(s) against one of the component aims (it is recommend that would be the ‘most significant’ aim of the programme, but there should be ACT records that span the full duration of the programme).
With the exception of ACT records for English and Maths component aims (see below), you are advised not to use elements of the two approaches within one programme and have a combination of ACT records on both a parent/UIO Programme aim enrolment and on one or more of the component aims of that programme. Where this is the case, the ACT record(s) against the UIO Programme aim will be preferred in the ILR return file.
ACT records are also required by ESFA for English and Maths component aims. Where there is an ACT record against an English and Maths ‘basic skills’ component aim (identified according to ESFA rules), ebs will return this only against the English or Maths ‘basic skills’ component aim that they are entered against, and never against the programme aim, as required by ESFA.