19 October 2026

Set up Ontrack Learner Hub for DfE education record sharing

DfE education record sharing allows learners to give your institution permission to retrieve information from their Department for Education (DfE) education record during an online application.

The process runs in Ontrack Learner Hub and uses the DfE View Education Record (VERA) service.

Enable education record sharing

Enable education record sharing as follows:

  1. On EBS Central, go to Institution settings > DfE VERA integration and define the required institution settings.

  2. Turn on the DfE Education record - enable app institution setting. This setting enables:

    • The initial check for a learner’s DfE education record.

    • The subsequent request for a share code.

    If you turn off the setting, EBS does not perform either step.

You do not need to assign an additional role or permission to the learner. When the setting is enabled and EBS confirms that a learner has a DfE education record, EBS requests the share code automatically.

Where the share-code step appears

The share-code step appears automatically in the learner’s online application in Ontrack Learner Hub.

It follows the DfE education record check and continues in the same pop-up. The learner does not need to start the request manually.

How EBS requests a share code

When EBS confirms that the learner has a DfE education record, it automatically calls the DfE VERA share-request API.

The pop-up then displays:

  • Confirmation that EBS has found the learner’s record.

  • Confirmation that a notification is being sent to the DfE Education Record app.

  • A message explaining that EBS is requesting a share code.

  • An in progress indicator and cancellation options.

If the learner chooses to cancel the request, EBS closes the pop-up, ends the active share request, and returns the learner to the standard application process.

When EBS receives the share code

When DfE VERA returns a share code, EBS displays:

  • A read-only, six-digit numeric code.

  • A five-minute countdown.

  • Instructions to enter the code in the DfE Education Record app.

  • Next and cancellation options.

At the same time, the DfE Education Record app sends the learner a push notification.

The learner enters the code in the app to confirm that they give DfE permission to share their education record with your institution.

Next behaviour

When the learner selects Next, EBS continues to the step that retrieves their details from DfE.

EBS does not check whether the learner has entered or confirmed the code in the DfE Education Record app before enabling Next. The interface must therefore instruct the learner to confirm the code before continuing.

The retrieval step is outside the scope of this topic.

Cancel behaviour

The learner can select Cancel while EBS is requesting the code or after EBS displays it.

EBS then:

  • Closes the pop-up.

  • Ends the active share request.

  • Returns the learner to the standard application process in Ontrack Learner Hub.

No share request remains active after cancellation.

Expired-code behaviour

A share code remains valid for five minutes. The share-code screen displays a live countdown.

If five minutes pass before the learner selects Next or Cancel, EBS:

  • Marks the code as expired;

  • Asks whether the learner wants to request another code and displays Yes and Cancel.

  • If the learner selects Yes, EBS requests a new code from DfE VERA. EBS displays an in-progress screen while it processes the request. When EBS receives the new code, a new five-minute countdown begins.

  • There is no retry limit for codes that expire.

  • If the learner selects Cancel, EBS ends the active request and returns them to the standard application process.

Code-retrieval failure behaviour

EBS displays an unable-to-retrieve-code message if:

  • DfE VERA does not respond within five minutes.

  • DfE VERA returns an error.

The message asks whether the learner wants EBS to try again and displays Yes and Cancel.

If the learner selects Yes, EBS retries the share-code request. The learner can retry an unsuccessful request up to three times.

After the third unsuccessful attempt:

  • the Yes option is no longer available; and

  • the learner must select Cancel to return to their application.

The three-attempt limit applies only when EBS cannot retrieve a code. It does not apply when EBS retrieves a code successfully but the code later expires.

Behaviour summary

The table below summarises the behaviours of the DfE education record sharing app with EBS.

Scenario Options available to the learner Retry limit
EBS is requesting a code Cancel Not applicable
EBS receives a code Next or Cancel Not applicable
The code expires Yes or Cancel No limit
EBS cannot retrieve a code Yes or Cancel Three unsuccessful retries
The third retrieval retry fails Cancel No further retry is available