Guidance

Offender learning and funding information letter guidance 2024 to 2025

Updated 26 April 2023

Applies to England

Summary       

Locally, each prison will have procedures to follow to ensure the right approvals are in place for learners to apply for a course for which an advanced learner loan (ALL) funding may be sought. It is vital that learners adhere to these procedures before making any direct approach to a college or training organisation. This helps keep everyone safe and that the course in question is appropriate for the individual learner concerned. Make sure therefore that you have a named staff member at any prison from which applications have been received.

All correspondence with prisons or individual learners should be protectively marked “official, sensitive”.

Before applying for an ALL, learners in custody must speak to a college or training organisation and establish the availability of a place on an appropriate course, and where available in their prison have received the relevant careers information and guidance (IAG).

The learning and funding information letter is essential for prospective learners, who are considering investing in further education at level 3 to 6 with a loan. You must issue the letter, together with hard copies of the published materials specifically for learners in custody on loans, as part of their discussion with the learner when considering their funding options.

Who this publication is for

This guidance is specifically for colleges and training organisations who deal with learners in custody or who are released on temporary licence (RoTL). All materials and application forms must be presented to this cohort of individuals as hard copies.

 Supporting the learner in custody

You must make all learners, including learners who are considering funding their course through a loan, aware of your policy on fees and charging, you must do this before they decide on their payment method.

The availability of loans for learners at level 3 does not replace their entitlement to full funding if they are earning under the earnings threshold and you therefore should check the learners entitlement prior to providing information on ALL. More information on eligibility and offers available can be found in the adult skills funding rules and the advanced learner loan website on GOV.UK.

The learning and funding information letter gives learners:

• an opportunity to take all the necessary information away in hard copy and spend time considering their options for financing their course; it is important that learners are fully informed and do not feel pressurised to apply for a loan
• the essential information they need to complete an application, should they decide to apply for a loan

Benefits for colleges and training organisations

The learning and funding information letter can also:

• support the management of learners’ places, particularly when considering the capacity within the agreed loans facility
• place some distance between you and the learner’s funding choice

Learning and information letter

How to create

To enable learners to consider their options and equip them with the relevant information to complete an application, it is important that the data information on the learning and funding information letter is consistent with the data fields as they appear on the loan application form and in the same order. It is also important that learners know what to do next, and where or how to get hard copies of the information that is available to them.

The loan application will highlight to learners where they can find the information on their learning and funding information letter. You must retain the format as set out in this guidance and the template.

You can download the letter template to populate it with the relevant detail. Remember to issue a hard copy to the learner. Alternatively, you may want to revise the letter to include specific information with regards to the course offer, alternative payment options and so on. You must not change any of the text or the information in the tables.

Information to include

Tables 1 and 2 provide you with the specific definition and requirements of the information you will need to populate the letter.

Table 1: College or other training organisation information to be supplied about the college or training organisation

Data item	Application description	Information
Provider name	college or training organisation name	This is the name of the lead college or training organisation that is in direct receipt of a loans facility from ESFA. This must be the same as the name of your organisation on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKPRL) and SLC’s Learning Provider Portal. If a subcontractor name is provided, we will decline the loan.
Delivery location	postcode of delivery location	The postcode of location where the training takes place.
UK provider reference number (UKPRN)	UKPRN	This is the UKPRN of the lead college or training organisation that is in direct receipt of a loans facility.

Table 2: Qualifications information

Data item	Application description	Information
Learning aim title	course name	The specific title as published by ESFA on the learning aims section of submit learner data, which should match the data you will provide on the offenders’ individualised learner record (ILR).
Learning aim reference	course code	The learning aim reference as published by ESFA on the learning aims section of the submit learner data, which should match the data you will provide on the learners ILR.
Learning start date	start date	Required for assessment and profiling of payments and repayments. This information should match the data you will provide on the learners ILR.
Learning planned end date	end date	Required for assessment and profiling of payments and repayments. This information should match the data you will provide on the learners ILR.
College or training organisation fee	this is not required on the application, but learners will need to understand this	Fee amount the college or training organisation is charging the learner following any reductions (taking into account recognition and/or accreditation of prior learning).
VAT (if applicable)	this is not required for application, but learners will need to understand this	To be completed by ‘for profit’ organisations.
Total fee	total college or training organisation fee plus VAT	College or training organisation fee + VAT.
Maximum loan amount	maximum loan available	This allows the offender to identify whether a loan can fund the full cost.

Further information

If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.