Guidance

Enter learning data: using the service

Published 11 August 2025

Applies to England

Enter learning data (ELD) is a new service that is replacing the learner entry tool (LET). You can use the service to create individualised learner records (ILRs) and manage learning data. This guidance explains how to use the service.

If you have access to the submit learner data service, you can start using ELD as soon as your funding model is added to it. Providers delivering funded apprenticeships only (and care to learn providers) should be able to use ELD immediately.

To use ELD, you’ll need to assign the ‘Submit Learner Data – Enter Learning Data’ role to your DfE Sign-in account. For further support, you can contact the customer help portal.

Development of this service is ongoing. Your feedback will help us improve it.

Summary

In the ELD service, you can:

• create courses and learner entries 

• add learners to courses 

• record learner completions, withdrawals, breaks in learning and restarts 

• add funding and monitoring data 

• import existing ILR files so you do not have to re-enter data

• export ILR files for submission to submit learner data

Adding courses

ELD works differently to LET. In ELD, you first add courses and then add learners to those courses. Creating courses helps you to manage your learners more easily. You’ll only need to add the course details once. These details can be applied to multiple learners, reducing the need to enter duplicate data. 

For example, when you add an apprenticeship course to the new service, you’ll add or select the: 

• course title – choose the name used to identify the course in the new service, which can be different to the standard name
• course type – for example, ‘Apprenticeship standard (Funding model 36)’
• start dates and planned end dates
• learning delivery postcode
• apprenticeship standard code
• learning aim details
• training price details
• assessment details

Course details are applied to any learners you add to that course, but you can change details for individual learners if you need to – for example, their start and end dates.

Managing courses

You can access all courses from the manage courses page. Each course has its own course overview page. You can review and change a course’s details, including its learning aims, from the course overview page.  

You should ensure the course details are correct before you add any learners to the course. Any subsequent changes you make to the course will only be applied to those learners who are added after you make the changes.

You can also remove a course completely from the service or remove learners from a course.

Adding learners

When you add a learner to the ELD service, you’ll need their: 

• name
• unique learner number (ULN) – you can use their personal details to search for this if you do not have it to hand, as the service uses the Learning Records Service (LRS) to search for ULNs

You can change a learner’s details from the learner overview page.

Adding learners to a course

You can add learners to courses as soon as you’ve added them to the service. To add a learner to an apprenticeship course, for example, you’ll need: 

• to add maths or English qualifications if they’re doing them 

• their start and end dates – you can choose to use the course dates 

• their off-the-job training hours 

• additional details, including their contact details, disability and health information, prior attainment details and employment status 

You can change some of the learner’s course details from the learner overview page. In the unlikely event of you making a mistake, or if the learner does not start, you can also remove a learner from a course or remove them from the ELD service completely.

Managing learners

Once you’ve added a learner, you can manage them by recording progress updates through the green record an update button. You can manage additional data – for example, funding and monitoring data, provider-specified data or higher education (HE) data. You can start these tasks from the learner overview page, where links can be found on the right-hand side. You can also record payments and add additional reference numbers from here.

Adding a learning aim to a learner

When a learner has been added to a course, they will automatically have all the learning aims from that course assigned to them. There may be single or multiple aims. You sometimes have the option to choose whether the learner is doing certain aims – for example, maths and English within apprenticeships, because not all learners have to do them.

If you want to add a learning aim to a learner that is not already assigned to them, you can do that if those aims already exist on the course – for example, maths and English. However, if it is a different learning aim that doesn’t already exist on the course, you’ll need to add that aim to the course first, rather than adding it directly to the learner.

Recording learner progress updates

You can manage learner progress and record status updates from the learner overview page by selecting record an update. Only valid options will be shown for that learner. For example, there will be no option to record a currently withdrawn learner as complete. Once you’ve recorded an update, you’ll be able to see it in the learner overview.

Completions

You can record a completion when a learner has finished their course. For apprenticeships, this will be when a learner has completed either a learning aim or the whole course. You’ll enter information about the learner’s learning aims first, followed by programme aim details.

All learning aims must be complete before the programme aim can be completed. For every aim that is complete, we ask what the outcome is. You can add the learner’s actual end date, outcome grade, actual off-the-job training hours and achievement date.

Further guidance on what these terms mean when, for example, recording apprenticeship programmes, can be found in the provider support manual.

Breaks in learning

You can record a break in learning when a learner is taking a temporary break from their course. A break in learning must be agreed with the learner. You’ll need to provide the last date of learning before the break and have supporting evidence of their intention to return. If you do not have this, you should record a withdrawal.

 Withdrawals

You can record a withdrawal when a learner is withdrawing from a learning aim or the whole course and has no intention of returning. You’ll need the withdrawal date and the reason for withdrawal. You can either withdraw a learner from all learning aims for the course or select the specific learning aims from which you want to withdraw the learner.

Restarts

You can record a restart for a learner after an agreed break in learning, a transfer or a withdrawal. You’ll need their new start and planned end dates, changes to assessment and training prices, and funding details. You can select which learning aims you want to restart for the learner.

Reopens

You can reopen learning activities and record the learner as continuing if their current learning status has changed or is incorrect.

Adding funding and monitoring information

You can add funding and monitoring information to your learners to identify additional funding or funding characteristics.

Some funding and monitoring (FAM) codes belong in the learner details tab – for example, national learner monitoring (NLM) and learner support reasons (LSR).

Some FAM codes belong to the learning aims in the course details tab – for example:
• learning support funding (LSF)
• enhanced apprenticeship funding (EEF)
• learning delivery monitoring (LDM)

Adding provider-specified data

You can add provider-specified data that you collect for your own use. You can choose to add the data either to the learner details or to the learning aims. The data will then be shown on the learner overview page.

Adding higher education data

You can add HE data to your learners by completing the HE learning aim details page. You can navigate to it from the HE data link on the right-hand side of the learner overview page. You can then add any optional HE learner details. You can also add HE data to any additional learning aims you’ve added.

Removing learners from a course

If you have a learner on a course who has now left, you should record that by withdrawing them from the course and not by removing them. Removing a learner from a course will mean they’re not included with the course aims in your exported ILR file. This may have an impact on the funding you receive.

The only reason you should remove a learner from a course is if you’ve added them to a course in error.

Recording a payment

You can record employer co-investment payments for each of your learners. Any changes or additions to training or assessment prices can be updated from the learner overview.

Recording additional reference numbers

You can record any previous UK provider reference numbers (UKPRNs) or previous learner reference numbers (LRNs) that were associated with your learner.

Changing employer

If you need to record a change of employer for an apprentice, you can add a new employment status from the learner overview. On the learner overview course details tab, you can add a new training price record (TNP3) for the apprenticeship and assessment price record (TNP4), if applicable.

Importing files

When you use the ELD service to import a file, it will only import FM36 apprenticeship standard data until other funding models are added to the service. Only valid learners will be imported, so you should make sure your file is correct before importing.

The service will only import required fields and will ignore any fields not specified in the ILR as required for apprenticeship standards. For example, GCSE maths qualification grades will not be imported. This follows the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) data-minimisation principle of only processing data that is necessary. LRNs will be retained.

Any learning aims in your file that are part of a programme – for example, apprenticeships – will also be included when the course is created. You’ll be able to remove any unwanted aims from the course before adding new learners.

You should be aware that importing a file will overwrite all your current data.

Exporting files

To be able to submit your ILR return to the submit learner data service, you’ll need to first export your ILR file from the enter learning data service. The export will only include those learners and learning aims that show any activity within the year you’re exporting. If you have a learner that has achieved from the previous year, that learner would not be included in this year’s data export.

Once you’ve exported your learners, you should check your rule-violation reports in the submit learner data service to ensure that the expected number of learners and learning delivery records are in your ILR file.

Multi-year selection

Within the dual running period (between August and October, when 2 years are open for submission) you’ll get a choice of which year you want to manage your data in. Throughout the enter learning data service you can decide to change years, but you’ll only be able to edit data in current active years. For years that have closed and are no longer open for submission, you’ll be able to see your data as read-only.

Migrating data

If you’re a new user, you’ll not yet have any data to migrate. However, for existing users, when R01 opens for the new 2025 to 2026 ILR year, you’ll be given the option to migrate your data from the existing year into the new year. You can choose to do that immediately or you can wait until you’ve got your current year data more stable before migrating.

You can set up new learners in the new academic year without having migrated, but you should not add any existing learners into the new year that will be migrated – for example continuing learners. When you migrate your existing learners, that will bring over all their data. Then you can make any updates needed from the learner overview page.

Links to ILR specification

Many pages in the new service have contextualised links to relevant supporting information in the ILR specification.

Validation of entries

The service includes some validation of entries to reduce the chance of entering incorrect or invalid data.