Lifelong Learning Entitlement

DfE published the policy paper Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) overview on 19 September 2023.

We’ve been involved in the early policy thinking to help initiate policy implementation work, and so we can be confident of being in a good position to deliver an operational system for academic year 2025/26.

You can find out more about the LLE in our FAQ on the HEP Services website.

Policy communication

We recognise the size of the business change across the sector and the importance of working with DfE, the OfS and the FE and HE sector. We understand that we need to consider all dependencies and requirements for collaborative working with these groups to make LLE a success.

DfE continues to lead on stakeholder engagement to inform policy development and raise awareness within the sector. We’ll continue to work alongside DfE and OfS to support the communication of the LLE. We'll also continue to engage with stakeholders and partner organisations on operational design and implementation planning, to deliver this new student finance system.

What you need to know as a learning provider

If you deliver courses eligible for LLE there will be additional steps you’ll need to take so that learners can receive funding.

Some of these additional steps are:

  • joining the Office for Students (OfS) register, if you are not already on it
  • defining courses that meet the eligibility requirements for student finance
  • uploading details of these eligible course details onto our Courses Management Service (CMS).
  • developing attendance management and fees policies and supporting systems, that enable student engagement to be actively monitored
  • develop a course enrolment function that enables a confirmation of enrolment to be provided to SLC
  • Using our HE complete attendance management activities on our Student Information Service (SIS) instead of the LP Portal, as the mechanism for providing attendance information

OfS

The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England

The Register lists all the English higher education providers registered by the OfS.  It’s a single, authoritative reference about a provider’s regulatory status.

All registered providers can recruit students who can access student support funding, or student loans, available through the Student Loans Company.

You can find out more about how to register and the benefits of registration on the OfS website.

Course collection

We will collect course information from providers annually. This information is entered into the Courses Management Service (CMS).

Our Courses Management Service (CMS) is a directory of:

  • higher education providers (HEPs) 
  • their full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses

It’s a single controlled service with strong security and anti-fraud measures.

The design principles of CMS ensure that:

  • there is a single point of entry for provider and course information,
  • students can easily find their course when they apply.

It allows us to:

  • hold a complete list of designated courses
  • ensure that payments are accurate, paid on time and to the right location
  • correctly assess student funding applications

It allows you to:

  • maintain and manage a central log of your course and fee information
  • accurately present your courses to applicants through the online application

Attendance management

Like Learner Information Service, Student Information Service (SIS) gives you access to student information and enables you to provide attendance management data and Change of Circumstance (CoCs) information to us. This is so we can pay maintenance loans, grants and tuition fees.

Feedback and insight

Currently, we are designing the operational system. We welcome feedback and insight from the sector, through our existing channels and commissioned focus groups.

We’ll provide updates within our other user groups and regional forums will provide updates. We'll also seek input from our HE provider and FE learning provider contacts, as we plan for more widespread communications.

Training

We have an extensive training and awareness programme planned for IAG practitioners and education provider administrators, which will run throughout 2024 and into 2025. We’ll share details of this in early 2024.

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