Hard Close can be a difficult time of year for training providers, but it doesn’t have to be a chaotic scramble. What can you do to prepare in advance? We brought in the experts to find out. | 4 minute read.
R14 (or Hard Close) is a crucial window for ensuring you receive the appropriate funding for your training provision over the year. That’s why it can be incredibly stressful for MIS managers, compliance leads and those in ops roles who are tasked with reconciling a year’s worth of ILR data – all while maintaining progress reviews and keeping learner engagement high.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways your organisation can prepare for Hard Close and remain cool, calm, and composed when the submission window arrives.
Thanks to his Quality and Compliance background, Matt Wood, Senior Product Owner at Bud, knows the DfE requirements inside out – and he can point out exactly where providers sometimes drop the ball.
Here are his top four tips.
While the R14 deadline is in October, Hard Close is something that should be on your mind all year round.
At Bud, we encourage providers to reframe Hard Close into a continual year-round process – from R1 right through to R14. Matt’s key piece of advice is to set yourself up for success with monthly returns that are accurate, complete, and fully evidenced in order to avoid any October panic.
Matt explains that providers can guard against problems at R14 by using an end-to-end system built around funding compliance. A compliance-first platform like Bud helps ensure that all the learner data and evidence required for your funding claims is captured and centrally accessible. If your systems and processes are disjointed, you’re much more likely to encounter difficulties when reconciling your final ILR.
“If the systems you use are not joined-up, progress reviews might not get submitted or passed on to the right person. The same thing can happen to notifications of withdrawals, breaks in learning, or even completions. If this information isn’t passed on to the right people in your organisation and doesn’t go into your Individualised Learning Record (ILR), you could well have a problem when it comes to payments,” Matt explains.
“For example, let’s say you have a learner starting in July, but you miss a deadline to put that learner on the system and don’t do so until after Hard Close. You could find yourself missing that first July payment. The DfE is pretty strict about this – if you miss it, you miss it.”
Even with accurate submissions from R1 to R13, you’ll still need to reconcile all your data for Hard Close. But if you’re using an end-to-end platform like Bud, you’ll be in a much stronger position, and R14 should feel like preparing for any other month.
Flexible platforms may seem attractive initially, but there’s a higher risk of data being inaccurate, duplicated or missing. If you want true peace of mind, choose a platform built to drive compliance.
We also recommend that providers get a head start on identifying and rectifying any potential submission errors by checking their DfE funding reports regularly throughout the year.
Your reports are available to download from the Submit Learner Data service after your ILR file submission and are one of the best ways to make sure you’re recording the necessary information correctly.
Flagged ‘errors’ on your funding reports can be serious, leading to an impact on your funding, while ‘warnings’ are less urgent and pose no immediate risk to your funding – though they’ll still need to be resolved prior to R14.
“The best piece of advice I can give is to understand those funding reports. Work on your errors and warnings monthly, and don’t let them stack up. If you’ve got hundreds or thousands of learners, then it can become a very long and difficult report to digest by the time R14 comes around. If you’re going through them regularly throughout the year, then you should be in a good position,” advises Matt.
Finally, remember you don’t need to face ‘submission stress’ alone. There is plenty of peer-to-peer support available if you’re worried about Hard Close or would like some specific ILR submission questions answered.
The DfE’s Further Education and Training Providers Community is a great place to start. This peer-led discussion forum for providers comprises a strong network of compliance experts who are happy to help – post a question and you can usually expect a reply within a couple of days.
Remember that even with the best preparation, life can get in the way and push timelines back unexpectedly. When Hard Close comes around, don’t leave things to the last minute.
Ruth Johnson spent six years as a trainer and area manager at Lifetime Training, before joining Bud in 2019. The two things that always helped her through hard close?
“As an assessor or trainer during this period, it’s important to be able to see all the metrics and goals learners need to achieve. Avoid getting distracted by white noise – know your priorities. That will help you stay calm and in control of your caseload,” she advises.
Ruth also recommends trying to work smarter, not harder. "A lot of the challenges providers commonly face during the Hard Close period can be boiled down to time management and the systems you have in place. It’s common for activities like progress reviews or one-to-ones to be constantly ‘pushed back’. Try to balance your caseload so you’re putting aside time for keeping your learners engaged and motivated. Then pull it all together so you know exactly where you are in terms of those successful outcomes, like completions.”
Bud’s learning management system was built on the principles of funding compliance, so providers can approach Hard Close with confidence that all their data is accurate and up to date.
Our end-to-end platform connects every part of your operation — learner evidence, progress reviews, funding data and performance insight. Real-time validation catches issues before they reach the DfE. Custom dashboards give MIS and Quality teams complete visibility.
To learn more about how Bud helps providers minimise clawback risk, maintain data accuracy and stay ahead of DfE rule changes, book a discovery call.