Take the 'Hard' Out of Hard Close

R14 (or Hard Close) can strike fear into even the most seasoned training providers. The final ILR submission of the year brings pressure, compounding deadlines, and the worry of potential funding clawbacks. But it doesn’t have to be this way. | 4 minute read.

At Bud, we help providers turn submission stress into confident compliance. Our end-to-end platform for funded training providers simplifies every stage of the learner journey, so that when October arrives, R14 feels like just another calm, controlled submission.

New to R14? Start with Understanding Hard Close.

The complexities of Hard Close

The Hard Close window of R14 during October requires a team effort to collect ensure all your student records are in place and containing the correct information and accurate data.

Whether you’re an MIS manager, quality lead, or working in operations, there are a lot of plates to keep spinning. Between reconciling data, managing caseloads and staying on top of evidence, it’s hard to know which priorities will have the biggest impact on your organisation’s funding and performance outcomes.

The level of data required for your ILR returns is challenging at the best of times, but for trainers with a large caseload, managing disengaged learners and keeping on top of your assessments (all while maintaining those high standards of delivery), getting through R14 can feel like the final hurdle of a very long race.

That’s where Bud comes in with our end-to-end hard close solution.

How Bud Simplifies R14

One joined-up platform

The Bud platform captures the data you need for full funding compliance – from enrolment through to completion – at every stage of the learner journey, providing you with all the data and insights you need in one central place. For every learner’s programme, Bud dynamically generates a centralised evidence pack so that you can confidently claim your funding.

During learner enrolment, Bud automatically generates the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) in real time, reducing your administrative burden, and updates to the ILR are automatically recorded throughout the learning journey, so you can always be sure your evidence matches your funding claims.

But being ready for hard close isn’t just about finding the right information in the moment. The best training providers will be monitoring their data all year around, so they can deal with issues as they arise and maximise the performance of their learners.

Bud collates thousands of fields of data that can be reported on and analysed in real time, so you have one true source of data, all feeding into one dashboard. This makes the process so much smoother, as you no longer need to rely on disparate systems and search for data in different places.

Dashboards for Trainers, Operations Teams and Management

There’s a vast quantity of information for training providers to keep on top of. Bud’s reporting suite provides the information you need for your role – whether you’re a trainer managing a busy caseload of learners, in operations overseeing starts, activities and completions, or in management looking for high-level business insights and health metrics.

Many of Bud’s out-of-the-box reports are built to help providers monitor their compliance against DfE funding rules and review the supporting data, such as Tripartite Progress Reviews for Apprenticeships, SkillScan progression, Active Learning summaries and OTJH Logs.

Bud also reports on your Scheduled, Completed and Overdue Payments, as well as providing a wealth of insights across your Starts, Withdrawals and Completions, your In-Flight Learners, Breaks in Learning, and End Point Assessments.

Our accessible dashboards allow you to quickly pick up on learners who are:

• slow to progress,
• approaching EPA,
• past their planned end date (PPED),
• on a break in learning (BiL),
• currently inactive,
• have overdue activities,
• and at high risk of disengaging with their programme.

With Bud, providers spot issues earlier and take timely action. The result? When Hard Close comes around, ILRs are up-to-date and in good shape for submission.

Fully evidenced delivery

With Bud, your entire provision – planned or delivered – is evidenced through a full, robust, audit trail and each stage is backed up by confirmation from the learner. This gives trainers the confidence that learner evidence will match claims, and provides funding, quality and compliance teams with instant access to complete evidence packs.

Progress reviews: When a progress review begins, Bud records a snapshot in time, capturing all the activity that’s taken place since the previous progress review: completed activity, off-the-job hours, feedback, marks, and all communications associated with each activity.

Learning plans: For a real-time overview of how learners are progressing on programme, the learning plan provides easy to interpret infographics covering key metrics: how long the learner has been on programme, their off-the-job learning progression to date, and how many off-the-job hours they are yet to complete.

Skills scan: Bud’s SkillScan allows providers to evaluate learners’ existing knowledge, skills, and behaviours (or KSBs) at the point of enrolment, track progress throughout their programme journey, demonstrate distances travelled and recognise learner readiness for EPA – capturing and storing all of the necessary evidence along the way.

Easier Additional Learning Support (ALS) Claims

It can be common for training providers to avoid claiming Additional Learning Support (ALS) funding, because they often lack confidence that they can provide the necessary evidence. This can include:

• Proof that the learner is entitled to ALS funding
• Proof that the trainer has delivered the appropriate support
• Proof that the learner has received the support

Without a central system like Bud, training providers can spend hours searching for the historic evidence they need to support their ALS claims during the Hard Close period. But Bud ensures that ALS is evidenced at every level. When trainers set work, Bud reminds them of a learner’s specific additional support needs and evidences that this support has been delivered and received.

Confident compliance – built in

Whether you manage 100 learners or 10,000, Bud scales with you — giving your teams real-time visibility, accurate ILR data, and the peace of mind that every submission will stand up to DfE scrutiny. When October arrives, you’ll already have the evidence, insight and confidence you need for a smooth Hard Close.

💬 Ready to see Bud in action? Schedule a Discovery Call today.