Traineeships – Employer Incentive Payments

In preparation for R14, this article contains information for providers to enable their employers to successfully claim Traineeship incentive payments, including:

• key dates
• a checklist for work placement aims
• how to deal with common errors

Key dates

• Providers must ensure that all their Traineeship data relating to employer incentive payments up to and including 31 July 2022 is contained in their R14 data set.
• Providers must ensure that data is correct and uploaded to Submit Learner Data on or before 21 October 2022.
• The Traineeship employer incentive scheme will end on 31 July 2022. This means that employers can only make an incentive payment claim for work placements completed on or before 31 July 2022 which have reached the minimum duration of 70 hours.

Checklist for work placement aims 

Please use the following checklist to ensure records for employers claiming incentives payments are correct:

Dealing with common errors

Two of the most common errors employers may experience when making a claim are postcode errors and date errors. Here is some information on why these may be appearing and how to rectify them. 

Postcode errors - data not matching ILR records

• The postcode must be the location of the employer where the learner undertook their work placement and the same as recorded in the ILR
• the work placement record should not be the providers postcode
• Where learners have completed work placement activities with multiple employers, each employer must have their own record

Date errors – incorrect or incomplete dates recorded

• There should be no missing dates
• The employer can only claim an incentive after the date of the completion
• The end date of the work placement should not contain a future planned end date

Additional advice 

Check that the employer has logged the same information on their claim form that is recorded in your ILR, that is:

• Unique learner number (ULN)
• Delivery location postcode for the work placement
• Learner name
• Work placement reaches 70 hours or above and is completed before or on 31 July 2022

Please encourage your employers to claim their incentive payment as soon as possible as any issues raised after R14 may result in the payment being delayed.

Employers making a claim should register using the Traineeship employer incentive registration start form.

Some useful resources for the process are:

Traineeships: framework for delivery 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK

Traineeships: framework for delivery 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK

Specification of the Individualised Learner Record for 2021 to 2022

For further support employers can contact 08000 150 600 and choose option 1 followed by option 2, or send an email to helpdesk@manage-apprenticeships.service.gov.uk

Need support

If you have a specific query about Traineeship Incentives, please contact us using our enquiry form.