Get your ILR reports from Submit learner data by API

What you can build on Submit learner data

• Get the Apprenticeship Data Match Report

  Build this

  Downloads the Apprenticeship Data Match Report for a collection period and reads each mismatch between your ILR and the apprenticeship service.

  Takes

  Collection year, return (such as R04)

  Returns

  Learner reference number, rule name, description, ILR value, apprenticeship service value

• Check the latest ILR file's validation results

  Build this

  Reads the validation reports for the most recent ILR file submitted in a return: what was accepted, what was rejected and why.

  Takes

  Collection year, return

  Returns

  File name, learners accepted, learners rejected, each error or warning with rule name, learner reference number and message

• Get the Funding Summary Report

  Build this

  Downloads the Funding Summary Report (Excel) for a return, or the version produced at period end, and reads its funding lines.

  Takes

  Collection year, return, period-end version (yes or no)

  Returns

  Funding line, amounts by period, totals

• Upload an ILR file

  Build this

  Uploads an ILR XML file, or a .zip holding one XML file of the same name, for the open return and reads the result once it has processed.

  Takes

  Collection year, ILR file (.xml or .zip)

  Returns

  File name, uploaded at, learners accepted, learners rejected, errors, warnings

Automate Submit learner data with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• New DLOCK mismatches each weekday morning

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 8:00 Europe/London

  Step 1

  Get the Apprenticeship Data Match Report for the open return.

  Step 2

  Keep the mismatches that were not there on the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the list grouped by learner reference number, with each ILR value and apprenticeship service value.

• Validation errors sent to your MIS team after each ILR upload

  Build this

  Starts

  When your system calls the workflow's webhook with the collection year and return

  Step 1

  Check the validation results of the latest ILR file for that return.

  Step 2

  Keep the errors, and stop when there are none.

  Step 3

  Post each error with its rule name, learner reference number and message to your MIS team's webhook.

• Funding Summary Report handed to finance when it changes

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 9:00 Europe/London

  Step 1

  Get the Funding Summary Report produced at period end for the latest closed return.

  Step 2

  Keep the funding lines that changed since the last run, and stop when none did.

  Step 3

  Post the funding lines, with their amounts and totals, to your finance system's webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get the Apprenticeship Data Match Report” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "submit-learner-data.service.gov.uk/get_apprenticeship_data_match_report",
    "input": {
      "collection_year": "2026 to 2027",
      "return": "R03"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "collection_year": "2026 to 2027",
    "return": "R03",
    "mismatches": [
      {
        "learner_reference_number": "ACME000412",
        "rule_name": "DLOCK_07",
        "description": "No matching negotiated cost of training and assessment found",
        "ilr_value": "9000",
        "apprenticeship_service_value": "8500"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

Submit learner data’s own options

The Department for Education's guidance describes no API for Submit learner data. You create the ILR as an XML file in your MI system and upload it to the service, which validates it and makes reports available to download after each submission. The department also offers desktop tools: FileMerge to combine ILR files and the Funding Information Service to produce indicative funding reports.

Read on November 12, 2026: How do I send data? (ILR provider support manual), DfE Sign-in roles for Submit learner data, 2026 to 2027 ILR funding reports.

Signing in to Submit learner data

Submit learner data signs you in with a DfE Sign-in account, which starts with your email address, and what you can do depends on your roles: Standard Submissions to submit data and view reports, Enter Learning Data to build an ILR in the service. With Fous you sign in once through DfE Sign-in with your own account, and the login is sealed with AES-256.

Worth knowing

Every upload replaces the last one

Each ILR file must hold all learners and learning deliveries for the year to date, across all funding models, because each upload overwrites all your earlier records. A submitted file cannot be deleted, only replaced by a newer one.

Returns close at 18:00

Each return closes at 6pm on its close date, for example R04 on 4 December 2026 and R05 on 7 January 2027. The last file submitted before the close is the one loaded nationally.

Some reports come only after the close

Reports are ready to download after each submission has processed. The Apps Monthly Payment Report comes only after the window closes, and the Data Match Report is produced again just after the collection period ends.

Rejections happen at three levels

A schema stage 1 failure rejects the whole file, a schema stage 2 failure rejects that learner's records, and a failed validation rule rejects the learner and all their learning deliveries, which then earn no funding.

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