ILR R14 closes 22 October 2026 — no extensions

The final ILR return for the 2025-26 funding year — R14 — closes at 6pm on Thursday 22 October 2026. DfE has confirmed there will be no post-closure adjustments.

This was flagged in the DfE Further Education Update on 9 September 2026. With just over four weeks remaining, now is the time to work through any outstanding data issues.

R12 QAR data is available — check it before R14

R12 In-Year Qualification Achievement Rates (QAR) data for 2025-26 is now available on the education data platform. This gives you a view of how your achievement data is currently reading against the 2025-26 return.

Worth checking before R14 closes: a data quality issue that affected the R10 release (16 July 2026) has now been corrected. If your R10 QAR data looked unexpectedly different from what you expected, the R12 picture should now be more accurate.

No post-closure adjustments

DfE’s position is unambiguous: once R14 closes at 6pm on 22 October, no changes can be made. If you have:

• Outstanding achievement recordings that need to be reflected in your data
• ILR validation errors or data anomalies you have been meaning to resolve
• Apprenticeship completion records that should be captured in 2025-26

— these need to be in order and submitted before the deadline.

The submit learner data service handles ILR submissions and technical queries.

Sources: DfE Further Education Update — 9 September 2026; DfE Further Education Update — 16 September 2026