What is learning support? In further education and skills, learning support is the extra help a college or training provider puts in place so that a learner with a learning difficulty or disability can take part in their course and complete it: reasonable adjustments such as extra staff time, more frequent assessor visits, specialist equipment or additional time in tests, agreed with the learner, delivered and reviewed.
What learning support means in further education
Learning support is the extra help a provider puts in place for a learner whose learning difficulty or disability affects their course. It goes beyond the everyday inclusive teaching every learner gets.
That line decides what can be funded. Learning support funding applies only where support costs money and is additional to everyday teaching. Adjustments that cost nothing are not claimable: the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) gives extra time to complete an assignment as its example.
Who learning support is for
Learning support is for learners with a learning difficulty or disability that affects their ability to complete their programme. No diagnosis is needed.
The Education Act 1996, section 15ZA(6), defines a learning difficulty as a significantly greater difficulty in learning than most people of the same age. A disability counts where it prevents or hinders a learner from using the facilities generally provided for learners over compulsory school age.
How the need is established depends on how the learner is funded:
- Apprentices: an existing education, health and care (EHC) plan, a statement of special educational needs (SEN) or a learning difficulty assessment qualifies. So does the provider’s own thorough, evidence-based assessment, which can include needs the learner self-declares or that were never identified before.
- Adult Skills Fund learners: the provider carries out and documents a thorough assessment.
- 16 to 19 learners: support costing up to £6,000 a year needs no EHC plan. High needs support above that is agreed by the local authority.
For every learner, never rely on an automated assessment alone. The apprenticeship routes are set out in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance, Support for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Ofsted’s inspection of inclusion reaches further still. It covers learners and apprentices who “receive additional support with their learning”, not only those with an EHC plan.
Who gives learning support
In a college or training provider, learning support is given by a team, not one specialist. Each role plays a part.
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Learning support coordinator or additional learning support (ALS) administrator | Runs needs assessments, writes and reviews support plans, and keeps the evidence behind any claim. |
| Progress coach | Follows learners through their programme, and carries reviews and decisions to step support down. |
| Learning support assistant (LSA) | Delivers one-to-one or small-group support, and records it. |
| Tutor or lecturer | Makes adjustments in the room, as part of their teaching. |
| Skills coach or assessor | Makes adjustments in sessions with apprentices. |
| Functional skills tutor | Makes adjustments in functional skills sessions. |
There is no requirement for a further education and skills provider to appoint a special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). Inspectors do expect someone to coordinate provision for learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Tutors and skills coaches make many of the adjustments themselves. Inclusion is part of their teaching, and the learning support team is there to support them in it.
What learning support looks like in practice
Learning support is the reasonable adjustments a learner’s need calls for, delivered as part of their programme. For apprentices, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance gives these examples of what learning support funding can pay for:
- additional staff to support learners
- extended or more frequent assessor visits
- specialist equipment
- additional time in exams and tests
It cannot pay for gaps in prior learning where there is no learning difficulty or disability, or for everyday difficulties not linked to the programme. Nor can it pay for adjustments at work: employers provide reasonable adjustments in the workplace and should not use learning support funding for them.
How a provider finds out who needs learning support
A provider finds out who needs learning support through an initial assessment at the start, then a further, individual assessment where the first one points to a need. A need can be found at any point in the programme.
For apprentices, the apprenticeship funding rules for 2026 to 2027 require an initial assessment that includes a screening exercise for learning support. The screening is not tailored to the individual. Where it points to a need, or gives too little to decide, a further evidence-based assessment follows. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is clear: do not only use an automated assessment. Claims run only from the date the evidence is acquired.
For Adult Skills Fund learners, the provider carries out and documents a thorough assessment.
Self-declaration is one source, not the whole picture. The further education and skills and apprenticeships national statistics from the Department for Education (DfE), published on 16 July 2026, show that 16.7% of apprenticeship starts in 2024/25 declared a learning difficulty or disability; for adult further education and skills learners it was 20.3%. Approximately 1 in 3 learners Cognassist assesses in further education and apprenticeships may have a cognitive barrier that warrants support, and some of them may have a barrier that self-declaration misses (Cognassist assessment data).
A flag from a cognitive assessment is a potential barrier for a tutor’s judgement, not a diagnosis. A flagged learner is not an eligible claim: eligibility still rests on the provider’s thorough assessment.
For each step, from the ways providers find need today to assessing every learner at enrolment, read our guide on how to identify learning needs of students.
The learning support plan and how often it is reviewed
A learning support plan records the need, the adjustments and how they are delivered. It is reviewed to check the support is still needed and still working.
| Apprenticeships | Adult Skills Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| The plan | A plan for delivering the adjustments, agreed and signed off by the apprentice in writing before any claim. Shared with the employer where the apprentice consents. | Record the adjustments and how support will be planned and delivered. |
| Evidence of delivery | For each month claimed. | For each month claimed. |
| Reviews | The first one month after the adjustments start, then at least every three months. Light-touch where the need is stable because of a permanent disability (new for 2026 to 2027). Can be combined with the three-monthly progress review, with evidence of both. | Confirm each month that the adjustments are still needed and appropriate. |
| When support is no longer needed | Stop claiming from that date, and update the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). | Stop claiming from that date. |
These records show that support was needed, delivered and reviewed. Good records are evidence of good practice.
For what goes in a plan, with a template, read what a learning support plan is. For the records behind a claim, see learning support funding evidence.
How learning support is funded
For apprentices and adult learners in 2026 to 2027, learning support funding pays £150 per supported learner per month, for each month adjustments are needed, delivered and evidenced.
The claim is the provider’s own, recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR), and good records are evidence of good practice. Adjustments that cost nothing are not claimable. Higher costs can be claimed, up to £19,000 a year.
For 16 to 19 learners, there is no £150 monthly claim. Support comes from the provider’s own 16 to 19 allocation and, above £6,000 a year, from high needs funding.
| Stream, 2026 to 2027 | What triggers it | How it is paid | Who decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprenticeships: learning support funding | An apprentice with a learning difficulty or disability needs adjustments that cost money. | £150 per supported learner per month, for each month adjustments are delivered and evidenced. Higher costs up to £19,000 a year. Not taken from the employer’s account. | The provider, through its own claim. |
| The Adult Skills Fund: learning support | A thorough, documented assessment finds an adult learner needs adjustments that cost money. | £150 per supported learner per month, for each month adjustments are delivered and evidenced. Higher costs up to £19,000. | The provider, through its own claim. Applies in non-devolved areas: nine combined authorities and the Mayor of London set their own rules. |
| 16 to 19: support up to £6,000 a year | A learner needs support costing up to £6,000 a year. No education, health and care (EHC) plan is needed. | Disadvantage funding block 2, inside the provider’s 16 to 19 allocation. Set by formula on low prior attainment, not per learner: £624, £380 or £846, by band. | The provider. |
| 16 to 19: high needs | A learner needs support costing more than £6,000 a year. From age 19 to 24, an EHC plan is needed. | Element 2: £6,000 per place from the Department for Education (DfE). Element 3: a top-up per student from the local authority where the student lives. | The local authority, which agrees the top-up. Without its agreement, the student is not recorded as high needs. |
| The Inclusive Mainstream Fund | Nothing to apply for: it is automatic. | One whole-setting grant, not a per-learner budget. Over £500m a year for three years, of which approximately £83m a year is the 16 to 19 slice. | DfE allocates it. Colleges explain how they use it in their accountability statements. |
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) sets the rules for apprenticeships and the Adult Skills Fund, in the apprenticeship funding rules for August 2026 to July 2027 and the Adult Skills Fund funding and performance management rules for 2026 to 2027. DfE sets 16 to 19 funding, in its 16 to 19 funding rates and formula and its high needs funding operational guide (see 16 to 19 funding: information for 2026 to 2027), and the Inclusive Mainstream Fund for 2026 to 2027. This guide gives the 2026 to 2027 rules; for background on how the fund works, read our explainer on learning support funding.
Learning support, Learner Support and the NHS Learning Support Fund
Learner Support is not learning support. Learning support funding pays a provider for a learner’s reasonable adjustments. Learner Support helps an adult learner in financial hardship with the costs of attending, and the NHS Learning Support Fund supports university healthcare students.
| Learning support funding | Learner Support | The NHS Learning Support Fund | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | An apprentice or adult learner with a learning difficulty or disability | An adult (19+) further education learner in financial hardship | Students on eligible pre-registration healthcare courses (nursing, midwifery, the allied health professions and others) at a university in England |
| Pays for | The cost of reasonable adjustments, delivered and evidenced month by month | The learner’s own costs of attending: travel, childcare, equipment, emergencies, a laptop or wifi | A training grant, parental support, placement travel and accommodation, and an Exceptional Support Fund for unexpected hardship |
| The money goes to | The provider, through its own claim | The learner, or someone paid on their behalf | The student |
| Who applies | The provider claims, in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) | The learner applies to their provider | The student applies to the NHS Business Services Authority |
| Rules | Apprenticeship funding rules; Adult Skills Fund rules | Adult Skills Fund rules (non-devolved areas) | NHS Business Services Authority |
| Further education? | Yes | Yes | No: university healthcare students |
Apprenticeships have no Learner Support fund. For how an adult learner applies, see GOV.UK’s Learner Support guide.
Other names for learning support, and how it differs from SEND
Learning support is also called additional learning support (ALS). The money behind it is learning support funding (LSF), recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) as LSF.
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) describes a learner’s needs; learning support is what the provider does about them. An education, health and care (EHC) plan is a statutory plan for under-25s with significant SEND. A learner does not need one to get learning support.
This guide is about further education and skills: colleges and training providers.
What Ofsted inspectors look for
Ofsted grades inclusion in its own right for further education and skills providers. Inspectors look for “a culture in which early and accurate assessment of learners’ and apprentices’ needs is prioritised”, and Ofsted’s further education and skills inspection toolkit names no method.
We counted what inspectors wrote in 495 Ofsted reports on further education and skills providers, published from 12 January to 26 October 2026. Each count is the reports in which inspectors wrote the finding. A report that says nothing on it is silent, not clear of it.
| What inspectors wrote | Reports, of 495 published 12 January to 26 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Learners’ adjustments used well in the room | 326 |
| Support reviewed, adapted and reduced | 281: 86 of the 101 graded strong or exceptional on inclusion, 3 of the 47 graded needs attention |
| Needs identified early and accurately | 264 |
| Staff not equipped to adapt | 111, including 42 of the 47 graded needs attention |
| Support given, impact not reviewed | 74, including 26 of the 47 graded needs attention |
| Needs found late, or only when a learner declared them | 41, including 16 of the 47 graded needs attention |
What inspectors praise:
For those who are dyslexic, staff provide resources in advance, giving additional time to read and process information.
Staff use this information to agree skilfully personalised support, review its impact frequently and adapt or reduce it as apprentices become more confident and independent.
Onboarding and cognitive assessment identify barriers early, and staff implement tailored support, including additional reviews, assisted technology and adapted learning resources.
What they record as gaps:
However, tutors have not had sufficient training to understand fully the types of support and learning strategies that will help learners to engage fully with their learning.
However, leaders do not yet evaluate the impact of support systematically to determine whether it remains effective, requires adjustment or should be withdrawn.
While learners self-declare additional needs or disadvantage on enrolment, staff do not consistently identify learners’ full range of needs and barriers to their education at the start of their courses.
Two of those gaps are ones this guide has already covered. Of the same 495 reports, published from 12 January to 26 October 2026, 41 record needs found late or only when a learner declared them: the gap between declared and assessed need. And 74 record support given whose impact is not reviewed: the reviews covered in the plan section above.
For apprentices, the funding rules ask for learning support to be reviewed at least every three months. Inspectors describe the strong standard as support “systematically reviewed and adapted”. So the reviews learning support already needs are where that practice starts: done well, they are what inspectors describe at the strong standard. Good records are evidence of good practice.
