Department for Education - Attendance Management guide

Higher Education Providers - Attendance Management

1. Every Higher Education Provider (provider) should have a published, auditable attendance policy to satisfy its own governance processes. A provider must not claim funding from the Student Loans Company (SLC) for students who are not adhering to a provider’s attendance policy. This relates to various provisions in the Student Support Regulations and any corresponding Lifelong Learning Entitlement regulations, which means payment of student funding is conditional on confirmation by a provider that a student is attending and undertaking their course.

2. This document makes clear what attendance means for the purpose of entitlement to student funding. A provider is responsible for compliance with this for all its courses including those delivered through franchising arrangements.

3. Attendance means participation in a course by a student, including, but not limited to, teaching face-to-face or blended study, in line with a provider’s published attendance policy. A provider should communicate its policy to a student and have an auditable process in place to support the action it may take when a student does not meet attendance expectations.

4. Providers have flexibility to ensure every student engages with a course, and that the student and/or the course may require greater or less attendance than another due to circumstances or content. The Department for Education (DfE) expects every provider to have a published attendance policy. This does not impact on the current requirement for providers to follow existing government guidance for international students.

5. A provider should communicate to a student what its attendance policy is, considering the demands of the course and any personal circumstances of students who may require specific study arrangements, for example, but not exclusively, due to a disability. If a student’s participation in a course does not meet its expectations, a provider should act promptly to inform the SLC that it has withdrawn a student as per a provider’s service agreement with the SLC. The necessity to do so, to reduce the risk to public funding, may arise after a provider exhausts its own procedures to help a student remain on their course.

6. A provider should retain a sufficient, auditable record in a format that enables it to determine if a student is attending their course. DfE reserves the right to ensure there is action if it is considered a provider is not implementing an effective attendance policy.