2026-27 Academic Year
Overnight on Friday 31st July Bud completed the required transition changes from the 25/26 to 26/27 academic year. This transition we include required funding rules changes for 26/27 and the ability to enrol learners onto programmes starting from 01/08/26 with any new rule or schema changes applied.
There is no requirement for customers to do anything for the change of year, Bud has made all the required changes automatically on your behalf.
ILR, Schema and Funding rule changes were live in the Bud platform from approx. 3am on Sat 1st Aug 2026.
For more information, see this article.
Apprenticeship Funding Rules
Care Leaver Information - We have updated the information shown to applicants in the Apprenticeship application process.
In both the training provider view and the learner self-enrolment view of the application, we have created a new section on the 'Additional Personal Details' page specifically for care leavers. This section will only be visible to learners aged under 25.
In this section, we have included key information relating to the Care Leavers Bursary to ensure that learners are informed of their potential eligibility:
This information will also be displayed on the Applicant Summary document where the learner will sign to confirm that they have been informed.
Eligible costs - we have added a confirmation to the Funding document that the agreed price only includes eligible costs.
Co-investment - we have added a statement to the Funding document for Levy employers stating their potential co-investment responsibilities if they run out of Levy funds.
We are aware that there have been changes to the co-investment requirements for learners aged under 25 and this will be updated in the next release.
Assessments
Assessments can be added to a Programme template within Curriculum. Once the Programme is published, learners assigned to it, including new applicants, will have those assessments added automatically to their learning plan, under a "Date not set" section. From there, a due date and state can be applied, and the usual attempts and results recorded.
See this article for more details on adding assessments to Programmes.
Coming Soon: The ability to set the due dates within the Programme template, so assessments can be scheduled at source, and propagate accordingly.
Bud Assist for Learners
You can now manage Bud Assist for Learners per programme. This gives you greater flexibility on which learners you enable Bud Assist for.
To do this, navigate to the Tenant Settings page found in the Administration tab. Please note that you will require the permission 'Tenant Administrator' to view this page as well as either the Programme Contributor or Programme Manager role to view programme details.
On the Tenant Settings page, edit the Bud Assist feature and click 'Configure'.
You can then select which programmes to enable Bud Assist for using the toggle in the 'Enable' column. Where the toggle is enabled, learners on that programme will be able to see and use Bud Assist.
Bug Fixes
In this release we have fixed the following bugs:
Learner incorrectly appearing in 25/26 ILR - We have resolved a legacy issue where learners withdrawn on the final day of R14 were appearing in the following academic year incorrectly. This fix will also apply to the upcoming academic year change.
Skill Scan scores in first Review - Skill scan scores entered during enrolment weren't flowing through to the first review, so scores had to be re-entered manually. This is now fixed; scores added at enrolment will carry through automatically.
Skill Scan chart now showing in the Learner metrics - Skill scan charts on the learner metrics page, visible to training provider users, were sometimes not displaying. This is now fixed; charts will display as expected.
Business Intelligence Release - 6th August 2026 (3:45pm)
Please note your reports may be blank for a brief time afterwards
Standard Reports – New EPA Gateway report
A new Standard Report is now available for tracking learners approaching End Point Assessment. The EPA Gateway Checks report shows the Trainer, IQA, Compliance, and Gateway confirmations for each learner, Gateway being the final stage in the sequence, giving you a single view of where every learner stands across each check. This makes it easier to monitor progress towards gateway and spot any confirmations still outstanding before a learner moves through.
You'll find the report under Standard Reports > End Point Assessment > EPA Gateway Checks.
Finance Reporting
This release includes two changes to finance reporting.
- Additional payment triggers for Foundation Apprenticeships. Additional payments for employers and providers are now triggered at 90 days and 242 days for Foundation Apprenticeships, in line with funding requirements for this apprenticeship type.
- Financial Forecasting driven by Net Monthly Starts. The Net Monthly Starts slider in Financial Forecasting now drives the forecasting data based on the figures you enter, so forecasts reflect the start volumes you set.
New Data Warehouse fields
This release adds three new views, Presentation.Assessment, Presentation.[Assessment Attempt] and Presentation.[Assessment Links], containing data for the new assessments functionality within Bud. We have also added the Standard version information to Presentation.[Learning Plan].
| Table Name | Column Name | Description | Data Type | Length of Column | Column is Nullable |
| Assessment | AssessmentId | Metadata: Bud Internal Assessment Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment | Created By | Name of the user who created the assessment | varchar | 100 | Yes |
| Assessment | CreatedById | Metadata: Bud Internal User Id of assessment creator | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Assessment | CreationDateTime | Metadata: Date the assessment was created in the Bud platform | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment | Default Delivery Mode | Assessment Delivery Mode (Hybrid, In Person, Remote, Submission) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment | Delivery Owner | Who is delivering the assessment (Main Provider, Subcontractor, Employer, Assessment Organisation) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment | Description | Assessment description | nvarchar | 255 | No |
| Assessment | Dim_Assessment_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment | Due Date | Assessment Due Date | date | No | |
| Assessment | DW_CreationDateTime | Metadata: Time when the record was created in the Data Warehouse | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment | DW_LastModifiedDateTime | Metadata: Time when the record was modified in the Data Warehouse | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment | Last Modified By | Name of the user who last updated the assessment | varchar | 100 | Yes |
| Assessment | LastModifiedById | Metadata: Bud Internal User Id of assessment modifier | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Assessment | LastModifiedDateTime | Metadata: Date the assessment was modified in the Bud platform | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment | LearningPlanId | Metadata: Bud Internal Learning Plan Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment | Method | Method of assessment | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment | Method Other | Method of assessment if not from the standard list | nvarchar | 50 | Yes |
| Assessment | Name | Assessment Name | nvarchar | 100 | No |
| Assessment | Source | Source of the assessmend (e.g. Adhoc) | varchar | 50 | No |
| Assessment | Status | Assessment status (Not Set, In Progress) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment | TrainingProviderId | Metadata: Bud Internal Training Provider Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment | Type | Type of assessment (Formative, Summative, Mock) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment Attempt | AssessmentId | Metadata: Bud Internal Assessment Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | Attempt Date | Attempt date | date | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | Attempt Number | Attempt number | int | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | Attempt Outcome Type | Attempt outcome type (Not Set, Pass, Fail, Cancelled) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment Attempt | AttemptId | Metadata: Bud Internal Attempt Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | Cancellation Reason | Cancellation Reason | varchar | 25 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | Created By | Name of the user who created the attempt | varchar | 100 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | CreatedById | Metadata: Bud Internal User Id of attempt creator | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | CreationDateTime | Metadata: Date the attempt was created in the Bud platform | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | Delivery Mode | Delivery mode (Hybrid, In Person, Remote, Submission) | varchar | 25 | No |
| Assessment Attempt | Dim_Attempt_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | DW_CreationDateTime | Metadata: Time when the record was created in the Data Warehouse | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | DW_LastModifiedDateTime | Metadata: Time when the record was modified in the Data Warehouse | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | Feedback and Actions | Feedback and actions | nvarchar | 255 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | Is Charge Required | Is charge required (Yes, No) | varchar | 25 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | Last Modified By | Name of the user who last updated the attempt | varchar | 100 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | LastModifiedById | Metadata: Bud Internal User Id of attempt modifier | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | LastModifiedDateTime | Metadata: Date the attempt was modified in the Bud platform | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | LearningPlanId | Metadata: Bud Internal Learning Plan Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment Attempt | Location | Location of the attempt | nvarchar | 255 | No |
| Assessment Attempt | Other Cancellation Reason | Other cancellation reason | nvarchar | 255 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | Resit Required | Resit required (0=No, 1=Yes) | bit | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | Result Date | Result date | date | Yes | |
| Assessment Attempt | Support Information | Support information | nvarchar | 255 | Yes |
| Assessment Attempt | TrainingProviderId | Metadata: Bud Internal Training Provider Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_Apprentice_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_Assessment_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_Employer_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_LearningPlan_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_Programme_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | Dim_Trainer_SK | Metadata: Bud Internal Surrogate Key | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | DW_CreationDateTime | Metadata: Time when the record was created in the Data Warehouse | datetime2 | Yes | |
| Assessment Links | Number of Attempts | The number of attempts at this assessment (excluding cancelled) | int | No | |
| Assessment Links | TrainerId | Metadata: Bud Internal Trainer Id | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Assessment Links | TrainingProviderId | Metadata: Bud Internal Training Provider Id | uniqueidentifier | No | |
| Learning Plan | Standard Version | The version of the apprenticehip standard that the learner is working towards | varchar | 5 | Yes |
| Learning Plan | Standard Version Last Changed By UserId | UserId (GUID) of the user who made the last change to the apprenticeship standard version for this learning plan | uniqueidentifier | Yes | |
| Learning Plan | Standard Version Last Updated | Date and time the apprenticeship standard version was changed for this learning plan | datetime2 | Yes |