July 2025 release notes

Updated the Training Plan with new minimum calculation

Introduced Training Plan V2 compliance template, replacing previous OTJT text and calculations with a standardised explanation of how minimum required hours are determined. The new version includes key data points: Published Minimum OTJT, Volume of RPL, and Minimum Reduced by RPL. Training Plan V2 is enabled for tenants already using version 1 or 1.1.

Validated Planned hours in the ILR against 187 absolute minimum

Introduced validation on Planned OTJT hours in ILR aims to prevent saving when the value is below the absolute minimum of 187 hours for programmes with a practical period start date after 31/07/2025; existing validation remains unchanged for earlier start dates.

Validate Actual hours in the ILR against 187 absolute minimum

Introduced validation on Actual OTJT hours in ILR aims to prevent saving when the value is below the absolute minimum of 187 hours for programmes with a practical period start date after 31/07/2025; existing validation remains unchanged for earlier start dates.

Minimum Calculation Methodology Update

Introduced a validation to ensure that, for apprenticeships starting on or after 01/08/2025, the calculated minimum required OTJT hours, after subtracting Recognised Prior Learning (RPL) from the published minimum, cannot fall below 187 hours. An API is available which returns this minimum (published minimum minus RPL) for the apprenticeship standard and learner.

Old Methodology

The image below shows a programme being applied and in the red box, you can see RPL of 800 hours, which has been accepted taking the minimum hours to 35, which is below 187, but provides a warning.

New Methodology

This image shows RPL of 900 hours, but with the new methodology, as the minimum is 187 hours, this is what appears in the box.

Record a default RPL in mass apply to programme

When a Compliance Manager is using the Mass Apply feature to add a programme to multiple learners the RPL value will default to 0 for each learner. This can then be amended later as necessary.

This applies only when:

• The programme type is ‘Training - Apprenticeship’
• The practical period start date is on or after 01/08/2025

Completion of Programme process automation verifies Actual hours against min required

When a tutor is using the Completion of Programme Process Automation Tracker, there is now additional validation to prevent saving the tracker when Actual OTJT hours entered are less than the required minimum. This applies to options 1 and 3 only, and only for programmes with a practical period start date after 31/07/2025. Existing validations remain unchanged for earlier start dates.

Validate planned hours against min required on apply/edit programme

When a Compliance Manager is using the Apply Programme screen in Classic or Console
and they want to ensure apprenticeship starts from 01/08/2025 and meet the eligibility criteria
they can now see and validate against the minimum Off-the-Job Training (OTJT) hours required.

Key changes:

• The minimum required OTJT hours is displayed beneath the published minimum in the Summary section
• The Planned Hours field is now validated against this minimum
• If the planned hours are below the minimum, saving the programme is blocked
• A clear error message is displayed to guide the admin

This validation applies only when:

• The programme type is ‘Training - Apprenticeship’
• The practical period start date is on or after 01/08/2025

These changes help ensure only eligible starts are enrolled in line with DfE requirements.

Validate planned hours against min required on the mass apply to programme

When a Compliance Manager is using the Mass Apply functionality to apply users and they want to ensure only eligible apprenticeship starts are applied, they can now have the Planned Hours automatically validated against the published minimum OTJT hours.

Applies only to:

• Programme Type: Training - Apprenticeship
• Practical Period Start Date: On or after 01/08/2025

Display the published min OTJT in apply/edit programme

Published Minimum OTJT hours is now available on the Apply/Edit Programme page for Training - Apprenticeship programmes starting from 01/08/2025, using the Apprenticeship Standard Code from the ILR token in programme builder; shown in both Console and Classic, with an empty state if no code is present.

Display the published min OTJT in mass apply programme

The Published Minimum OTJT hours is now available on the Mass enrolment screen for Training - Apprenticeship programmes starting from 01/08/2025, using the Apprenticeship Standard Code from the ILR token in the programme builder. With an empty state if no standard code is present or the code is invalid.

Ability to record the RPL in apply/edit programme

When a Compliance Manager is using the Apply Programme screen in Classic or Console
and they want to record the outcome of an initial assessment
they can now enter the volume of RPL (Recognised Prior Learning) hours directly when applying a programme.

Key details:

• A new RPL field (accepting integers 0–9999) appears above Planned Hours
• The field defaults to 0
• The entered value is saved with the programme application

This functionality only applies when:

• The programme type is ‘Training - Apprenticeship’
• The practical period start date is on or after 01/08/2025

Classic

Console

Ability to record the RPL in the addUser API

When a Compliance Manager is using the addUser API to create a new apprentice
and they want to record the outcome of an initial assessment
they can now include an optional RPL (Recognised Prior Learning) field to specify the volume of RPL hours.

Key details:

• The RPL field is positioned above Planned Hours
• Accepts integers from 0 to 9999
• Defaults to 0 if no value is provided and valid conditions are met (delivery type=Training - Apprenticeship AND StartDate >=01/08/2025)
• The field is optional to ensure no breaking changes
• The RPL value is stored when the API is called

This enables early RPL data capture during user creation while maintaining backwards compatibility.

Ability to record the RPL in Bulk import

Added a new RPL field to the 'Upload Users' import file in Classic, positioned before Planned Hours, allowing values between 0–9999 for Training - Apprenticeship programmes with practical period start dates from 01/08/2025; updates are applied if the column is present, with empty values defaulting to 0.

Ability to record the RPL in updateUser API

Added an optional RPL field to the updateUser API, positioned above Planned Hours; accepts integer values between 0–9999, defaults to 0 if not previously set, and avoids breaking changes by allowing omission.

8 Month Min Duration is used to Validate duration on Apply/Edit Programme

When a Compliance Manager is using the Apply/Edit Programme screen in Console or Classic and they want to ensure apprenticeship durations meet DfE eligibility rules they can now see a validation warning when entering a planned practical period of less than 8 months (242 days) for programmes with a Delivery Type of ‘Training - Apprenticeship’ and a practical period start date after 31/07/2025.

This helps flag potential issues while still allowing flexibility:

• Validation does not block saving
• Allows for restarts where reduced duration is acceptable
• Existing validation for starts on or before 31/07/2025 remains unchanged

Apply Program

Edit Program

8 Month Min Duration is used to Validate duration on Completion of Programme Process Automation Tracker

We have added a validation warning when the Actual End Date results in a duration of less than 8 months (242 days) from the Learning Start Date for Completion of Programme Process Automation Tracker with practical period start dates after 31/07/2025 under options 1 and 3, without blocking submission.

8 Month Min Duration is used to Validate duration on Programme Builder

When a Compliance Manager configures the Programme and wants to ensure apprenticeships meet minimum duration requirements, they can now see a validation warning when entering a Planned Practical Period of less than 8 months (242 days) for programmes with a Delivery Type of ‘Training - Apprenticeship’. This helps ensure only eligible apprenticeships are submitted to the DfE.

• The warning does not prevent saving
• Validation is specific to apprenticeship delivery types

Modify the validation on the Achievement Date on the Completion of Programme Process Automation Tracker

We have revised validation for Achievement Date. We removed existing checks for apprenticeships starting from 01/08/2025 and added a new error that prevents saving when the Achievement Date is earlier than the Actual End Date, applicable only to options 2 and 3 and where the practical period start date is after 31/07/2025.

Added EM Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Learning Plan Console)

Where “Collect English and Maths hours” is enabled in the Programme Requirements token of a delivery programme, tutors are now able to add Planned English and Maths hours to individual learning plan components in the learner’s learning plan in Console (excluding ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’). The field is available in both add and edit workflows. The field defaults to empty and accepts only integer values between 0 and 9999.

Display EM hours on the Hours Log

When a user is reviewing the apprentice hours log to monitor apprentice progress and ensure audit readiness, they can now clearly see the distinction between Off-The-Job Training (OTJT) and English and Maths (EM) hours. Each log entry now specifies whether the hours were accrued during working hours, outside working hours with time off in lieu (TOIL), or outside working hours with pay. This enhancement provides a more granular view of apprentice hours, improving data accuracy and supporting compliance. It may impact how users review and interpret apprentice hour data, and users may need to familiarise themselves with the new categorisation of hours and the updated running totals.

Renamed Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Programme Builder)

Renamed the 'Planned Hours' field to 'Planned OTJT hours' in the Learning Plan token within Programme Builder for all component types, excluding ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’, across both add and edit workflows.

Renamed Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Learning Plan Classic)

Renamed the ‘Planned Hours’ field to ‘Planned OTJT hours’ in the learner’s learning plan in Classic, for all component types except ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’. The updated label is applied across both add and edit component workflows to improve clarity and audit accuracy.

Renamed Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Learning Plan Console)

Renamed the ‘Planned Hours’ field to ‘Planned OTJT hours’ in the learner’s learning plan in Console for all component types, excluding ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’. This change applies to both add and edit component workflows to improve clarity around OTJT hour tracking.

Added EM Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Programme Builder)

Added a ‘Planned EM hours’ field to the Learning Plan token in Programme Builder for all component types except ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’. The field is available in both add and edit workflows, defaults to empty, accepts only integer values, and supports a maximum value of 9999.

Added EM Planned Hours on Learning Plan components (Learning Plan Classic)

Added a ‘Planned English & Math hours’ field to all applicable component types in a learner’s learning plan in Classic (excluding ‘Job Search’ and ‘Resource Centre Usage’) within both add and edit workflows. The field accepts integer values from 0 to 9999 and defaults to empty.

Added EM Planned Hours to the Training Plan V2

Added a new ‘Planned EM (hr)’ column to the Learning Plan table in Training Plan V2, positioned before ‘Planned OTJT (hr)’. This column displays the Planned EM hours recorded against each learning plan component, includes a separate total, and omits values where no hours are recorded.

Added ability to log EM hours to Programme Builder

A new setting has been added to the Programme Requirements section in Programme Builder to indicate that English and Maths (EM) hours are to be collected, and this setting defaults to enabled.

English and Maths (EM) hours logging and editing enhancements

We have enhanced how English and Maths (EM) hours can be logged and managed across key workflows. Note that this will only be available in Aptem Console.

• Learners can now record EM hours when submitting evidence via file upload in Console, adding a note to their portfolio, or through Marking Aid exercises. In these workflows, learners can choose from:

  • Do not record any hours
  • Record Off-The-Job Training (OTJT) hours
  • Record English and Maths (EM) hours

  When logging OTJT or EM hours, learners must enter a duration in HH:mm format (e.g., "01:30") and specify how the work was completed from the following options:

  • This work was completed in my own time and I am being paid
  • This work was completed in my own time and I am receiving TOIL (Time Off In Lieu)
  • This work was completed during paid working hours

  Errors will be displayed for invalid time formats or if no type is selected.

• Tutors can now edit EM hours directly on the 'Mark evidence' screen in Console, enabling corrections to learner-submitted EM hours. Tutors can modify the logged duration (HH:mm format), switch between hour types (EM, OTJT, or none), and edit the hours type classification.

These changes provide a consistent and flexible approach to accurately logging and maintaining records of EM hours, supporting better tracking and reporting for both learners and tutors.

A new 'Evidence' OData feed

When an Admin is using OData reporting and they want to report on specific data related to each instance of a Learner’s evidence, they can now achieve this through the new OData ‘LearningPlanEvidences’ feed.

This allows them to access detailed evidence information,including OTJH logging, progress, and completion without manually reviewing each Learner’s learning plan, enabling more efficient and scalable reporting.

NOTE:

Orphaned evidence linked to criteria instead of components (and thus not having a strict relation to just one programme/enrolment) is NOT surfaced in the created feed (as it does not partake in OTJH and progress calculations) for consistency purposes.

LearningPlanEvidences has pagination applied by default limiting the max amount of records retrieved at a time (5000 by default)

LearningPlanEvidences OData feed may be joined onto LearningPlanComponents feed to get additional details per learners' components.

ComponenId field of LearningPlanEvidences corresponds to Id field of LearningPlanComponents.

While doing this it is important to remember that LearningPlanEvidences has pagination applied by default limiting the max amount of records retrieved at a time (5000 by default).

As a result, all the evidence associated with a specific component would be grouped and displayed.

This may be used to drill down into OTJH distribution of the evidence submitted against components. ActualHours (and its minutes representation in EvidencedMinutesTracked) field of LearningPlanComponents correspond to the sum of SpentTime field of the related entities from LearningPlanEvidences.

To ensure OTJH numbers match up, additional filtering may need to be applied to LearningPlanEvidences:

1. Evidence with SpentTimeType equal to 'None' and 'OwnTimeNotOtj' would have to be filtered out.
2. Evidence with ConfirmedStatus other than ‘Accepted’ would have to be filtered out.

Show pending checkpoints against a learner

When a tutor is using the checkpoint table in the learner's profile and they want to track the progress of assigned checkpoints, they can now do the following things:

View pending checkpoints clearly listed against the learner.

See a new "Status" column that displays whether each checkpoint is Pending, Expired or Completed.

Refer to the "Date Created" column to understand when each checkpoint was added.

This helps tutors quickly identify outstanding actions and manage learner progress more efficiently.

Learner profile checkpoint page:

Programme summary Learner checkpoint page:

Delete checkpoints

When a tutor wants to delete a checkpoint which is no longer required, they can now delete the checkpoint from the learner’s checkpoint table.

Only tutors with access to checkpoint (via the Checkpoint Tutor or Supervisor permission) can delete checkpoints - learners will not have the option to delete checkpoints.

To delete a checkpoint, the tutor should click the trash icon next to the relevant checkpoint. Aptem will present a confirmation dialogue so the tutor can confirm they would like to delete the selected checkpoint. The checkpoint will be permanently deleted from the learner’s record once deletion is confirmed. This allows tutors to keep checkpoint records clean and accurate within Aptem.

Note: only checkpoints which haven’t been complete can be deleted. These checkpoints may have a status of “Pending” or “Expired”. Once a checkpoint has been completed by the learner, it cannot be deleted.

Restricted marking in Classic for Marking Aid learning plan components

When an Assessor or Trainee Assessor attempts to assess Marking Aid exercises from Classic, they will now see a pop-up stating that Marking Aid exercises can be assessed only in Console. Clicking OK on this pop-up will redirect them to the Console, ensuring the assessment process stays within the intended workflow and the exercise is not left unmarked.

Tutors able to view Learners previous attempts of an exercise when the current attempt is in progress

When a Tutor is using the marking functionality for a Learner’s work and they want to view previous attempts, they can view previous submitted attempts even if the current attempt is still in progress, but they will not be able to re-mark those earlier attempts.

Standardise Marking Aid labelling and text

When a user is using the marking aid functionality. UI is improved with the following changes:

• The term “Assignment” is replaced with “Exercise”, providing consistency with the terminology used across the system.
• The Marking Aid label is now displayed in sentence case, aligning with the standard UI conventions and improving readability.

NOTE

Some labels referring to ‘assignment’ when creating/editing an exercise are still visible, these need to be updated by a 3rd party and will be completed at a later date.

Add review completed date to review PDF 

When a tutor is completing a review, the review information will now display the review planned date and the review completed date in the PDF.

The review planned date is the date that the review was scheduled or, if the review has not been scheduled, the date that the review was started (as per current system behaviour).

The review completed date is the date that the tutor clicks “Finish” on the review.

Add learner signature filter to signatures grid 

When a tutor is using the signatures grid in Console and they want to find learners who have not signed their documents, they can filter the signatures grid by learner signature.

Upgraded review PDF generation

We have upgraded review PDF generation to use iText7 library. The PDF generation is now more performant; there’s also a change in the appearance of the file.

• We have updated the "Apprentices With Outstanding QA Feedback" item in the Dashboard to resolve a semantic HTML issue. Previously, the button used both type="button" and role="link" improperly, which created accessibility and code clarity concerns. This has now been corrected.
• When an admin is navigating the Settings page and relies on assistive technologies or semantic structure to understand the page layout, they can now experience a correctly ordered heading structure. Skipped heading levels have been corrected or replaced with appropriate elements to improve accessibility and maintain visual consistency.
• As a tutor viewing the PDF of the Review document, I can now view the employer assessment on the Skills Radar section within the PDF. Previously, a defect meant the employer assessment was not present on the Skills Radar section on the PDF.
  

We are working towards our next iteration of the Aptem Enhance Marking aid and Feedback assistant features.

We are introducing manual Checkpoints in onboarding to support initial assessment of apprenticeship KSBs.

We're excited to announce that we'll soon begin development on a brand-new Off-the-Job Hours logging feature. Our goal is to provide a more intuitive and efficient way for apprentices to record all their learning hours, making it easier to track progress and ensure compliance. This functionality will also offer improved oversight and reporting for providers. We're actively engaging with customers through design review sessions, and there will be further opportunities to get involved and provide your valuable feedback as development progresses.

To ensure customer connections to Aptem remain secure and to keep up with industry best practices, we will be deprecating the following TLS 1.2 cipher suites used by older browsers, as of 1st August 2025:

• TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
• TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384

For more information, see: Deprecation of CBC-based cipher suites.