The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) provides a tuition fee loan entitlement equivalent to four years of post-18 education – £37,000 in today’s fees. From 2025, this loan will be used for full qualifications, and modules of some “job-specific” technical qualifications. From 2027, this will be extended to Level 4 to 6 for both full courses and at a modular level, where the government can be confident of positive student outcomes.
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) presents an opportunity to fulfil cross-party lifelong learning ambitions by enabling learners to access bite-sized chunks of higher education, driving upskilling, reskilling and helping to close skills gaps. If done right, it could be revolutionary. But in its current form, the policy detail shackles the ambition. Left unaddressed, this could squander a unique opportunity to achieve access to lifelong learning for all.
The first shackle is that the LLE requires fundable modules to be drawn from a parent course. This creates a false equivalence between qualifications that follow a modular format (like most undergraduate degrees) and standalone module offerings (often called micro-credentials or short courses). Looking at the indicators of high quality included in our Definition of Quality, each one must be adapted to achieve a successful modular learning experience. Policymakers cannot expect providers to serve up their modular component parts in isolation and deliver the same experience.
