Update participant data

This guidance explains: 

  • what participant data schools can update, and how these updates are displayed to providers via the API 
  • what participant details providers can update, and how 

Updates made by schools 

Schools can make the following updates: 

  • participant names or email address
  • report someone is leaving the school
  • assign a new mentor
  • change the type of induction (either provider or school-led) an ECT is doing  
  • move participants to a different lead provider 

How providers can see updates made by schools 
 


When an update is received:  

  • participant records are refreshed in the API 
  • providers will be able to check for changes by querying the updated_at filter on a participant’s record 
  • they should then update their records before submitting declarations
  • corresponding funding and declaration logic is applied automatically  
  • the updated_since filter will include the record for subsequent GET /participants queries 

What lead providers can update 

Lead providers can use the API to notify DfE when a participant has: 

  • deferred training 
  • resumed training 
  • withdrawn from training 
  • changed training schedule or cohort

These updates keep participant records aligned between systems and ensure correct funding calculations. 

For technical information, see the Swagger API documentation for deferring, resuming and withdrawing participants, and for changing training schedules.    

When providers can defer or withdraw participants  
 


Providers can defer or withdraw participants as long as:  

  • their participant_status isn’t joining  
  • their training_status doesn’t already reflect that status, for example, they aren’t trying to defer someone with a training_status of ‘deferred’

If a participant never started training, providers should contact us to request deletion of the participant’s record.  

When providers can resume a participant’s training 

Providers can resume a participant when their participant_status is marked as leaving or left. 
 
Providers cannot resume a participant if the participant_statuswas changed to leaving or left for any of the following reasons: 

  • their old school has told us they’re leaving 
  • their new school has told us they’re joining, with a different lead provider training them 
  • they've changed to school-led training 
  • they've changed to a different lead provider for training 

If the new school confirms the participant is starting with the same lead provider, their participant_status will revert to joining or active.  

How to notify us if a participant’s changed from their standard training schedule 

We assign new ECTs and mentors to default standard schedules in September, January or April. 

View guidance on how we assign participant schedules 

Providers must notify us of any other schedule via the PUT /participants/{id}/change-schedule endpoint. 

Successful requests will return a response body including updates to the schedule_identifier attribute. 

Change schedules or cohorts for a participant even if they have billable declarations

Providers can change an ECT or mentor’s schedule or cohort even if billable declarations exist.

However, providers cannot make these changes if:

  • the ECT has an induction_end_date (meaning induction is complete), or
  • the mentor has a completed declaration showing they’ve finished training
  • they have already changed the participant’s schedule and made a declaration that day

In both cases, validation errors will block the update.

ECTs and mentors also cannot be moved back into a closed cohort unless they originally came from that cohort. A validation error will prevent this as well.

How to assign a replacement mentor 

If a school registers a replacement mentor for an ECT, we’ll assign a replacement mentor schedule based on when they’re first registered as the ECT’s mentor (replacement-september, replacement-january or replacement-april).

It’s up to providers to check these automatically assigned replacement schedules. If a replacement mentor later supports an ECT new to training before the term ends, providers must update the mentor’s schedule to a standard one.

If a replacement mentor is already mentoring another ECT, the first ECT takes priority. In this case, the provider should not change the mentor’s schedule.
 

Providers must include a schedule_identifier reflecting when the replacement mentor starts: 

  • replacement-september 
  • replacement-january 
  • replacement-april 

A replacement mentor’s schedule, and any associated declaration submissions, do not need to align with the ECT they are mentoring. 

Recording completions 

We populate the induction_end_date on an ECT’s profile within 24 hours of them completing their induction.  

Similarly, once providers submit a completed declaration for a mentor, the mentor_funding_end_date is populated. 

Providers should backdate declarations for participants who’ve completed their induction or mentor training, but they do not need to withdraw them.