Eligibility

For details of tertiary education organisation (TEO) eligibility, programme eligibility, and learner eligibility please see the funding conditions for the relevant year.

Funding conditions by year

For information about TEO-led Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (TEO-led WLN) funding, see TEO-led WLN Fund Finder.

TEO-led WLN Fund

For information about Employer-led Workplace Literacy and Numeracy (EWLN) funding, please see EWLN.

EWLN Fund

Changes to programme eligibility from 2025

ILN must be delivered face-to-face (for example, not delivered online or via distance learning), unless you have received our prior written approval for another form of delivery due to exceptional circumstances. 

For information on applying for an exemption to deliver ILN extramurally, see Exemptions and exceptional circumstances.

Learner eligibility

Changes to learner eligibility from 1 January 2024

For learners to be considered to have low skills in literacy, numeracy, or literacy and numeracy for the purposes of the Fund they must:

• present at Step 2 or lower on the Learning Progressions for reading and/or numeracy when assessed using the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT); and
• either:
  • have fewer than 121 credits on the NZQCF (or equivalent); or
  • have more than 120 credits on the NZQCF (or equivalent), and have fewer than 31 credits in literacy and/or numeracy in unit standards and/or achievement standards (or equivalent); and
• not have an undergraduate, postgraduate, or Level 5 or above Qualification gained in New Zealand or that is listed on the NZQCF.

Learner eligibility requirements for literacy and numeracy provision were updated for 2024 onwards.

TEOs can only enrol learners with Level 5 or above qualifications in literacy and numeracy funds in exceptional circumstances, with prior written approval from us.

For information on how to apply for an exemption to enrol a learner with a Level 5 or above qualification due to exceptional circumstances, see Exemptions and exceptional circumstances.

Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT)

The LNAAT is an online adaptive tool that provides robust and reliable information on the reading, writing and numeracy skills of adults.

Following Ministerial approval of the 2024 funding mechanism, the funding conditions were updated to require using the LNAAT to determine learner eligibility for the ILN fund.

Learners must present at Step 2 or lower on the Learning Progressions for reading and/or numeracy on the Learning Progressions when assessed using the LNAAT.

For more information about using the LNAAT see the 2024 LNAAT Guidelines.

2024 LNAAT Guidelines

DQ/Youth Guarantee programmes

ILN-funded eligible learners are unlikely to be considered to have the necessary literacy and numeracy skills to be successful in a Delivery at Levels 1 and 2 on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework (DQ1-2) or Youth Guarantee (YG) funded programme (including any programmes above Level 2).

These learners should not be enrolled in a DQ1-2 or YG programme until their literacy and numeracy skills have advanced enough for them to be successful (for example, they now present at Step 3 or higher on the Learning Progressions for reading and/or numeracy on the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (LNAAT)). This can be achieved through first enrolling them in an ILN programme with intensive provision of literacy and/or numeracy skill development opportunities. ILN-funded programmes have a higher funding rate to accommodate learners with higher needs.

Note: A learner who is enrolled in an ILN-funded programme must not be enrolled in a DQ1-2 or YG programme at the same time.

Enrolment

A learner may be enrolled and/or re-enrolled in an ILN-funded programme as long as they continue to meet the learner eligibility condition criteria set out in the funding conditions for the relevant year.

Funding conditions by year

Combining learner enrolments at the same TEO

Where there is a gap of less than 90 days between a learner’s enrolments, we count these as one enrolment (minus the length of the gap).