The Lifelong Learning Entitlement is being described as a revolution in higher education. ISE Board Director, Gianina Harvey-Brewin, explains what stackable learning really means for recruitment and development.
The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will enable adults in England to draw down loan funding to study smaller chunks of learning, building up credits towards a qualification over time, across institutions, and throughout their careers.
It’s a system designed for flexibility: fit for adults who want to retrain, upskill, or simply study differently.
We’re just under a year away from the start of LLE-funded courses, so universities are already preparing, redesigning provision into modular and stackable products. But one of the biggest unknowns sits outside higher education altogether: how will employers respond?
From degrees to learning journeys
For decades, the UK’s recruitment and development systems have been built around linear qualifications - full degrees, completed apprenticeships, defined levels. They were neat, familiar, and easy to benchmark.
LLE-funded learners will look very different. They may hold credits from multiple universities, or complete 30-credit chunks that don’t yet amount to a full award. They might pause study for several years before returning, combining academic learning with on-the-job experience.
That diversity is exactly what the policy is designed to encourage, but it also challenges employers to think differently about how they recognise learning and potential.
The recognition gap
Employers have long asked universities for greater flexibility - shorter, career-relevant learning that fits around work. LLE delivers that, but it also challenges the assumptions that underpin most job descriptions and recruitment systems.
Employers will increasingly see applicants with partial qualifications. For example, 60 credits at Level 5 in Data Analytics, or a micro-credential in Project Management forming part of a larger degree.
These achievements represent meaningful progress and capability, but many systems may not yet be configured to capture or value them.
To stay ahead, employers will need to consider how modular credit can be recorded, benchmarked, and weighted within recruitment processes. Otherwise, there’s a risk that learners who take advantage of the LLE’s flexibility are penalised by selection models that still expect traditional, ‘completed’ awards.
Quality and equivalence
One of the strengths of the LLE model is that it’s built on the same credit framework as full degrees and higher technical qualifications. These modules will be designed, validated, and quality-assured through the same processes as any other higher education provision.
Yet for many outside academia, the concept of a ‘30-credit module’ is unfamiliar. Translating credit into language that reflects skills, competencies and applied outcomes will be essential. Employers don’t need to understand academic structures; they need to know what a learner can do as a result of their study.
ISE members can play a central role by shaping how modular qualifications are described, recognised and valued across sectors. Shared understanding between higher education and employers will ensure stackable learning translates into employability, not confusion.
Rethinking selection
The implications for recruitment are significant. Many applicant-tracking systems rely on candidates declaring a completed qualification at a specified level. Others use algorithms that match keywords against job descriptions. Neither model easily accommodates modular learners.
Employers may need to rethink how they assess equivalence and potential - moving from ‘What qualification do you have?’ to ‘What learning and capability can you evidence?’. That might mean adapting application forms, retraining hiring managers, or developing internal guidance for interpreting credit-bearing short courses.
For graduate and early-careers programmes, this will be a critical shift. As flexible learners enter the pipeline, recruitment models that privilege traditional degree pathways may risk excluding exactly the kind of agile, lifelong learners the LLE is designed to support.
Opportunity for workforce development
The LLE isn’t just about new entrants. It also creates a mechanism for employers to support existing staff to gain recognised credit without committing to a full qualification upfront.
Imagine an employee completing a 30-credit module in Business Analytics this year, Leadership next year, and eventually stacking them into a degree over time. That model could reshape how organisations invest in training, retention, and career progression, blending internal CPD with nationally recognised learning.
It also opens opportunities for co-design. Employers can work directly with universities to shape modular content that meets their skills needs while aligning with the national credit framework. For many ISE members, that could be a natural evolution of existing graduate development or apprenticeship partnerships.
Getting ahead of the curve
Right now, universities are focused on system design, funding rules, and validation frameworks. But the cultural readiness among employers will be just as important to whether the LLE succeeds.
There’s a window of opportunity over the next 12 months to shape that understanding. The ISE community can lead that conversation by:
- Exploring how job descriptions and ATS systems might evolve to recognise modular learning
- Sharing examples of where short courses or micro-credentials have been successfully integrated into hiring
- Engaging with policymakers to ensure qualification data flows effectively through new systems
- Developing shared language between higher education and employers to describe the value of stackable credit.
The LLE has the potential to unlock lifelong access to higher education. But flexibility without recognition risks creating invisible learning - valuable to the learner, but not yet visible to the labour market.
If we want the system to succeed, employers need to be more than end-users; they need to be co-designers. The ISE network has a unique opportunity to shape that future, ensuring that when learners take advantage of the new flexibility, employers are ready to welcome them.