LLN, foundation-skills and learner-support staffing
Estimate the support hours a cohort needs for language, literacy, numeracy and digital skills and what that means in staffing.
For RTO managers, LLN specialists, student support coordinators
How to use this calculator
Start with the worked example below. Replace the figures in Your numbers with your own inputs, then select Recalculate. Read the assumptions and limitations before using the estimate in your planning. Save report downloads the last calculated results and inputs.
Support hours for the cohort
175 hours
Screening everyone, plus direct support and adjustments for those identified.
- Learners identified as needing support
- 15 people
- Screened learners multiplied by the identified percentage.
- Screening hours
- 25 hours
- Administering and recording the screen across those screened.
- Direct support hours
- 150 hours
- Support and reasonable adjustment for identified learners.
- Support staff needed
- 0.44 people
- Total hours divided by what one support person can deliver over the programme. A fraction still needs a person rostered.
- Cost for the cohort
- $12,250.00
- Total support hours at the hourly cost entered.
- Cost per learner
- $204.17
- Spread across everyone enrolled, since screening applies to the whole cohort. This is the figure to carry into your fee model.
This is an estimate to support your professional judgement, not a determination. Our tools draft. You validate.
Saves the last calculated inputs, results and assumptions to your device. Recalculate after changing inputs.
Your numbers
Everyone enrolled, not only those already identified as needing support.
Percentage who complete an LLN or foundation-skills screen at enrolment.
Percentage of those screened who need support beyond ordinary teaching.
Administering the screen and recording the result.
Direct support across their whole enrolment: one-to-one, small group, adjusted materials.
Adjusting assessment and delivery, and documenting the adjustment.
Cost per hour of an LLN specialist or learner-support officer, including on-costs.
Hours one support person can give to direct learner support weekly.
Weeks over which the support is delivered.
How this is worked out
Screened = learners × screened%. Identified = screened × need%. Screening hours = screened × minutes ÷ 60. Support hours = identified × (support + adjustment hours). Total = screening + support. Staff needed = total ÷ (hours per week × programme weeks).
What it assumes
- Support hours are spread across the programme rather than concentrated at assessment time. In practice demand peaks before assessments.
- The identified percentage comes from an actual screen, not an estimate. An unscreened cohort's need is unknown, not zero.
- One support person can work with learners for the weekly hours entered without that time being eroded by administration.
What it does NOT account for
- Disability support and access requirements, which are a separate obligation with separate funding.
- Interpreting and translation services.
- Trainer time spent supporting learners in class, which is real and is usually the largest uncosted part.
- Assistive technology, licences and adjusted materials as physical or software costs.
- Learners who need support but decline it.
What to do next
- If your screened percentage is below 100, treat the identified figure as a floor rather than an estimate.
- Compare the staffing figure against who currently absorbs this work. It is frequently trainers, unpaid and unrecorded.
- Record reasonable adjustments against the learner's file as they are made, not retrospectively.
- Check that support hours are funded in your fee model rather than assumed; the delivery-pricing calculator can carry them as an overhead.
Sources
- Standards for RTOs 2025: learner support: Outcome Standards: training and assessment supports each learner, including identifying and meeting support needs (reviewed 2026-08-27)
- Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF): The common reference for describing LLN levels in Australian VET. (reviewed 2026-08-27)
- Support hours per learner: Entered as an input: need varies far too widely by cohort and training product for a default to be treated as a benchmark. (reviewed 2026-08-27)