Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 20
35th Report - Introducing T Levels
Published 27 Jun 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Introducing T Levels All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department said that as T Levels reflect a major change to the technical qualification landscape, it will take time to develop course content.58 We challenged the Department on how quickly T Level content could be adapted to ensure students were taught the skills needed within the economy both now and in the future.59 For example, in early 2025 the government announced defence spending increasing to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027, supporting highly skilled jobs, and a £600 million investment in training 60,000 more skilled construction workers.60 In December 2024, the Department announced it was stopping the Onsite Construction T Level.61 In response to emerging skills needs, the Department described looking across all skills routes and opportunities. It was also investing in Skills Bootcamps, 12-week training programmes, 56 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.4, 1.6, 2.9 57 ITL0002 58 C&AG’s Report, para 2.7 59 Qq 9-10 60 HMG, Prime Minister sets out biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War; 25 February 2025; HM Treasury, Government unleashes next generation of construction workers to build 1.5m homes, 23 March 2025 61 DfE, The outcomes of the Review of Qualifications Reform at Level 3 in England, 12 December 2024 14 to quickly prepare people for work.62 The Department and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) also set out how, each year, they review and update the content of T Levels and will continue to do so. However, it could take a minimum of 18 months to make substantive changes to occupational standards.63 Pearson and City and Guilds, organisations that develop and award T Levels, also highlighted the excessive content within T Levels, and inability to respond quickly to market changes as difficulties for the Department in scaling up T Levels.64 Tracking and understanding progress
From: Public Accounts Committee, 35th Report - Introducing T Levels (HC 822), 27 June 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fifth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 27 August 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fifth report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-sixth report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on T Levels and gives target implementation dates ranging from autumn 2025 to March 2026.
- On raising student awareness and enrolments, it agrees and says it will build on this through the continuing 'Skills for Life' campaign and by improving careers guidance. Its plan will be "fully implemented by September 2029".
- On industry placements, it agrees that it "can do more" to grow high-quality placements, and "will set out further plans by December 2025".
- On how T Levels fit with other qualifications, it says a post-16 education and skills strategy, to be published in autumn 2025, will set out "clearly where T Levels will sit alongside other funded qualifications and their purpose".
- On college funding pressures, it agrees and has introduced "an additional temporary 5% uplift" to the T Level funding rate for academic year 2025-26. It also says it will continue to work with providers to assess ongoing costs.