Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
35th Report - Introducing T Levels
Public Accounts Committee
HC 822
Published 27 June 2025
Recommendations
2
Accepted
Publish plan to improve employer awareness of T Levels, capitalising on local arrangements.
Recommendation
There is a risk that colleges cannot secure enough industry placements for more students to complete their T Levels. Industry placements are a mandatory part of a T Level. While 98% of students finishing their T Level in summer 2024 …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees and is improving employer awareness through the T Level Ambassador Network, planning to appoint regional chairs this year. It has also introduced new flexibilities and targeted funding for placements and will set out further plans to grow high-quality industry placements by December 2025.
HM Treasury
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3
Accepted
Publish clarity for students, colleges, and teachers on T Levels' alignment with other qualifications.
Recommendation
The Department has not provided clarity on how T Levels align with other technical qualifications and career pathways. After pausing the previous government’s decision to defund qualifications overlapping with T Levels, in December 2024 the new government announced funding would …
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Government Response Summary
The government will publish a post-16 education and skills strategy in autumn 2025, which will clearly set out how T Levels fit with other funded qualifications. Skills England has also published occupational maps to provide clarity on career routes.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (26)
4
Conclusion
Accepted
T Levels are intended to address skills gaps and meet employers’ needs, but they cannot quickly be adapted to meet this objective. T Levels have been developed and approved by employers to, for example, better meet their needs and improve students’ employment prospects. It will take time to develop course …
Government Response Summary
The government states it already has agile processes for reviewing T Level content and is implementing changes where identified, such as the revised T Levels in health and science with a first teach in September 2026. It will continue to work with Skills England for regular content review and updates.
5
Conclusion
Accepted
The Department has not yet provided complete clarity over what good progress looks like in T Levels becoming established and when benefits will be realised. The Department has identified four potential benefits associated with T Levels, including progression to further study or skilled employment, and higher earnings than those studying …
Government Response Summary
The government states it uses several published datasets to measure T Level benefits and KPIs, and commits to updating the economic benefit assessment at regular intervals. It will also continue to review its benefits management strategy annually to track progress.
6
Conclusion
Accepted
Various factors, such as teacher recruitment and awarding organisation fees, will influence colleges’ uptake of T Levels particularly given their wider financial challenges. The Department recognises the additional burden faced by colleges to recruit T Level teachers, especially given that T Levels themselves are addressing areas of skills shortages. It …
Government Response Summary
The government will publish a post-16 education and skills strategy in autumn 2025 that includes strengthening support for the FE workforce and will provide updates on teacher recruitment and retention, aiming for 6,500 additional teachers. It is also developing a new FE Teacher Industry Exchange scheme and investing over £1.2 billion annually in Skills, including continued Targeted Retention Incentives.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education (The Department) and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) on introducing T Levels.2
Government Response Summary
The government outlined a comprehensive plan to increase T Level awareness, enrolments, and quality, including removing funding for overlapping qualifications and continuing the 'Skills for Life' campaign. Updated specifications will be introduced from September 2025, with full implementation by September 2029.
7
Conclusion
The Department’s latest forecast of 66,100 T Level starters in September 2029 is significantly more than the 25,508 students starting in September 2024. We asked the Department about its confidence in meeting this forecast – it told us it was positive progress could be made and that it was improving …
8
Conclusion
The Department told us it relies on the positive experiences and word of mouth from T Level students as one way to raise awareness.11 However, students have reported varied satisfaction. For instance, those who started a T Level in 2021 reported higher satisfaction with their industry placements (78%) than the …
9
Conclusion
We heard of various reasons for students not being aware of T Levels or keen to enrol. Written evidence we received described students being unclear about what T Levels offered and uncertainty over their position particularly following government’s announcement to reverse introducing a new qualification, the Advanced British Standard, which …
10
Conclusion
The Department introduced the T Level Foundation Year for those needing support before starting a T Level. However, few of those on these courses progressed to T Levels – in 2021/22 only 8% of those completing the Foundation year then did a T Level.19 The Department acknowledged this was lower …
11
Conclusion
We challenged the Department on the underrepresentation of women in engineering and manufacturing T Levels, which mirrored the current workforce, and what it could learn from others internationally. This included the Supporting Adolescent Girls’ Education programme in Zimbabwe, which supports out-of-school adolescent girls into education and vocational training through revising …
12
Conclusion
Employers play a critical role across T Levels, through helping to develop qualification content that meets their requirements and providing students with industry placements.27 However not all employers are aware of T Levels – the Department told us that currently only a third of employers know about the qualification.28 Written …
13
Conclusion
Industry placements are a mandatory part of T Levels. Of those finishing their T Level in summer 2024, 98% had completed a placement. However, in August 2023, the Department estimated that shortages in placements could limit T Level places to 48,000.31 Nevertheless, the Department told us that its work to …
14
Conclusion
Colleges play a key role coordinating and securing industry placements for T Level students. They will need to find more placements as student numbers increase, ensuring employers can offer placements but also that they have the capacity to source and oversee placements.35 The Department said it offers colleges £550 per …
15
Conclusion
The Department also described its work to address employers’ concerns and challenges in offering placements.40 For example, we received written evidence from Make UK and EngineeringUK describing the health and safety concerns associated with hosting students.41 The Department described reintroducing funding to support employers, available from 23 April 2025 to …
16
Conclusion
In 2019, the Department stated that T Levels would become the main technical qualification option for 16- to 19-year-olds.46 In response to questions around how T Levels fit into its plans to address critical skills gaps across the economy, the Department told us they are part of a landscape 37 …
17
Conclusion
In December 2024, the Department announced that there would be no further enrolments on the Onsite Construction T Level after September 2024. In March 2025, it announced it would also stop the Healthcare Science T Level, and that it had stopped developing T Levels in catering and beauty therapy.50 We …
18
Conclusion
In December 2024, following its previous decision to pause defunding qualifications overlapping with T Levels, the Department announced funding would continue for certain qualifications until 2027. It also committed to continually reviewing those qualifications with low or no enrolments and confirmed that the Curriculum and Assessment Review, expected in Autumn …
19
Conclusion
The Department for Education’s (The Department’s) aims for T Levels include improving technical education and work outcomes for young people, alongside having qualifications that better meet employers’ skills needs. T Levels are based on occupational standards that are developed and approved by employers. They include a core curriculum, alongside a …
20
Conclusion
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 …
21
Conclusion
The Department has identified four potential benefits associated with T Levels – progression to further study or skilled employment; students’ readiness for their chosen career; higher earnings than those studying other level 3 qualifications; and employers’ confidence in T Level graduates.65 The Department described that, as it would take time …
22
Conclusion
The Department only has targets in place for two of its four identified benefits – progression to further study or skilled employment and students’ readiness for their chosen career. It does not have targets to understand progress in employers’ confidence in T Level graduates or students’ earnings. As at June …
23
Conclusion
The Department’s current “best judgement” is that T Levels will be 25% more valuable than other level 3 qualifications (around £23,000 per student over their lifetime, in 2019–20 prices).71 It will get a better understanding of this uplift as the programme matures. For example, it uses assumptions on students’ future …
24
Conclusion
For benefits to be realised, the Department needs to increase the number of students enrolling but also then completing and passing T Levels.74 Given that the Department withdrew some T Levels due to lack of demand, we questioned the Department on its confidence in achieving its latest forecast for increasing …
25
Conclusion
In terms of pass rates, the Department told us that it does not set a target but that it would expect to see pass rates slowly rise as the qualification becomes more established and better understood. It also noted that pass rates are influenced by new T Levels being introduced …
26
Conclusion
Colleges play a critical role in providing T Levels – as well as sourcing industrial placements, they must have enough teaching staff with the right expertise, industry-standard facilities and specialist equipment to teach T Level students.79 Alongside introducing T Levels, colleges are also facing difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers and …
27
Conclusion
The Department told us it recognises the additional burden of T Levels on colleges. It had sought to address this, and help colleges transition to T Levels from other level 3 programmes, by providing a 10% funding uplift in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This reduced to a 5% funding uplift for …
28
Conclusion
For each student enrolled on a T Level, colleges need to pay a set fee to those organisations developing and awarding qualifications. For the latest set of contracts with awarding organisations procured by IfATE, fees per student had increased for six contracts, by amounts ranging 79 C&AG’s report, para 3.17 …