NAO: DfE must increase student numbers to realise full benefits of T Level qualifications

The Department for Education (DfE) must address issues surrounding student take-up, awareness and industry placement numbers to cement T Levels as the main technical education qualification for 16 to 19-year-olds, despite making progress since their introduction, according to a new National Audit Office (NAO) report.¹

From September 2020, students have been able to enrol on T Levels, which DfE sees as critical in addressing skills gaps across the economy. Courses offered cover skills including education, engineering, digital and health.

To date, DfE has introduced 21 T Levels, in phases, with 16 delivered on time despite an ambitious timetable. DfE significantly overestimated student demand initially, but has since revised down its estimates, meeting its most recent estimate for student numbers in September 2024.² More widely, it has reduced its enrolment ambitions, which fell from 100,000 by September 2025 to 70,000 by September 2027.³

Lower-than-expected student numbers, the announcement of the Advanced British Standard (now reversed) and delays defunding overlapping qualifications have impacted market interest from organisations contracted to award individual T Levels, with some having made a financial loss.⁴Low student numbers have also meant that DfE expects to spend £0.7 billion less introducing T Levels than its June 2021 estimate of £1.94 billion.⁵

DfE has recognised that a lack of awareness is a barrier for students, and has introduced various measures to address this.⁶ It has also considered a shortage of industry placements as a potential future constraint on student numbers, although in March 2025 it downgraded this risk for the current year.⁷ Of the students completing a T Level in summer 2024, 98% had undertaken an industry placement. DfE has various initiatives to help expand placements but no longer provides employers with financial incentives.

Fewer students complete their T Levels compared with other level 3 qualifications,⁸ with pass rates declining year on year, although DfE reports that this is in line with expectations.⁹ T Levels are also more expensive than other level 3 qualifications due to the cost of additional teaching hours and industry placements, as well as the extra funding needed to support providers. However, DfE has estimated that T Levels are 25% more economically valuable to students than comparable qualifications.¹⁰

Although DfE has developed plans to monitor benefits – including preparing students for work and having the required skills – in the absence of students' earnings data, and with overall numbers hard to estimate, the anticipated benefits are uncertain.

DfE has evolved the T Levels programme in response to feedback. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) reported in June 2023 that DfE had made good progress against its recommendations, including by strengthening its programme oversight.  

The NAO recommends that DfE develops ways to understand the potential impacts on the demand, benefits and cost of T Levels before making wider strategic decisions around the development of the technical qualifications landscape.

DfE must also continue efforts to increase industry placements, which are critical to offering T Levels to more students, and monitor the impact of student take-up on revised commercial arrangements with awarding bodies.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said:

“T Levels were developed to provide crucial qualifications and industry experience to students, allowing them to go on to further education or begin roles in skilled jobs.

“They have the potential to offer new opportunities for young people and address critical skills gaps across the economy.

“Although the Department for Education has made progress in delivering the wide range of courses available, efforts must be made to increase student numbers and realise all the potentialbenefits of T Levels.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The report will be available on the NAO website via the following link from 00:01 Friday 28 March: https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/investigation-into-introducing-t-levels/ 
2. Based on its latest model, DfE's central estimate is for 49,700 students in September 2027, and 66,100 in September 2029, with upper estimates of 60,000 and 80,000 respectively. As data on students undertaking T Levels have increased over time, DfE has improved its model. 
3. In June 2021, DfE's ambition was for up to 100,000 students starting T Levels by September 2025. In February 2023, an Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) assessment found that this ambition was unachievable, making the programme undeliverable. In 2022, DfE had revised down its ambition to 70,000 by September 2027, although DfE plans to revisit this ambition in 2025.
4. Actual student numbers have been lower across 15 of the 16 T Levels that DfE had introduced by September 2022. As of January 2025, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) estimates that across 13 of these contracts, actual total payments relating to the first four academic cohorts of students may be between 13% and 92% lower than earlier assumptions, with seven contracts 50% or less.
5. Mainly because of student numbers lower than earlier estimates, DfE expects to spend £1.25 billion introducing T Levels, £0.7 billion less than its June 2021 estimate. It has not yet estimated how much T Levels will cost beyond March 2025 given the 2025 Spending Review.
6. Measures introduced include running a national marketing campaign in 2019. DfE subsequently covered T Levels within a broader skills campaign following research findings on what works to raise awareness and to meet Cabinet Office requirements. It also introduced a celebration week to promote T Levels.
7. Until March 2025, DfE assessed not having sufficient industry placements as one of the T Level programme's highest risks (‘amber/red' rating). In March 2025, it reduced this risk to ‘amber/green' for the year after introducing flexibilities so students can do some of their placement remotely, and finding fewer students without a placement in January 2025 compared to the year before.
8. In the 2022/23 academic year, the proportion of students completing their two-year T Level course (the second year of students to complete a T Level) was 66%, lower than other level 3 qualifications, such as large vocational and technical qualifications (75%) and A levels (88%). In the 2023/24 academic year, 71% of students completed their two-year T Level course (provisional data).
9. Since their introduction, the proportion of students passing a T Level has fallen each year, with 97% of the first cohort passing in summer 2022 followed by 94% the year after. The provisional pass rate for T Levels was 89% in summer 2024, with the overall pass rate across the 10 T Levels also assessed in summer 2023 broadly similar. DfE expects this to rise following additional marking. DfE said the phased introduction of T Levels had impacted pass rates in line with its expectations due to the phased introduction approach, as initial providers were selected by DfE based on their quality and capability. Over time, the number of T Levels and providers have increased.
10. DfE'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 August 2023, DfE assumed 30,100 students would start a T Level by 2024-25, leading to a return of £1.20 for every £1 spent. It assumes that benefits will increase significantly over later years with more student numbers and set-up costs spread over a longer period. It estimated that, with 66,100 students by 2027-28, there would be £8.10 of benefits for every £1 spent.