More must be done to ensure more students enrol in T Levels if they are to be a success. In a report on the introduction of T Levels, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called on the government to articulate its plan to tackle the significant challenges that remain in introducing the new two-year technical qualification.
In September 2020, the Department for Education introduced T Levels, two-year technical qualifications for 16- to 19-year-olds across a range of skills such as early years education, healthcare and digital.
As of March 2025, the Department had introduced 21 T Levels, with 16 of these delivered on time. One more will be introduced in September 2025, and two existing T Levels will be stopped.
Designed to support young people into skilled employment and bridge
skills gaps, a T Level equates to three A levels and involves an industry
placement and more learning hours than similar technical qualifications.
While early uptake of T levels has been slow, the Department for Education said it is confident that it can significantly scale up T Level enrolment to 66,100 by September 2029, from 25,508 in September 2024 (significantly fewer than its original ambition).
However, the PAC found that more needs to be done to build awareness of T Levels, with only half of year 9 to 11 students having heard of them in 2023. While only a third of employers who offer industry placements require students to finish the T Level said that they are aware of them.
The PAC’s inquiry also found that women and disadvantaged students are underrepresented in some T Level courses, such as engineering, and that students with special educational needs are less likely to enrol on a T Level than in other vocational courses.
“T Levels have the potential to be a significant force for good in equipping young people with everything they need for their burgeoning careers,” said Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair of the Committee).
“But without the wider awareness in industry and critical mass of student enrolments, T Levels may remain very much a minority pursuit, when they could become a natural and enriching step in many students’ lives,” he said.
Clifton-Brown noted that many T Level students have had positive experiences, with seven in ten students feeling well prepared for the workplace.
“Government must enter campaign mode to inject life into T Levels to build enrolments, focusing on and capitalising on local employment needs,” he said.
The government’s ambitions for the UK’s economic growth and success are dependent upon the skills of this country’s workforce. But the demands of the changing skills landscape have never been more volatile. As well as providing true clarity on what T Levels can offer interested students and employers, the government must allow far more flexibility for the qualification for it to be a tool that can swiftly meet needs where they arise.”
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