Revealed: 11 T-level colleges sharing £9m to upgrade facilities

The first batch of colleges that will receive cash from the government’s T-levels capital fund have been revealed.

Eleven of them will share £8.65 million to help build new classrooms and refurbish buildings in readiness for the introduction of the new technical qualifications in September 2020.

Further cash from the fund, which totals £38 million, will be awarded to other T-level providers later this year.

“I’m thrilled to announce the first batch of T-level providers who will benefit from the T-level capital fund, so young people will have access to high-quality facilities come September 2020 when the first T-level courses will be taught,” said skills minister Anne Milton.

“I look forward to announcing further allocations of funding soon.”

The 11 providers announced today include The Blackpool and Fylde College that will receive £400,000 to invest in “state of the art facilities” for construction students, and Barnsley College that will receive £2.2 million to build a new Digital Innovation Hub.

The Department for Education said providers submitted proposals based on their “specific needs” and all received the funding they applied for in full.

The T-level capital fund is being delivered in two parts. The first, launched in January 2019, is for the 2020 providers to refurbish their existing buildings or to build new spaces. These grants are not available to private providers, only colleges and schools.

Following this, funding for specialist equipment such as digital and audio visual kit, will be allocated to providers in spring 2020.

The first three T-levels for digital, education and construction will be taught from September 2020 by 50 providers.

The first 11 providers to win T-levels capital fund cash: