DfE shaves £500m off T Levels spending

The Department for Education is set to spend over half a billion pounds less than planned on T Levels due to low student recruitment, FE Week has learned.

New figures shared with Parliament by minister Janet Daby show the DfE expects to spend £1.247 billion on the new technical qualifications by the end of the 2024-25 financial year.

Previous ministers said the total spend from pre-2019 development through to the 2024-25 financial year was due to be £1.754 billion. Data from the government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), published by the DfE in January, revised this figure down to £1.653 billion.

The DfE claimed the huge new spending adjustment was solely down to lower-than-expected student enrolments.

The department told FE Week: “Costs have been adjusted to reflect the most up to date data on T Level student numbers, which has reduced the costs of the programme.”

The DfE, which confirmed the £1.247 billion includes capital funding, added that underspends are usually returned to the Treasury but can sometimes be reallocated to wider education priorities.

DfE made a saving

T Levels were launched in 2020 and are hoped to be the technical equivalent option to A-levels for 16- to 19-year-olds.

Around 1,300 students started a T Level in the first year of rollout and numbers have steadily increased each year, but at a much slower rate than predicted. 

Figures published on Friday show that T Level starts grew 59 per cent in 2024-25, moving from 16,085 to 25,508. A similar growth rate was recorded in 2023-24.

Around 58,500 young people have started a T Level to date.

Catherine Sezen, director of education policy at the Association of Colleges, said the reduced spending figures “confirm that DfE made a saving on lower-than-expected T Level recruitment”.

However, she pointed out that “students who ended up taking other subjects in colleges were still funded, albeit at a different level”.

Sezen added: “While the numbers have not fully met the government’s initial expectations, there has been a steady increase in enrolments over the past five years and it is critical that funding levels are maintained to ensure there are sufficient T Level places to train the next generation of skilled labour in sectors such as health and digital.”

Gold standard?

T Levels have a pass rate of around 90 per cent but have also recorded drop-out rates of a third – much higher than other technical course options.

The new spending and starts figures come days after the independent curriculum and assessment review (CAR), led by Becky Francis, highlighted that, using 2023 data, just 2 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds took T Levels.

Despite this, and the high drop-out rate, the CAR panel’s interim report backed the government’s view that T Levels are “the gold standard technical qualification”.

Anne Murdoch, senior adviser in college leadership at the Association of School and College Leaders, raised concern about the government’s level 3 reforms, which could remove funding from popular applied general qualification alternatives like BTECs.

She said: “Although the number of students studying T Levels is growing, this does not appear to be at the rate that was initially anticipated. This demonstrates the challenges involved in introducing a new system of qualifications, particularly one that also requires significant input from employers.

“While T Levels can grow and develop further as time goes on, our immediate concern is that the premature withdrawal of BTECs and other applied general qualifications risks leaving some young people without a pathway to future study or work in the meantime.

“This is likely to have a particularly big impact on students with special educational needs and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, as many of these students study BTECs before going on to work and higher education.”