Level 3 free courses for jobs offer: approval criteria
Criteria that qualifications in the level 3 free courses for jobs offer need to meet alongside the common funding approval criteria.
In September 2020, the Prime Minister announced the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. As part of this, we have introduced the level 3 free courses for jobs (previously known as the level 3 adult offer).
Adults in England who are 19 and over and do not already have a level 3 qualification (equivalent to an advanced technical certificate or diploma, or A levels or higher) can undertake a qualification for free to improve job prospects and earn better wages. In addition, adults in England are also eligible if they are earning under the National Living Wage annually or are unemployed, regardless of their prior qualification level.
There are further details on level 3 free courses for jobs.
We identified the sectors for this offer by reviewing the criteria used to identify qualifications for the high value course premium (HVCP), and adding other relevant sectors based on an assessment of economic need and strategic priority. This offer includes qualifications in the following sector subject areas:
- accounting and finance
- agriculture
- building and construction
- business management
- child development and well-being
- engineering
- environmental conservation
- health and social care
- horticulture and forestry
- hospitality and catering
- ICT for users
- ICT practitioners
- manufacturing technologies
- mathematics and statistics
- medicine and dentistry
- nursing and subjects and vocations allied to medicine
- public services
- science
- teaching and lecturing
- transportation operations and maintenance
- warehousing and distribution
We will include a qualification in this offer if it meets all the following criteria. The qualification must:
- be regulated by Ofqual
- be already approved for funding in the funding year 2023 to 2024 through the ESFA funded adult education budget, advanced learner loans
- be operationally available for all or part of the funding year 2022 to 2023
- be at level 3
- be at least 60 guided learning hours (GLH) in size
- primarily support a student to enter a specific job role, or directly into employment (this includes qualifications that can be delivered in a workplace setting and support upskilling or specialisation)
- be in one of the sector subject areas listed
- not be in scope to have funding approval removed as a result of the review of qualifications with no or low publicly funded enrolments
- not mainly serve as an introduction to further training or study
- not be an Access to Higher Education diploma, because this offer focusses on directly entering and progressing through employment, rather than progressing to higher education
- not be a technical qualification in T Levels
Final decisions on adding qualification to the offer will factor in the overall affordability of the offer.
You can find the list of qualifications included in the level 3 free courses for jobs on the list of qualifications approved for funding.
Qualifications in this offer are still subject to the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England.
You can ask us to consider adding technical and vocational qualifications to the level 3 free courses for jobs where they meet its criteria. We have done this to make sure that the offer stays up to date and relevant to the needs of the economy, and to review qualifications that either an awarding organisation or an authority with devolved adult education functions believes should be included in the list. This facility will be an additional exemption to the moratorium on approving qualifications for funding.
We will also consider adding a qualification outside of the sector subject areas listed above, where it meets all the other criteria and there is robust evidence of wage outcomes. Alongside this, we will also consider evidence such as:
- robust evidence of shortages in valuable skills
- being identified in a regional skills plan or other strategic skills-based strategies and plans
- support from skills advisory panels, mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) or the Greater London Authority (GLA), or a local enterprise partnership
We will only accept these requests from:
- awarding organisations
- MCAs that have devolved adult education functions in England and the Mayor of London (GLA)
Where the primary aim of the qualification, as referenced in the qualification’s specification, is not to support a student to enter a specific job role or directly into employment but is in a sector subject area already included in the offer, we will consider robust evidence of employer need to support the application. For example, we would consider letters of recommendation from 3 or more employers, operating in the same sector as the qualification is in, indicating substantial demand, submitted via an awarding organisation, an MCA or the GLA.
We will only consider this for technical, occupational, and vocational qualifications in sector subject areas already included in the offer and qualifications already approved for funding. We will use these employer recommendations alongside an assessment of whether the qualification’s content and assessment arrangements are sufficiently occupationally focussed, and whether it can support a student to prepare for a job role or progress through a job role on the occupational areas the qualification is in.
Awarding organisations (AOs) must complete an AO level 3 free courses for jobs notification form.
MCAs and GLA must complete an MCA GLA level 3 free courses for jobs notification form.
Please use one form for your organisation, which includes all the qualifications you notify to us in that month.
There are no further application windows in 2022 to 2023. For the 2023 to 2024 funding year, we will consider qualifications for free courses for jobs at the following points:
- September 2023 (with outcomes communicated in December 2023)
- April 2024 (with outcomes communicated in July 2024)
You must email the completed forms to qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk before 5pm on:
- 18 September 2023 for the September 2023 window
- 22 April 2024 for the April 2024 window
If we decide not to approve a qualification for this offer, we will tell you why.
When we add a qualification to this offer, we will not back date its funding approval start date. The funding approval start date will be the date we add it to the offer.