Regulating Technical Qualifications in T Levels
Applies to England
Consultation description
Proposals at a glance
This consultation asks for views on proposed changes to the regulatory framework for Technical Qualifications (TQs), which are necessary to implement the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) policy decisions. We are proposing to introduce new Qualification Level Conditions (QLCs) that require awarding organisations to:
- aggregate overall T Level results and issue certificates
- collect centre declarations of Industry Placement completion and to take reasonable steps to assure themselves that declarations are supported by evidence; we will provide guidance to support this
- comply with DfE’s published subject content
We also propose to:
- issue guidance to ensure that the Industry Placement is included as part of an awarding organisation’s determination of the Total Qualification Time (TQT) for a T Level
- update the review and appeal arrangements for T Levels, to ensure these cover all aspects of the T Level
- remove a reference to awarding organisations publishing exemplification materials of actual student work, to reflect how exemplification materials are used in T Level delivery
- amend our framework to provide for Subject Level Conditions should they be necessary in future to support consistency between awarding organisations offering T Levels in the same subject
Taken together, these changes mean that in future everything that currently makes up a T Level will be delivered by or reported to Ofqual-regulated awarding organisations, with no distinction between the Ofqual-regulated TQ and the wider T Level programme consisting of the TQ and the Industry Placement currently overseen by DfE. To reflect that all parts of the T Level will fall within Ofqual’s regulation, we will rename our ‘TQ Qualification Level Conditions’ to ‘T Level Qualification Level Conditions’ and replace references throughout our regulatory framework accordingly.
We have published our proposed updated T Level Qualification Levels Conditions, requirements and guidance in part C of this consultation. Additions and amendments to the existing TQ QLCs are highlighted in bold text.
Audience
This consultation is open to anyone who wishes to respond, but we expect it to be of most interest to:
- awarding organisations that currently deliver or are considering delivering T Levels
- representative bodies of those awarding organisations
- schools, colleges and other centres that deliver T Levels, including those that arrange Industry Placements
- employers and their representative bodies involved in Industry Placements or in setting occupational standards
- teachers, assessors and other practitioners involved in delivering or assessing T Levels
- students, parents and carers with an interest in how T Levels are assessed, certificated and quality assured
Duration
This consultation will be open for 6 weeks, opening on Thursday 29 October 2026 and closing at 11:59pm on Thursday 10 December 2026.
Respond online
Responses should be submitted via the online consultation platform at Regulating Technical Qualifications in T Levels.
Other ways to respond
If for exceptional reasons you are unable to use the online consultation platform, for example because you use specialist accessibility software that is incompatible with the platform, you may request an alternative format. Please email consultations@ofqual.gov.uk to request this.
For information on how Ofqual will use and manage your data, please see the Annex.