Guidance

16 to 19 funding: high value courses premium

Published 10 September 2025

Applies to England

1. Introduction

Education and skills are key components to addressing national and local productivity challenges, making sure individuals have the skills needed to meet the needs of the new economy.

The high value courses premium (HVCP) is funding to encourage and support delivery of selected substantial level 3 study programmes and T Levels in selected A level subjects or sector subject areas (SSAs). These subjects have been selected using data on earnings outcomes as a way of indicating which will help to develop a more productive economy.

This guidance sets out the conditions under which we will pay HVCP in the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

We’ve published the 16 to 19 high value courses premium for construction guidance to explain how HVCP will apply to qualifications in SSA5.2 building and construction in academic year 2026 to 2027.

2. Qualifications attracting HVCP

The qualifications attracting HVCP must be approved for 16 to 19 funding during at least part of the relevant academic year and be:

• an A level in one of the qualifying A level subjects, or
• a level 3 qualification (other than an A level) with recommended guided learning hours (GLH) of 360 or more in a qualifying SSA, or
• a T Level aligned to the qualifying SSA

Qualifying A level subjects
Biology
Chemistry
Computer science
Design and technology
Electronics
Further mathematics
Mathematics
Physics
Statistics

Qualifying SSAs
SSA 2.2 – Mathematics and statistics
SSA 4.1 – Engineering
SSA 4.2 – Manufacturing technologies
SSA 4.3 – Transport operations and maintenance
SSA 5.2 – Building and construction
SSA 6.1 – ICT for practitioners

We selected these qualifying subjects and SSAs because they have higher earnings outcomes according to available data. We considered A level subjects and non-A level subject areas separately. This way of selecting programmes identifies those most likely to contribute to a more productive economy.

We will update the list of qualifications annually to reflect the qualifications approved for funding in the relevant year.

The HVCP does not reflect or anticipate the outcome of the ongoing review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below or the review of level 3 qualifications reform.

The Department for Education communicated the outcomes of the review of level 3 qualifications reform on 12 December 2024. You can check which qualifications will be retained and for how long, as well as those qualifications which will continue to have funding removed as planned. The final post-appeal outcomes of the review of level 3 qualifications reform will be published in due course and will be available through the same link.

Qualifications reform has the latest news on post-16 qualifications reform at level 3 and below.

2.1 2025 to 2026 allocations

We have published the qualifying qualifications that we will use to calculate HVCP for 2025 to 2026 allocations. We have taken the qualifications from those approved for funding for all or part of 2023 to 2024.

We allocate HVCP funding to qualifications funded in the 16 to 19 funding model. Eligibility for HVCP funding does not mean that a qualification will or will not continue to be included on our list of qualifications approved for funding for 16 to 19-year-olds in the future.

3. Students eligible for HVCP

Students eligible for 16 to 19 funding, both full-time and part-time, can attract the premium. To attract the premium, students will also need to be enrolled on a qualifying level 3 programme, defined as follows:

• an academic study programme consisting of at least 2 of the selected A levels^{[footnote 1]}
• a study programme with a core aim of a qualifying level 3 qualification in the selected SSAs with recommended GLH of 360 or more
• a T Level aligned to a qualifying SSA
• qualification must be on our published list of qualifying qualifications

4. Calculation and payment

4.1 Funding rate

We will pay £600 for each student attracting HVCP.

4.2 Calculation

We will calculate HVCP as follows:

Step 1 – identify students eligible for HVCP

Step 2 – calculate the amount of HVCP per institution by:

• multiplying the total number of eligible HVCP students per institution by the funding rate

Read our HVCP student examples worksheet to find examples of students eligible or not for HVCP and how we calculate the allocation.

We base the HVCP payment for a year, on data from 2 years previously. For example, for 2025 to 2026 allocations, we use full year data from the individualised learner record (ILR) or census from 2023 to 2024. You can check the data sources for a particular year on our 16 to 19 allocations page.

5. HVCP student examples

5.1 Payment

We pay funding through 16 to 19 allocations for each academic year, through the usual monthly profile. We will take infrastructure changes such as mergers and demergers into account as far as practicable in calculating the eligible amounts.

6. HVCP and the advanced maths premium

HVCP operates in parallel to the advanced maths premium. Students may qualify for both if they meet the respective criteria for funding.

7. Funding guidance

Further information is in the 16 to 19 funding regulations and the funding rates and formula funding guidance.

8. Contact us

If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.

1. We treat A level double awards as 2 A levels. We do not count AS level double awards. ↩