Guidance

Approved technical and higher technical qualifications

The higher technical qualifications and technical occupation qualifications that meet Department for Education (DfE) approval criteria.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 2 June 2025
• Last updated: 21 September 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 21 September 2026

     We have updated 'Approved higher technical qualifications' and 'Approved technical occupation qualifications' for September 2026.

  2. 29 July 2026

     We have updated 'Approved higher technical qualifications' and 'Approved technical occupation qualifications' for July 2026.

  3. 17 July 2026

     We have added Department for Education approved lists of higher technical qualifications (HTQs) and technical occupation qualifications (TOQs).

  4. 8 April 2026

     The Excel and OpenDoc attachments have been updated to latest versions for March 2026.

  5. 24 February 2026

     The Excel and OpenDoc attachments have been updated to latest versions for February 2026.

  6. 10 November 2025

     The attachment 'Approved higher technical qualifications' has been updated to the October 2025 version. An 'opendoc' format has been added with the same information as the Excel version.

  7. 1 October 2025

     The attachment 'Approved higher technical qualifications' has been updated to the September 2025 version.

  8. 28 August 2025

     The attachment 'Approved higher technical qualifications' has been updated to the August 2025 version.

  9. 11 August 2025

     The July 2025 edition of the Excel attachment has had some adjustments. An updated version has been uploaded.

  10. 6 August 2025

      The attachment 'Approved higher technical qualifications' has been updated to the July 2025 version.

  11. 2 June 2025

      First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Approved higher technical qualifications: September 2026

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 44.7 KB

Approved technical occupation qualifications: September 2026

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 31.7 KB

Details

DfE-approved lists of:

• higher technical qualifications (HTQs)
• technical occupation qualifications (TOQs)

We will periodically review each approved technical qualification to determine whether: 

• it should continue to be approved 
• it should be revised 
• approval should be withdrawn