T Levels funding guide 2024 to 2025
Updated 13 February 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/t-level-funding/t-levels-funding-guide-2024-to-2025
Summary
Designed with businesses and employers, T Levels are 2-year, level 3 technical qualifications intended to give students the skills that the industry needs. They bring classroom learning and an extended industry placement together.
New for 2024 to 2025
These are changes for the academic year.
We have retained the 10% increase to the funding rates for T Levels (bands 6 to 9) applied in the academic year 2023 to 2024, for the academic year 2024 to 2025. This is for one extra year. All funding rates for academic year 2025 to 2026 are still to be confirmed.
We have added the new wave 4 T Levels that are due to be delivered from the academic year 2024 to 2025 to the list of specialisms.
We have reduced the under-delivery tolerance rate for T Levels for 2024 to 2025 as follows:
- 5% for institutions that started delivering T Levels in the academic year 2022 to 2023 or earlier
- 10% for institutions that started delivering T Levels in the academic year 2023 to 2024
The tolerance rate remains at 20% for institutions that start to deliver T Levels in the academic year 2024 to 2025.
We will review our funding methodology for the 2025 to 2026 allocations. We will publish further details if there are any changes.
How T Level funding is different from the way we fund 16 to 19 study programmes
We have built on the existing arrangements to distribute T Level funding for 16 to 19 year olds, including:
- 4 additional funding bands to accommodate the different sizes of T Levels
- funding based on the hours above the usual full-time rate for study programmes spread over 2 years because T Levels are usually 2-year programmes – where institutions deliver T Levels over 3 years to ensure that students undertake a 12 months’ long industry placement, we will only fund the T Level for the first 2 years of the programme
- consistent funding for 18 year olds because T Levels have fixed hours
- industry placement funding at a flat rate of £550, with half paid in the first year and half in the second
- extra disadvantage funding to reflect the larger T Level programme
Calculate your programme funding
Figure 1: 16 to 19 funding formula diagram
16 to 19 funding formula
Core programme funding
To calculate core programme funding, we take the student numbers and multiply them by:
- funding rate per student (dependent on funding band)
- retention factor
- programme cost weighting
We then add:
- English and maths funding
- disadvantage funding
- large programme funding
and multiply the total by:
- area cost
Total programme funding
To calculate total programme funding, we take the total core programme funding and:
- subtract the condition of funding adjustment, then add
- advanced maths premium
- core maths premium
- high value courses premium
- T Levels industry placement funding
Total funding
We add the following elements, where appropriate, to the total funding:
- care standards funding
- high needs students funding
- student support funding, above the minimum discretionary bursary funding of £500
T Level funding
There are some differences between T Level funding and 16 to 19 study programme funding.
We have based the academic year 2024 to 2025 funding allocations for T Level students on your estimated new start student numbers across the funding bands, plus the number of carry-over students identified from the 2023 to 2024 academic year.
New starter student numbers are returned via the T Level data collection.
We calculate carry-over student numbers using your 2023 to 2024 individualised learner record (ILR) R04 or autumn 2023 census return, selecting T Level students in bands 6 to 9 where the planned end date of the latest T Level programme aim is after 31 July 2024 and where there is no actual end date.
It is very important that you accurately record planned hours so that we calculate your funding correctly. We have published the record your T Level data correctly guidance to help with this. It contains examples of how T Level programme elements and scenarios should be recorded in your data returns.
Core formula funding elements
These are the sections of the top line of the funding formula.
Student numbers
At present, we do not fund T Levels using the full 16 to 19 lagged funding methodology.
For the academic year 2024 to 2025, we use planned student numbers (2024 starts) that you submitted in October 2023, and your carry-in students (2023 T Level cohort), which should include the occupational specialisms being taken. T Level student numbers form part of the overall student numbers within an organisation.
T Level students will, in the main, be students who would otherwise have taken other 16 to 19 courses. Therefore, the funding of planned T Level student numbers will not change an institution’s overall allocation of lagged student numbers – only the bands in which we will fund them. T Level funding will be allocated as additional hours (through students being moved to higher funding bands), but not additional students.
We are reviewing our funding methodology for T Levels in the academic year 2025 to 2026. We will publish further details if there are any changes.
Distribution of students across funding bands
Once we have agreed T Level numbers, we redistribute those numbers from band 5 into the T Level funding bands, as shown in table 1, with your overall lagged students number remaining the same for the academic year.
Table 1
| Existing funding band | Lagged students before agreeing T Level numbers | New funding bands | Lagged and T Level students after agreeing T Level numbers |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | Band 8 | 20 |
| - | - | Band 7 | 40 |
| - | - | Band 6 | 40 |
| Band 5 | 500 | Band 5 | 400 |
| Band 4 | 200 | Band 4 | 200 |
| Band 3 | 100 | Band 3 | 100 |
| Band 2 | 100 | Band 2 | 100 |
| Band 1 | 100 | Band 1 | 100 |
| Total | 1,000 | Total | 1,000 |
T Level numbers would have otherwise been funded as band 5. The extra funding that T Level numbers attract is the difference between the T Level band and the band 5. For example, a T Level band 7 can be understood as being a band 5 that is already part of your overall lagged numbers plus the additional funding needed to reach the band 7 funding rate.
To note: as with all other students, allocated T Level students will attract all formulaic elements (for example, programme cost weightings, retention and disadvantage). In addition, the number of industry placements that are funded is directly related to the allocated number of band 6 to 9 students.
T Level in-year reconciliation process
We calculate under- and over-delivery against your planned numbers by reviewing your data in-year.
To do this, we review your first data return of the year:
- R04 ILR return for 2024 to 2025
- school census autumn return 2024
Then we compare your T Level enrolments against your allocated numbers.
If we change your T Level student numbers, we will recalculate your allocation and issue another allocation statement in spring 2025. When we do this, we will return these students to band 5 because they are taking an alternative 16 to 19 programme. This means we will reduce your funding by removing:
- the difference between the T Level band and band 5 (plus all formulaic elements)
- industry placement funding
We may also compare your first data return of the year against your last data return of the year. If the final data return shows that the in-year data is inaccurate, we will recover some or all of the T Level funding we allocated in spring 2026. We would not allocate more funding as a result of this end-of-year exercise.
We do not accept business cases for changes to 2024 to 2025 student numbers, including where you fail to submit accurate data in the R04 or autumn school census for 2024 to 2025.
We will, however, accept business cases within the published thresholds if data errors have an impact on your carry-in students in next year’s allocation.
Under-delivery
We apply a tolerance for under-delivery because we recognise that you will have planned and committed expenditure to deliver your agreed T Level student numbers.
This tolerance is:
- 5% against each T Level funding band for institutions that started to deliver any T Levels in the academic year 2022 to 2023 or earlier
- 10% against each T Level funding band for institutions that started to deliver any T Levels in the academic year 2023 to 2024
- 20% against each T Level funding band for institutions starting to deliver T Levels in academic year 2024 to 2025
We have published tolerance examples to show you what your delivery may look like for under- and over-delivery.
Exceptional in-year growth in overall student numbers
The exceptional in-year growth process will apply if recruitment to T Levels results in an overall increase in lagged student numbers. This process is subject to affordability. Exceptional in-year growth does not apply to both independent learning providers, which are subject to separate funding reconciliation arrangements, and academies funded on estimates that are subject to pupil number adjustment.
Funding bands and rates
For T Levels, we set the funding band for each occupational specialism based on the expected guided learning hours (GLH) for the core and specialist content.
We expect that providers will deliver at least the minimum planned hours unless there are exceptional circumstances. We have set out the average and minimum hours for each band in table 2. More information on the circumstances in which it is acceptable to record planned hours below the minimum is in the delivery is less than the minimum hours section.
Table 2 shows the average and minimum hours for each band.
Table 2
| Average planned hours | Minimum planned hours required for the band | |
|---|---|---|
| Band 6 – small T Levels | 1,330 hours | 1,180 hours |
| Band 7 – medium T Levels | 1,530 hours | 1,380 hours |
| Band 8 – large T Levels | 1,680 hours | 1,580 hours |
| Band 9 – very large T Levels | 1,830 hours | 1,730 hours |
When a T Level programme is smaller than the minimum hours, we use the planned hours recorded to determine the appropriate funding band.
We do not fund T Levels at a higher band than the one set for the student’s occupational specialism, even when the planned hours exceed the minimum for a higher band.
The planned hours recorded for T Levels must not include industry placements or additional qualifications that are not part of the T Level. Industry placements have a separate funding rate and the large programme uplift gives extra funding for AS and A levels. From academic year 2024 to 2025, you must include the hours for English and maths qualifications in the T Level hours. There is more information on recording T Levels on GOV.UK.
We pay more for T Levels because they have more teaching hours, and we are more prescriptive about what is delivered and the contents of a course than for 16 to 19 study programmes.
T Level funding rates have increased as part of the 3-year spending review. We have retained the 10% increase we applied to the funding rates for T Levels in the academic year 2023 to 2024, for the academic year 2024 to 2025. We fund students at different rates in the 2 years of their programmes depending on the applicable rates at the time.
Usually, a T Level programme will last 2 years and we publish the funding rate for the whole programme. We pay 50% of the funding rate each year, at the applicable rate for that year. We do not usually pay any additional funding for students who continue on their T Level into a third year. We will only fund students for one further year when they meet the criteria for a funded retake set out in the funding regulations. Students whose T Level only lasts one year will receive 50% of the T Level rate for the specific year in question.
You can see how the full T Level funding rates are made up, including the 10% uplift, in table 3.
Table 3
| 50% of the T Level funding rate per student, in 2024 to 2025 | Rate with additional 10% uplift retained for 2024 to 2025 | T Level funding rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 6 – small T Levels | £5,037 | £5,541 | £11,082 |
| Band 7 – medium T Levels | £5,810 | £6,391 | £12,782 |
| Band 8 – large T Levels | £6,389 | £7,028 | £14,056 |
| Band 9 – very large T Levels | £6,968 | £7,665 | £15,330 |
All funding rates for academic year 2025 to 2026 are still to be confirmed, including whether we will apply any uplift.
T Level choices: registering students on T Levels
We expect students to decide about their T Level pathway within the first few weeks of their course, supported by good information, advice and guidance from their institution.
For example, a student might know that they want to do a Digital T Level, but not be clear at the outset whether that should be Digital Production, Design and Development; Digital Support Services; or Digital Business Services. If an institution is offering 2 or 3 of the available pathways, there may be some co-delivery or other activity in the first few weeks that provides students with the opportunity to find out about different occupations, for example through employer visits. A student’s chosen T Level pathway and planned occupational specialism should be recorded on the ILR or school census in autumn of year 1.
To ensure that there is sufficient time to cover the curriculum, decisions about occupational specialisms should be confirmed by the end of the first year, although this could be much earlier depending on an institution’s curriculum model. For example, some institutions start teaching the occupational specialism early in the first year and require students to decide about this at the start of their course, whereas other institutions may only start teaching occupational specialisms in the second year. To ensure that institutions receive the right level of funding, a student’s occupational specialism must be confirmed in the ILR or census by July of year 1, although changes after this date are possible.
Institutions will also need to ensure that they register their students on the Technical Qualification with the awarding organisation and enter them for assessments, as relevant.
Minimum planned hours
Deliver minimum planned hours
You must deliver at or above the minimum hours for the funding band to receive that funding rate. From 2024 to 2025, institutions must include the hours for English and maths qualifications in the T Level hours.
You can find detailed information about T Level data in record your T Level data correctly.
For example, you have recorded less than 1,180 hours, the minimum planned hours for band 6, for a student’s programme and you have:
- included the employability, enrichment and pastoral (EEP) hours you are delivering
- not included planned hours for industry placements as these are not counted in the minimum hours
You will need to deliver and record more EEP and/or qualification hours/teaching to meet the minimum hours for the band. If you do not do this, then you will receive funding for the lower band – in this case, band 5. In addition, you will also need to record a minimum of 315 industry placement hours, although the average for industry placement hours is typically 340 hours.
Delivery is less than the minimum hours
In exceptional circumstances, it may be appropriate to offer fewer hours, for instance where a student has significant, relevant prior learning. In those instances, you must record the correct planned hours.
Where these are below the minimum for the T Level, we will fund at the appropriate lower band. Where this results in the student being recorded in band 5, where all the components of the T Level are recorded, all the additional features of a T Level will be retained, such as no reduction in rate for 18 year olds and additional industry placement funding.
T Level occupational specialisms and funding bands
We have introduced T Levels in different waves. This means they are available for delivery from different academic years. We assign a funding band to each T Level occupational specialism.
We have set out this information in table 4.
For all T Levels
We have assumed that 150 EEP hours will also be completed.
For education and early years
On top of this, we expect that you should deliver 100 additional hours as part of the necessary observation on the industry placement as set out in the Education and Early Years Technical Qualification specification. These 100 hours, for this T Level only, should be counted and recorded as planned hours.
This means that the early years occupational specialism for the Education and Early Years T Level is funded at band 6.
The following occupational specialisms are also funded at band 6 but are below the minimum hours of 1,180. Therefore, you will need to ensure that you deliver the minimum hours by either adding additional qualification hours and/or EEP:
- assisting teaching and supporting
- supporting and mentoring students in education settings
Table 4 shows T Level occupational specialisms by funding band and delivery date (wave).
Table 4
| Delivery from (academic year) | T Level specialism | Funding band |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 to 2022 wave 1 T Levels | Design, surveying and planning | |
| Civil engineering | 7 | |
| Surveying and design for construction and the built environment | 7 | |
| Building services design | 7 | |
| Hazardous materials analysis and surveying | 7 | |
| Digital production, design and development | ||
| Digital production, design and development | 7 | |
| Education and early years | ||
| Assisting teaching | 6 | |
| Early years educator | 6 | |
| Supporting and mentoring students in education settings | 6 | |
| 2021 to 2022 wave 2 T Levels | Health | |
| Supporting healthcare specialism | ||
| Dental nursing | 6 | |
| Supporting the adult nursing team | 6 | |
| Supporting the midwifery team | 6 | |
| Supporting the mental health team | 6 | |
| Supporting the care of children and young people | 6 | |
| Supporting therapy teams | 6 | |
| Healthcare science | ||
| Assisting with healthcare science | 6 | |
| Optical care services | 6 | |
| Science | ||
| Technical: laboratory sciences | 7 | |
| Technical: food sciences | 7 | |
| Technical: metrology sciences | 7 | |
| Digital business services | ||
| Data technician | 7 | |
| Digital support services | ||
| Digital infrastructure | 7 | |
| Network cabling | 7 | |
| Digital support | 7 | |
| On site construction | ||
| Carpentry and joinery | 6 | |
| Plastering | 6 | |
| Bricklaying | 6 | |
| Painting and decorating | 6 | |
| Building services engineering | ||
| Electrotechnical engineering | 7 | |
| Electrical and electronic equipment engineering | 6 | |
| Gas engineering | 7 | |
| Protection systems engineering | 6 | |
| The following 3 can be offered in combination | ||
| Plumbing and heating engineering | 7 | |
| Heating engineering and ventilation | 7 | |
| Refrigeration engineering and air conditioning engineering | 7 | |
| 2022 to 2023 wave 3 T Levels | Business and administration | |
| Management and administration | ||
| Business improvement | 7 | |
| Team leadership/management | 7 | |
| Business support | 7 | |
| Accounting | ||
| Assistant accountant | 6 | |
| Legal, finance, accounting | ||
| Finance | ||
| Retail and commercial banking analyst | 6 | |
| Investment banking and asset and wealth management analyst | 6 | |
| Insurance practitioner | 6 | |
| Financial compliance/risk analyst | 6 | |
| Engineering and manufacturing | ||
| Design and development | ||
| Mechanical engineering | 8 | |
| Electrical and electronic engineering | 8 | |
| Control and instrumentation engineering | 8 | |
| Structural engineering | 8 | |
| Maintenance, installation and repair TQ | ||
| Maintenance engineering technologies: mechanical | 8 | |
| Maintenance engineering technologies: mechatronic | 8 | |
| Control a maintenance engineering technologies: electrical and electronic | 8 | |
| Maintenance engineering technologies: control and Instrumentation | 8 | |
| Light and electrical vehicles | 8 | |
| Manufacturing, processing and control TQ | ||
| Fitting and assembly technologies | 8 | |
| Machining and toolmaking technologies | 8 | |
| Composites manufacturing technologies | 8 | |
| Fabrication and welding technologies | 8 | |
| 2023 to 2024 wave 4 T Levels | Agriculture, land management and production | |
| Crop production | 8 | |
| Floristry | 7 | |
| Land-based engineering | 8 | |
| Livestock production | 8 | |
| Ornamental and environment, horticulture and landscaping | 8 | |
| Trees and woodland management and maintenance | 8 | |
| Legal, finance and accounting | ||
| Legal services TQ | ||
| Legal services: assistant business, finance and employment | 7 | |
| Legal services: assistant crime, criminal justice and social welfare | 7 | |
| Digital | ||
| Digital support services TQ | ||
| Cyber security | 7 | |
| 2024 to 2025 new wave 4 T Levels | Media, broadcast and production | |
| Creative media technician | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Events and venue technician | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Content creation and production | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Craft and design TQ | ||
| Jewellery maker | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Ceramics maker | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Furniture maker | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Textiles and fashion maker | 7 – to be confirmed* | |
| Animal care and management TQ | ||
| Animal care and management | 7 – to be confirmed | |
| Animal care and science | 8 – to be confirmed |
For the 2024 to 2025 new wave 4 T Levels, we will publish the agreed funding bands as soon as these are confirmed. If any if the funding bands change, we will revise T Level allocations to reflect the correct funding band.
Retention
T Levels are recorded as 2-year programmes, with retention calculated on an annual basis. When students are on a 2-year programme and they complete the first year, they will be counted as retained in that academic year. We define completing the first year as being in learning on the last working day in June. The same principle applies in the second year.
Transfers
We use the year-end core aim recorded in the ILR and school census to inform future year funding factors and bands.
Sometimes a student might transfer to a different T Level or occupational specialism part way through the year. In this case, we use the last recorded T Level. You can record a transfer to another T Level after the end of the first year but it may have a funding implication if the student’s funding band is different from the one recorded in the first year.
Sometimes a student might transfer to a study programme. In these cases, we use the study programme’s planned hours for funding purposes.
You can find details on how to record data for transfers in the guide record your T Level data correctly. This includes examples of how to record transfers.
Transferring between T Levels and occupational specialisms
We expect some students will switch between T Levels or occupational specialisms, or transfer from one programme to another. Details on how to record data for transfers is in the guide record your T Level data correctly.
Institutions should consider the degree of overlap between the 2 T Levels and the remaining time before any assessments in determining if a transfer is possible – or whether a student will need to restart their T Level. Attainment from one T Level cannot count towards another, and all students will need to take and pass the relevant assessments to pass their T Level.
Programme cost weightings (PCWs)
We use PCWs because we recognise that some programmes are more costly to deliver than others.
PCWs for 2024 to 2025
In the academic year 2024 to 2025, there are 7 PCWs for study programmes.
T Levels use the same 7 PCWs. The factors are assigned by occupational specialism as some specialisms cover more than one sector subject area (SSA).
You can find full details for PCWs by SSA for this academic year in our rates and formula guidance for 2024 to 2025.
Lagged funding and PCWs
We apply PCWs to T Levels in a different way from 16 to 19 study programmes. We apply the PCW at the occupational specialism level. This is because the qualification structure for T Levels is different from study programmes.
We have worked with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to map T Levels to apprenticeship standards. As part of this mapping, we apply a consistent link to SSAs and PCWs and allocate a single PCW to each T Level occupational specialism.
Where occupational specialisms within a T Level map to more than 2 SSAs and PCWs, we have applied the majority PCW, that is the one that has most specialisms mapped to it. We have explained this in table 5.
You can see all the PCWs for T Level routes and occupational specialisms in Annex A of the rates and formula guidance.
Table 5
| T Level | Specialism | Apprenticeship standard name | SSA name | Study programme PCW | Occupational specialism PCW to be applied to T Levels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Design surveying and planning | Surveying and design for construction and the built environment | Digital engineering technician | Building and construction | 1.65 | 1.65 |
| Design surveying and planning | Surveying and design for construction and the built environment | Surveying technician | Building and construction | 1.65 | 1.65 |
| Design surveying and planning | Surveying and design for construction and the built environment | Geospatial survey technician | Geography | 1 | 1.65 |
PCW for T Level Foundation Year (formerly T Level Transition Programme)
T Level foundation years are linked to T Level routes. When the routes cover multiple SSAs and multiple weightings, we assign an average weighting. You can find full details for PCWs for all foundation years in the PCW list for 2024 to 2025.
English and maths
English and maths funding
We have replaced the level 3 maths and English payment with funding to support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and maths to participate across all study programmes and T Levels.
Our 16 to 19 funding: English and maths funding page provides full details on how we calculate this and how we will pay you.
Maths and English condition of funding
Students doing study programmes and T Levels must study maths and/or English when they do not already hold a GCSE grade 9 to 4 (a standard pass grade) or equivalent qualification in these subjects.
This requirement is a condition of funding and we remove funding from future allocations for students who do not meet it.
We use historic information from the latest full year’s data for the condition of funding adjustment. For the 2024 to 2025 allocations, we remove funding for students who did not meet the condition in 2022 to 2023, according to either the 2022 to 2023 R14 or autumn 2023 school census data.
Please read the changes we have made for academic year 2024 to 2025.
Disadvantage funding
We explain how we calculate disadvantage funding in our funding rates and formula guidance.
Disadvantage funding works the same way as study programmes with 2 exceptions:
- T Levels have more planned hours than study programmes. The calculation of the overall economic deprivation factor is weighted based on individual students and their historic programme size. Therefore, there will be a higher block 1 funding amount
- there is a higher funding rate of £772 for block 2 disadvantage for T Level students as shown in table 6. This is because T Levels are large, demanding programmes and additional support will be needed for students with special educational needs, low attainment and disabilities, including when they are on an industry placement. You can see an example of how the number of instances of disadvantage block 2 will be calculated for T Level students in table 6
Table 6
| Total number of students | Number of instances for maths and English | Instances per student | T Level students | Number of instances of block 2 funding for T Level students |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 350 | 0.35 | 40 | 14 |
Each instance will be funded at £772, so a T Level student, without both maths and English by the end of year 11, would attract £1,544.
Large programme uplift
There could be a small number of students who will want to take an A or AS level alongside their T Level. In these cases, we will provide extra funding through the large programme uplift. T Levels are the only programmes where an AS level taken alongside can be eligible for the large programme uplift.
We identity the number of eligible students using your historical data. For the academic year 2024 to 2025, we used data from the academic year 2021 to 2022. This means eligible students starting a T Level in 2024 to 2025 will attract additional funding in the academic year 2027 to 2028.
We have published the 16 to 19 funding: large programme uplift guidance, which outlines how this works for T Levels, including eligibility and uplift amounts.
Industry placements
Industry placements are a compulsory part of a T Level and must be delivered in line with the industry placements delivery guidance. We fund institutions a total of £550 per student for the industry placement element of the T Level programme; £275 per student in each of the 2 years of the T Level. We pay for the T Level student numbers agreed with institutions.
This funding is to support the infrastructure and resource required to plan, source, deliver and monitor industry placements. It is not to support employer costs for hosting placements.
T Level starts part way through the year
Students usually start T Levels at the beginning of an academic year. There may be some students who have sufficient prior learning for whom it is appropriate to join a group part way through the year.
In these instances, you must record the total planned hours for the length of the T Level. We will calculate the level of funding that will apply to those planned hours. We will then distribute this funding over the length of the T Level programme in a similar way to part-year study programmes.
T Level programme and a study programme in the same funding year
We will not fund students to take more than one full-time learning programme or the equivalent in multiple part-time programmes, in one institution, in one funding year.
Audit and monitoring
We audit and monitor T Levels as part of the usual 16 to 19 funding audit process.