Guidance

T Levels funding guide for 2022 to 2023

Updated 13 February 2024

Applies to England

Summary

Designed with businesses and employers, T Levels are 2-year, level 3 technical qualifications designed to give students the skills that the industry needs. They bring classroom learning and an extended industry placement together.

New for 2022 to 2023

This list shows items that are new or changed for this academic year for easy reference.

Tolerance

We’ve reviewed the tolerance rate and reduced it from 40% to 20% this academic year.

Additional hours

We are funding 40 additional learning hours per year for T Level students.

T Levels are 2-year programmes, so you will need to deliver an additional 80 hours over the whole programme.

These additional hours must be recorded in your 2022 to 2023 data return as part of your total planned hours.

You may also find our Record your T Level data correctly guide useful.

Maths and English

The condition of funding will apply to all students starting T Levels from the academic year 2022 to 2023 in line with the students on 16 to 19 study programmes.

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:

• four 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 2-year programmes
• 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 additional hours and demands of T Levels

Calculate your programme funding

This is the T Level funding formula. It is like the 16 to 19 funding formula but with some differences.

The T Level funding formula

We explain these differences in the programme funding sections below.

We have based the academic year 2022 to 2023 funding allocations for T Level students on your estimated student numbers across the funding bands, based on planned delivery.

It’s very important that you accurately record planned hours so that we calculate your funding correctly. We have published guidance to help with this.

Core formula funding elements

Student numbers

Presently, we do not fund T Levels using the 16 to 19 lagged funding methodology. This will change, and we think we are likely to fund T Levels using lagged student numbers in the academic year 2025 to 2026.

For the academic year 2022 to 2023, we use student numbers that you submitted in October 2021, based on your planned recruitment for autumn 2022. 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 existing 16 to 19 courses. Therefore, the funding of planned T Level student numbers will not affect an institution’s overall allocation of learner numbers – only the bands in which they will be funded.

Distribution of students across funding bands

Once we have agreed T Level numbers, we remove them from your overall lagged students numbers for the academic year and move them into the agreed T Level funding bands as shown in table 1.

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	1000	Total	1000

Under- and over-delivery

We calculate under- and over-delivery against your planned numbers by reviewing your data. We do not accept business cases for changes to student numbers, including where you fail to submit accurate data in the R04 or Autumn school census.

We review your first data return of the year:

• R04 ILR return for 2022 to 2023
• schools census autumn return 2022

Then we compare your:

• planned numbers against your enrolments
• recorded student numbers against your final numbers recorded in year-end data (R14 or 2022 autumn school census)

If we change your T Level student numbers, we will recalculate your allocation and issue another allocation statement.

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.

We set the tolerance for under-delivery at 40% when we introduced T Levels. However, because delivery is now embedded across the sector, we have reduced this to 20% against each funding band for academic year 2022 to 2023.

We have published a guide to show you examples of 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.

Funding rates and bands

We pay more for T Levels because they have more teaching hours and we are more prescriptive about their content than for general 16 to 19 study programmes.

We allocate each T Level a funding band depending on the size of the programme and the minimum hours required. T Levels are 2-year programmes, so the minimum hours are spread over 2 academic years.

Table 2 shows the average and minimum planned hours over a 2-year course, along with the funding rates for each of the bands. These also include the new requirement for additional hours from the academic year 2022 to 2023.

Table 2 average and minimum hours and funding rate for each band

	average planned hours	minimum planned hours required for the band	funding rate (2 years)
Band 6 - small T Levels	1330 hours	1180 hours	£9,446
Band 7 - medium T Levels	1530 hours	1380 hours	£10,896
Band 8 - large T Levels	1680 hours	1580 hours	£11,982
Band 9 - very large T Levels	1830 hours	1730 hours	£13,068

Deliver minimum planned hours

You must deliver above the minimum hours for the funding band to receive that funding rate. We do not count maths and English or industry placements as planned hours. They are recorded differently.

For example, you have recorded less than 1180 hours, the minimum planned hours for band 6, for a student’s programme you have:

• included the EEP hours you are delivering
• not included planned hours for maths, English or 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 industrial 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.

Additional hours

As part of the government’s commitment to a long-term education recovery plan, we are funding 80 additional learning hours across the 2-year programme for T Level students (up to 40 additional funded learning hours per year). The additional hours in T Levels are solely reflected through increases to funding band hours.

We have increased funding band hours for academic year 2022 to 2023 to account for the additional hours, and these bands will be enforced by recovery of funding where hours are not increased, resulting in students falling into lower funding bands.

Institutions should:

• use additional hours flexibly and broadly in line with T Level guidance to best meet the needs of students
• prioritise maths in the use of additional hours where there is an identified student need
• use additional hours to support mental health, wellbeing, or study skills where these are a barrier to students’ learning.

T Levels are 2-year programmes, so you will need to deliver an additional 80 hours over the whole programme for students commencing the programmes from academic year 2022 to 2023. These additional hours must be recorded in your 2022 to 2023 data return.

Second-year T Level students

If a student is in the second year of their T Level programme in academic year 2022 to 2023, you must deliver 40 additional hours. This is because you have already delivered half of the T Level programme. You must report this in your 2022 to 2023 data return. We will recover funding where hours are not increased. This will result in students falling into lower funding bands.

Exception to 16 to 19 funding regulations

Our funding regulations set out that you:

• must finalise and confirm planned hours for 16 to 19 students within the funding qualifying period
• can only change the planned hours when
  • there is a recording error
  • the student completes one study programme and starts another in the same academic year

For 2022 to 2023 only, there is one more exception: you can change the planned hours for T Level students who are in their second year of study so that you can accurately record the additional hours we expect you to deliver.

How to record the hours

If you do not record the additional hours for these students correctly, they may fall into a lower funding band. This will affect your funding.

First-year T Level students

The additional 80 hours are included in the average and minimum planned hours detailed in table 2. You must ensure planned hours meet at least the minimum hours appropriate to each band.

Second-year T Level students

You must amend the existing hours in order to record the additional 40 hours in 2022 to 2023.

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 all this information in table 3.

For all T Levels

We have assumed that 150 employability, enrichment, and pastoral (EEP) hours will also be completed, as outlined in the T Level funding consultation document.

For education and childcare

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 Childcare 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 Childcare T Level is funded at band 6.

The following occupational specialisms are also funded at band 6 but are below the minimum hours of 1180. Therefore, you will need to ensure you deliver the minimum hours by either adding additional qualification hours and/or EEP:

• assisting teaching and supporting
• mentoring students in education settings

Table 3 T Level occupational specialisms by funding band and delivery date (wave)

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 childcare
	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 technologies3	8
	Machining and toolmaking technologies	8
	Composites manufacturing technologies	8
	Fabrication and welding technologies	8

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 to inform future year funding factors and bands.

Sometimes a student might transfer to a different T Level or Occupational Specialism partway 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 may have a funding implication if the students 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.

We apply our usual retention principles when a student leaves a T Level to start either:

• an apprenticeship
• something other than a 16 to 19 study programme

This is because the student has not completed their learning aim and you would lose 50% of the annual funding rate for that student.

Programme cost weightings (PCWs)

We use PCWs because we recognise that some programmes are more costly to deliver than others.

PCWs for 2022 to 2023

In the academic year 2022 to 2023, there are 6 PCWs for study programmes and we publish them in our annual guidance. These are the same for T Levels.

We use 2020 to 2021 data from the sector subject area (SSA) tier 2 classification of the core aim to determine PCW for students on vocational qualifications. You can find full details for PCWs by SSA for this academic year in our rates and formula guidance for 2022 to 2023.

Lagged funding and PCWs

We will continue to use PCWs when we start to fund T Levels using lagged funding. 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 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 4.

You can see all the PCWs for T Level routes and occupational specialisms here.

Table 4 - Example of how specialisms map to PCW

T Level	Specialism	Apprenticeship standard name	SSA name	Study programme PCW	Occupational specialism PCW to be applied to T Levels
T Level Technical Qualification in Building Services Engineering for Construction	Electrical and Electronic Equipment Engineering	Electrical Electronic Product Servicing and Installation Engineer	Manufacturing technologies	1.4	1.4
T Level Technical Qualification in Building Services Engineering for Construction	Electrical and Electronic Equipment Engineering	Building Services Engineering Service & Maintenance Engineer	Building and construction	1.4	1.4
T Level Technical Qualification in Building Services Engineering for Construction	Electrical and Electronic Equipment Engineering	Highways Electrician / Service Operative	Building and construction	1.4	1.4

PCW for T Level Transition Programme

This is the first year that PCWs apply for T Level Transition Programmes. We have applied PCWs to each T Level route and have listed them in table 5 for the academic year 2022 to 2023.

This means that we are applying PCWs consistently for qualification and non-qualification delivery. Where the T Level maps to more than one PCW, we have taken the average.

Table 5

route learning aim reference	route name	transition programme PCW
ZTPR0001	Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care	1.3/1.75
ZTPR0002	Business and Administration	1
ZTPR0003	Catering and Hospitality	1.3
ZTPR0005	Construction	1.4
ZTPR0006	Creative and Design	1.1
ZTPR0007	Digital	1.2
ZTPR0004	Education	1.1
ZTPR0008	Engineering and Manufacturing	1.4
ZTPR0009	Hair and Beauty	1.2
ZTPR0010	Health and Science	1.1
ZTPR0011	Legal, Finance and Accounting	1

Level 3 programme maths and English payment

T Levels are eligible for the extra level 3 programme maths and English payment. The funding is to support you in your delivery of maths and English for students who have not yet attained a grade 9 to 4 GCSE or equivalent in either or both subjects.

Our guidance provides full details on how we calculate this and how we will pay you.

Disadvantage funding

We explain how we calculate disadvantage funding in our guidance. It 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 £683 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 and disabilities, including when they are on an industry placement. You can see an example in table 6

Table 6 – Example of how the number of instances of disadvantage block 2 will be calculated for T Level students

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
1000	350	0.35	40	14

Each instance will be funded at £683, so a T Level student, without both maths and English by the end of year 11, would attract £1366.

Large programme uplift

There could be a small number of students that 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 2022 to 2023, we used data from the academic year 2019 to 2020. This means eligible students starting a T Level in 2022 to 2023 will attract additional funding in the academic year 2025 to 2026.

We have published more information on how this works for T Levels, including eligibility and uplift amounts.

Additional formula funding elements

Maths and English condition of funding

This has changed for academic year 2022 to 2023. The condition of funding now applies to all students starting T Levels in the same way as for students on 16 to 19 study programmes.

It will not apply to students who started T Levels in the academic years 2020 to 2021 or 2021 to 2022. However, we expect these students who have yet to achieve a GCSE grade 4 in maths and English to continue to work towards a level 2 in these subjects.

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 T Level providers 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.

Where you also have an allocation for industry placement capacity and delivery fund (CDF), we will make a corresponding reduction to the number of students funded through the CDF.

For example, an institution with 100 places funded through the CDF and an allocation of 40 T Level students will be allocated industry placement funding for the 40 T Level students in their mainstream allocation and 60 qualifying students through CDF.

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 and you consider it is in their best interest 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 study 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 audit process.