Students in England will be able to study the first V Levels in education, finance and digital from 2027 under a wide-ranging overhaul of post-16 qualifications that ministers said would broaden choice and better prepare young people for work.
The Department for Education said the new Level 3 qualifications, each equivalent to one A level, will sit alongside A levels and T Levels and are intended to let pupils combine academic and vocational study rather than commit immediately to a single route. The government also said T Levels would be expanded into new areas including Sports, Fitness and Exercise Science and Care Services.
The announcement, published alongside the government’s response to its consultation on post-16 qualifications, sets out the first subject areas for V Levels and outlines a phased transition to a new system running through to 2030/31. Ministers said the reforms were designed to simplify a qualification landscape they have previously described as confusing, while helping to tackle skills shortages and reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
The changes form part of the government’s wider ambition to have two-thirds of young people in a gold-standard apprenticeship, higher training or university by the age of 25.
Under the plans, two new routes at Level 2 will also begin to roll out next year for 16-year-olds who are not yet ready to move beyond GCSE-equivalent study. A one-year Further Study pathway, backed by a new Foundation Certificate, will launch initially in Education and Early Years and in Digital. A separate two-year Occupational pathway, backed by a new Occupational Certificate and aimed at those moving directly into work or an apprenticeship, will begin in Catering and Hospitality and Education and Early Years.
The government has also launched a consultation on new qualifications for pupils with lower prior attainment in English and maths, intended to help them prepare to re-sit GCSEs the following year. The Department for Education said the move was aimed at around a third of 16-year-olds who leave Year 11 without a grade 4 or above in English and/or maths.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the reforms would “end the snobbery in post-16 education”, adding that they would give young people “real choice and real opportunity to build secure, future-proof careers”.
The department said a DeltaPoll survey of 1,124 parents of 14- to 18-year-olds in England, conducted in late February on its behalf, found that 24% were not confident their child understood the options available after GCSEs. The same survey found that 45% preferred a mix of academic and work-based or technical learning after GCSEs, compared with 23% who favoured an exclusively academic route and 22% who preferred an exclusively vocational one. It also said 49% of parents saw stable and secure employment as their biggest concern for their child’s future.
Ministers said the reforms were backed by nearly £800 million in extra funding for 16-19 education in 2026-27, with average per-student funding due to rise to £6,874 in the next academic year from £6,762 in 2025/26.
V Levels are intended to become the third main Level 3 route in England. While A levels will remain the established academic pathway and T Levels the larger technical route with an industry placement, V Levels are designed for students who want to study across sectors or combine classroom-based technical learning with academic subjects. The government said one V Level would be equivalent in size to one A level, while a T Level is equivalent to three A levels.
In setting out how the qualifications will work, the department said students would be able to build mixed programmes rather than specialise too early. In examples published alongside the reforms, a student interested in the creative industries could in future combine V Levels in Craft and Design and in Media, Broadcast and Production with an A level in Music, while another interested in health, fitness and digital could take three V Levels across those areas.
A wider rollout is due to follow the first tranche. According to the timetable published by the government, later phases from 2028 onwards will extend new qualifications across business and administration, care services, construction and the built environment, engineering and manufacturing, health and science, legal, sales and marketing, sport, agriculture, catering and hospitality, hair and beauty, protective services, art and performing arts, creative and design, and travel and tourism.
The government said it would begin consulting on draft outline content for the first qualifications in late spring and publish a fuller implementation plan by June.
Alongside the rollout, providers have been given transition guidance for moving from existing qualifications to the new framework. Ministers said the change would be phased in to avoid disruption, but funding approval would still be removed in stages from legacy Level 3 qualifications where T Levels exist. That includes qualifications broadly equivalent to around two A levels or smaller, including BTECs, with the first defunding in finance, digital and education and early years from 2027, followed by a broader group of subjects from 2028.
Legacy Level 2 qualifications will also lose funding approval once the new Foundation Certificate and Occupational Certificate are in place in the relevant subject area.
Sector bodies broadly welcomed the direction of travel, while signalling that the design and transition will be crucial. Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said members would “warmly welcome” the decision to retain existing qualifications while V Levels are phased in and said the changes should provide “stability and certainty” for students and providers.
David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the package addressed years of uncertainty over the future qualification landscape and offered the prospect of a system that was “viable and deliverable for colleges and schools”. He added that the new framework could offer young people learning and training that “excites and engages them and helps them progress into work and onto further learning”.
Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said the watchdog would ensure the new qualifications were well designed and valued by students, schools and colleges, universities and employers. Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said there was “no single route into university” and said the sector wanted to work with government to ensure V Levels “open doors for young people”.
The reforms build on the government’s post-16 education and skills white paper published last year, which proposed replacing a large number of existing vocational and technical qualifications with a simpler system built around A levels, T Levels and V Levels. Since then, ministers and regulators have argued that the new route should not simply copy either A levels or T Levels, but offer a distinct pathway for students whose interests span more than one field.
Even so, some parts of the sector have previously warned that the pace of reform, the withdrawal of some applied general qualifications and the capacity of colleges and employers to support the new system will need close attention as the rollout begins.
The first students are due to begin the initial V Levels in September 2027.