T Level reforms: what’s next for construction skills?

In December 2024, the UK government announced that it would be scrapping the Onsite Construction T Level, just three years after it was launched.

The decision came after a review of level 3 qualifications and, according to the announcement, was due to a lack of demand.

At a time when the government wants to supercharge housebuilding and bring on mega projects such as Heathrow’s third runway, this seems like a retrograde move. Surely, we should be working harder to recruit more people, rather than cutting back on the choice of construction qualifications available.

Students who want to study a T Level in the sector could still choose one in Design, Surveying and Planning (DSP), which has retained its funding.

We asked contractors and colleges why the more ‘professional’ T Level has proved more popular than its onsite cousin, and whether this route is helping to create a new source of talent for the industry.

The idea behind T Levels was to create a level 3 qualification, on a par with A Levels, that prepares young people for work.

They combine academic and practical learning, requiring work placements of at least 45 days to be completed for the qualification to be awarded.

The first T Level pilots began in 2020, DSP being one of them. Students generally need five GCSEs at level 4 or above to study a T Level course.

Government statistics show that the DSP T Level has got off to a good start – 200 students achieved the qualification in 2021/22, 444 in 2022/23 and 686 in 2023/24.

Meanwhile, 75 students achieved a T Level in Onsite Construction in 2022/23 and 138 in 2023/24.

Building Services proved more popular, with 208 in 2022/23 and 318 in 2023/24.

The reason why the Onsite Construction T Levels have not taken off is that they are not meeting industry needs, says Nick Holbrook-Sutcliffe, chief education officer at East Kent Colleges (EKC) Group.

EKC provides an Onsite Construction T Level, with carpentry and joinery from its Folkestone College and DSP from its Canterbury College.

“Onsite Construction failed because, after two years, the learners were not where they needed to be,” says Holbrook-Sutcliffe. “It was not aligned to what employers needed.”

Onsite Construction T Levels come with a specialism in a trade – carpentry and joinery, plastering, bricklaying or painting and decorating – alongside academic study into areas such as health and safety, design principles, construction science and technology and data.

That could mean that employers are getting someone with a good understanding of the industry – but not enough experience on the tools.

It probably makes more sense for a young person to study a one-year level 2 qualification in their chosen trade and then go onto an apprenticeship, says Holbrook-Sutcliffe. This also means that they will be earning sooner too – a better proposition to sell.

Another challenge for the Onsite Construction T Levels is getting the work placements right, says Mandy Cresswell, industry placement officer at Walsall College.

Walsall was one of the first to deliver the DSP T Level and had been intending to start the Onsite Construction T Level – before it was scrapped.

“With the T Level qualification, you can only have two employers over the 315 hours,” explains Cresswell. “If they are working on a small local site and that job competes, it can be a challenge to find another site.

"Getting brickwork students their work placements with just two employers would be really challenging.”

Both Walsall and EKC employ industry liaisons whose roles include sourcing work placements.

However, smaller colleges won’t necessarily be able to afford that resource, points out Holbrook-Sutcliffe.

For EKC, establishing T Levels has led to improvements in other courses and qualifications it delivers, says Holbrook-Sutcliffe.

“T Levels made us think differently about how we engaged with employers. Previously we were asking employers to enhance our curriculum. Now we’re asking them to inform our curriculum.”

For instance, employers feed back to the college on how learners have performed on work placements, so that the college can change its curriculum accordingly, says Holbrook-Sutcliffe.

“It’s about cultural capital, the behaviours and the language that’s used, and being ready for the workplace.”

At Walsall College, employers are involved in the selection process for the course, interviewing candidates alongside a lecturer from the college.

“We need to get it right because if they don’t complete the placement, they don’t get the T Level,” says lecturer Andrew Stubbs, adding that the DSP course is oversubscribed.

Walsall College has very close links with Balfour Beatty Vinci on its HS2 West Midlands contract.

“On alternate years, they take our whole cohort for that year,” says Cresswell. “Out of the last cohort, they took 12 out of the 14 as apprentices.”

Winvic Construction also has links with Walsall and other colleges that deliver the DSP T Level, running five-day enrichment programmes for students to introduce them to the industry.

“That means we can identify people who we think will fit well with our business early on,” says Winvic talent development manager Kayleigh Merritt.

Several T Level students have gone on to work for Winvic, says Merritt: “If they have been in our business for two years, they’re already in our culture. We find that they have become strong, competent individuals who are work-ready.”

Willmott Dixon has provided 44 T Level placements since 2022.

Nicola Millard, head of social value for Willmott Dixon’s Wales and South East regions, says: “I think the site teams are more receptive to a T Level placement because it’s a longer-term arrangement than the one-week work experience placements and they are coming to us very prepared because of the syllabus.”

Of the 44 Willmott Dixon placements, six have gone on to the company’s management trainee programme.

“They go through the normal application process, but they have an advantage because we already know them and they have proved they are reliable and that they fit into our business and culture,” says Janette Welton-Pai, group funding and learning manager at Willmott Dixon.

T Levels are also bringing more women into the industry, says Welton-Pai.

“I have seen an increase in female applications to [our] management training programme as a result of T Level placements,” she says.

Willmott Dixon’s male-female split on its management programme is now 50:50, she adds, with a record number of applications from women this year.

Walsall College also observes that the DSP T Level course has attracted more female students.

“Of the 48 students that have completed the T Level so far, 22 were girls and 26 were boys which is quite unheard of for construction courses,” says Andrew Stubbs.

Employment statistics are good too. EKC says that 96% of its students who complete T Levels in construction have gone on to secure employment.

At Walsall, 75% progressed to an advanced apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship, and 16% went to university.

“We have noticed when our first cohort were looking to go to university, they were required to get distinction grades. Now universities are asking for a pass or a merit because they’ve realised the worth of the T Level,” says Stubbs.

Both Stubbs and Holbrook-Sutcliffe comment on the rigour of the T Level qualification, in comparison with the BTEC – which is also level 3. 

“I have the upmost respect for anyone who does a T Level. It has stepped up a lot from the BTEC,” says Stubbs. “Although they are both level 3, T Level is more like a level 4.”

Cresswell reports that she has received calls from companies looking to recruit students from the T Level course just after Easter.

EKC reports similar successes. “In construction, our learners are being taken almost before they have finished the course,” says Holbrook-Sutcliffe.

With the Onsite Construction T Level no longer available, the choice for budding site managers is not clear.

Rosalind Thorpe, CIOB’s director of education, thinks the BTEC provides an ideal route.

“A BTEC does not commit a learner to a trade; it could be any role in the sector. It is a broader qualification with [a broader] assessment type,” she says. “The industry knows and understands it.”

However, the future of BTECs is unclear. The government had announced that it was stopping funding for BTECs where there was an overlap with T Levels, including BTECs in Construction. It has now said there will be a short review to reconsider that decision.

For would-be students, and their parents, it is a confusing picture, and one that varies, depending on location.

For further education – after what Holbrook-Sutcliffe describes as “the most uncertain and volatile period” the sector has known – the landscape is far from clear and almost certainly set to change again.

“The government needs to think about what it is going to do about BTECs, and whether it will refund them,” says Thorpe. “If they’re going to meet housing quotas, they need a way to bring people into the industry.”

Having attended grammar school – and with nine GCSEs – my son might have been expected to study for A Levels. But he was much more interested in learning carpentry.

When we visited an open day at our local college, he was pulled aside by one of the lecturers, asked about his predicted GCSE grades, and presented with the idea of an Onsite Construction T Level.

My son liked the idea of a T Level. And, as a parent, I did too. Because they are equivalent to A Levels, it meant he was keeping his options open if he later decided he wanted to go to university.

I had some concerns about him studying a trade course at college as I had heard that some of the students really don’t want to be there and, as a result, can be disruptive.

Many of them are forced to attend college to re-sit their GCSEs in English or maths and often end up studying building industry trades as a sort of default.

My thought was that since T Levels require five GCSEs, people accepted onto those courses were likely to be more committed and focused – which has proved to be the case.

My son started his Onsite Construction T Level course in September 2024 and is now enjoying his education rather than enduring it.

The teaching methods deployed by the college suit him better than those at his previous school. He probably enjoys the practical lessons most, but is engaged with the academic elements too.

He and his cohort were taken by the college to an Open Day with a local contractor during their first term and came back enthused about the possible roles in the industry – and the potential wages.

Some of them are now considering going for trainee site manager or apprenticeship roles, rather than only thinking of jobs in joinery or carpentry.

As a parent, I would be very happy whatever route my son pursues into the industry – or elsewhere – after his T Level course.

I think the industry should be looking to recruit people from a variety of backgrounds into the construction trades and site management – not only those who aren’t suited to mainstream teaching methods.

I saw the T Level in Onsite Construction as an opportunity to throw the net wider.