A look at how the government’s new skills plan could affect post-16 education in the UK
Following yesterday’s government announcement, Natasha Schofield, CIMSPA’s Associate Director of Education and Career Development reflects on whether the new skills plan could reconnect young people with opportunity and create more positive futures. This piece focuses on the post-16 element. A separate reflection on the post-18 and higher education elements of the white paper will be published in the coming days.
Yesterday we finally got to see the long-awaited skills white paper, which shows us the government’s plans for reform of post-16 education. It includes introducing a new vocational qualification called V-levels and signals the replacement of around 900 existing vocational routes.
The announcement comes at a moment when close to one million young people across the country are estimated to be in the NEET (not in employment, education or training) cohort, and when employers repeatedly warn of chronic skills gaps in many sectors.
The government argues that by introducing these reforms of streamlining qualifications, strengthening employer alignment and injecting fresh investment into technical education, it can bridge the divide between classroom and economy.
Those of us that have been living and breathing the rollercoaster of vocational education for years will know that success will hinge on design, delivery and trust across the system.
Successive governments have all made promises to fix what’s been described as England’s fractured skills landscape. The narrative of too many qualifications, too little clarity on outcomes and too much stigma around vocational learning have undermined the great opportunities being offered by post-16 education and the hard work of cohort after cohort of learners.
It’s all too easy to claim that the fact that employers express frustration that young recruits arrive unprepared for work is due to issues in the post-16 system. Spoiler alert: that’s a much wider education system problem. The same applies to the crisis in the number of young people not in employment, education or training. Post-16 provision plays an important role and it’s crucial to get that provision right for both learner and employer, but disengagement and disenfranchise often starts before 16.
But let’s take a look at what’s been announced.
A new tier of qualifications and a ‘clearer’ system
The government has set out plans for V-levels, a new family of vocational qualifications for 16–19-year-olds designed to sit alongside A-levels and T-levels.
The plan is for them to replace around 900 existing Level 3 vocational options. Unlike T-levels, which are large, full-time technical programmes, V-levels can be combined with A-levels, giving students the flexibility to mix academic and vocational study.
There’s also the introduction of new Level 2 pathways: one for those planning on heading straight into work, the other for students planning further study. Alongside that come what has been described as stepping-stone qualifications in English and maths, designed to help those who haven’t yet achieved a grade 4 at GCSE to build the skills and confidence to resit successfully.
The reforms are backed by £800 million of new investment in 16–19 education and a promise of more Technical Excellence Colleges, which are regional hubs focused on developing the skills most needed by employers in growth sectors.
The impact for learners and employers
By simplifying the qualification system, the government is aiming to give employers a clearer signal of what young people know and can do. For students, it means a more intuitive set of choices and the promise that vocational qualifications carry equal weight to academic ones.
The theory is that if V-levels are designed hand in hand with industry, this could create a more direct bridge from classroom to career which benefits learners, the businesses that are crying out for talent, and the economy.
In the sport and physical activity sector, we’re ahead of the game. CIMSPA has been working with local employers and colleges to design curriculum that meets the local skills needs. The outcome? Over 80% of students move into employment at the conclusion of their learning, compared to an average of around 60%1.
Raising the status of vocational learning
Perhaps the most powerful part of this reform is the message it sends. For too long, vocational education has carried an unfair label of being second best, inferior to academic routes, or ‘the easy option’. The introduction of a third pathway, adding V to A and T levels, helps to dismantle that hierarchy.
Allowing students to blend qualifications is particularly welcomed, because it helps young people build on their multiple interests in a way that also builds much-needed skills. It also mirrors how skills actually intersect in the workplace and produces something employers have been calling for: new entrants who are not just technically skilled, but adaptable, communicative and ready for the realities of work.
The challenges ahead
Ambition is one thing, but execution is another. Replacing hundreds of qualifications with a new framework will test even the most organised system.
FE colleges and training providers will need time and support to redesign their programmes. Institutions and providers are already incredibly stretched delivering for current students and we have to make sure that the quality of the education that they receive does not slip.
Then there’s employer engagement, because these qualifications must stay relevant to the labour market – not just at launch but over time. That means ongoing co-design rather than a one-off consultation. If content lags behind industry needs, we’ll simply have replaced one outdated system with another.
There’s a commitment that Skills England will play a crucial role here, but its success will depend on how well it can connect national priorities with local realities. As we all know, employers in Bristol will not need the same skillsets as those in Blackpool, and the system has to stay flexible enough to adapt.
In the sport and physical activity sector, we’ve built local skills accountability boards to address the national priorities on a regional level. Bringing together education providers and employers, the boards support the design of programmes that not only equip learners with the skills and competencies to move straight into employment on completion of their course but also provide eligibility for accreditation of professional status that underpins sustainable career progression. This is exactly the model that the reforms are looking to emulate.
Funding and fairness
The £800 million boost is a welcome signal, but history tells us funding uplifts fade quickly unless embedded in long-term budgets. Vocational education is expensive to deliver because of the need for specifically designed work and study spaces, equipment, placements and smaller classes.
If colleges are expected to deliver these new qualifications to a high standard, funding must reflect that. Otherwise, we risk good policy being undermined by simple arithmetic.
There’s also an equity question: if some regions can afford to deliver full V-level programmes and others can’t, we could see opportunity gaps widen further. This is something we need to be mindful of as skills strategy and funding is increasingly devolved. The government’s focus on new Technical Excellence Colleges is positive, but those need to be part of a genuinely national network, not pockets of privilege.
In parallel with the qualification overhaul, the government is also reshaping how the statutory levy paid by larger employers can be used. The long-standing Apprenticeship Levy is being replaced by a broader Growth and Skills Levy which aims to give businesses greater flexibility in using their training funds. Under this new model, levy contributions will no longer be narrowly tied to full apprenticeships alone. Employers will be able to use funds for shorter foundation programmes, flexible training in high-priority sectors and pre-apprenticeship preparation.
For employers, this means that the levy becomes less of a rigid tax and more of a strategic investment in workforce development. Large firms will have opportunities to deploy funds in ways that map directly to business need, for example via shorter courses or collaborative training schemes with smaller employers in their supply chain. Importantly, the reforms also seek to redirect funding toward younger workers and training at lower levels, recognising that the greatest impact on youth employment and social mobility often comes from entry-level routes rather than Level 7 apprenticeships.
The English and maths puzzle
The proposal for “stepping-stone” qualifications in English and maths is a key humane element of the reform. For too many years, students who missed a grade 4 at GCSE have been caught in a cycle of resits, often leaving college still without the qualification and with diminished confidence.
If designed and delivered well, a structured route that builds competence in English and maths gradually could be transformative. However, in my view, it needs to be engaging, contextual and linked to real world of work application. otherwise, it risks being just another label for failure.
What could make it all work
So, what would success look like? In my view, three things.
First, true collaboration with employers, not just at the design stage, but in shaping ongoing content, placements and progression routes. The system has to reflect the real economy, not a theoretical one. That’s exactly what we’ve done in the sport and physical activity sector through our local skills work.
Second, sustained investment in teaching capacity. Colleges need to attract and retain high-quality staff, many of whom could earn more in other industries. If we don’t value vocational educators properly, we can’t expect the system to thrive.
And third, a mindset shift among parents, schools and society. We need to stop treating vocational routes as ‘plan B’. The success of these reforms will depend as much on cultural change as on curriculum change.
A cautious optimism
It’s easy to be cynical about education reform because we’ve seen so many revolutions before that quietly fizzled out. I think this one feels closer to the mark.
It recognises that not all success comes from a university degree. It gives employers a stronger hand in shaping the skills pipeline. Crucially, it offers young people more meaningful routes into good work at a time when too many are slipping through the cracks.
If it’s implemented with patience, realism and genuine partnership, this could be a turning point for how we think about skills in the UK.
However, if it becomes another rushed reform which is underfunded, over-promised and poorly communicated, it will fail.
While the reforms are ambitious, it’s worth remembering that some sectors are already ahead of the curve, and the sport and physical activity sector is one of them. For years, employers, training providers and professional bodies have been working hand in hand to build clear pathways from education into skilled employment. From apprenticeships in coaching and fitness to degree-level routes in sport management, health and wellbeing, the sector has long championed the kind of employer-led, professionally assured learning that this white paper now calls for at scale.
Quality-assured qualifications, professional standards and accreditation credentials are already giving practitioners in sport and physical activity a clear sense of status and progression, which is exactly the kind of coherence the government wants to see across the wider skills system. In many ways, this sector offers a working model of what “future-ready” vocational education looks like. What we do is rooted in real-world need, led by employers, and focused on delivering measurable social and economic impact.
If the reforms now being proposed are to succeed, they will need more than policy ambition; they will need practical examples of collaboration, innovation and trust. The sport and physical activity sector shows that this is possible. The challenge now is to ensure that other industries, too, can follow our lead in turning learning into livelihoods and policy into real opportunity.
1 Source: View your education data (VYED) service, Department for Education, 2025