Guidance

Record your T Level data correctly in academic year 2023 to 2024

Updated 11 September 2024

Applies to England

Important information on recording T Levels

Some T Level providers have previously recorded students incorrectly in the ILR or school census, so that they appear in funding bands 1 to 5 (in some cases this was because the planned hours were recorded for 1 year only instead of 2).

Making errors in recording your T Level data could have a significant financial impact. It could lead to a larger than expected recovery of funding at the T Level funding reconciliation point in early 2025. Furthermore, it will also have an impact on the number of T Level students funded for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

Summary

This should help you return accurate information in your 2023 to 2024 data returns for T Level students. You can find more details in our published guidance for the individualised learner record (ILR) and autumn school census data collections.

How to record T Levels

We have published examples of how to record your T Levels.

You must record these mandatory components for every T Level programme in your data returns.

T Level programme aim

A programme aim is an overarching programme level learning aim that spans the whole programme and we use it to calculate funding elements for the T Level programme.

Use the learning aim ZPROG001 to record a programme aim.

You must record this at the beginning of the T Level programme. You must report the total planned hours for the T Level programme against this aim only.

We expect T Level programmes to be at least 2 years long. A usual T Level programme aim will therefore have a start date, a planned end date and planned hours spanning the whole 2 year duration.

Your T Level component aims should have start and end dates that fall within the duration of the T Level programme aim.

T Level qualification

This is the regulated qualification representing the T Level core and specialist content.

You must record this at the beginning of the T Level programme.

The T Level qualification must be the core aim of a T Level programme.

Search for T Level qualifications on find a learning aim using the title “T Level technical qualification”.

In the learning aims reference service (LARS), T Levels have a learning aim type of 1468 - T Level technical qualification.

T Level occupational specialism

Every student must undertake an occupational specialism as part of their T Level programme.

The occupational specialism dictates the level of funding a student attracts, so it is especially important we can identify this from the data you return.

Each occupational specialism has a learning aim in LARS and QWS (QAN Web Services Website) starting with ZTLOS.

You must record this at the beginning of the T Level programme.

T Level industry placement

Every student must complete a substantial industry placement as part of their T Level programme.

Record a T Level industry placement using the learning aim ZWRKX003. We expect placements to be 350 hours, on average, with the minimum permitted hours being 315. Placements for Early Years Educator students must be a minimum of 750 hours. You will be able to find more information about what can count towards the industry placement planned hours, in the T Level industry placements guidance.

You must also return a work placement entity record for the industry placement. You must record this in the first or second year of the T Level programme.

T Level planned hours

We need to know how many hours are planned for each student for the whole programme. Therefore you must record hours for the total planned duration.

This is different to study programmes where you record the hours planned for each academic year.

We have set up separate planned hours fields for T Level programmes to ensure the different methods of recording planned hours do not get confused. You must report the total planned hours for the T Level programme, covering the total planned 2 year duration, against the programme aim only (ZPROG001).

In the ILR

Record planned hours in the planned hours (phours) field for the whole T Level programme against the T Level programme aim only. You must not record planned hours against any T Level component aims.

In the school census

Record planned hours in the T Level planned learning hours and T Level planned employability, enrichment and pastoral hours field for the whole T Level programme.

Coding components

You must record every learning aim in a T Level programme with programme type 31 to indicate the learning aim belongs to a T Level programme. This includes non-mandatory components such as English and maths aims which meet condition of funding requirements.

Record the components correctly because errors may result in incorrect programme assignments and incorrect funding.

You must return framework and pathway codes for every learning aim delivered as part of the T Level programme in the ILR. This will ensure validation can check the occupational specialism is compatible with the chosen T Level qualification, helping you ensure your data recording is accurate.

This check is also performed by validation on the school census in a different way as the framework and pathway structure is not part of the school census collection.

Recording planned hours

Recording accurate planned hours in the correct fields is crucial in ensuring we calculate your funding accurately. Table 1 shows which planned hours fields you should record for the different programmes a 16 to 19 student can undertake.

Table 1

	Planned hours (Phours) / T Level planned learning hours and T Level planned employability	Planned Learning Hours and Planned Employability, Enrichment and Pastoral hours
Student only undertaking a T Level programme in the academic year	Yes - hours planned for the whole programme	No
Student only undertaking a study programme (including T Level transition programme) in the academic year	No	Yes - hours planned for the academic year only
Student undertaking a T Level programme and a study programme (including T Level transition programme) in the academic year	Yes - hours planned for the whole T Level programme	Yes - hours planned for the academic year for the study programme only

T Level planned hours must include:

• the technical qualification
• specialist content
• non-qualification activity (EEP)

T Level planned hours must not include:

• maths and English delivery (you do not need to record maths and English delivery hours for a T Level student)
• industry and work placements (record hours for industry placements in the work placement entity and not in the planned hours)
• other qualifications that are not part of the T Level

Recording occupational specialisms

The occupational specialism determines the funding band and the programme cost weighting the T Level attracts.

Record the occupational specialism at the beginning of the programme so that we calculate accurate funding.

In cases where a specialism has not been decided at the beginning of the T Level programme, you should record the occupational specialism that is most likely to be undertaken based on the planned programme. Should the student then start a different specialism to the one originally recorded, you should remove the original occupational specialism from the student’s record and record a new specialism aim that reflects the specialist activity being delivered.

In the ILR, when you change an occupational specialism, you must also change the pathway code for all T Level learning aims.

Data migration

Both the T Level technical qualification and the occupational specialism must be present in your data for each year of the programme.

Therefore, you must return all year 1 T Level learning aims in year 2 (and any subsequent years) until the student completes their programme.

Students moving between programmes

We have published examples of how to record transfers.

Students transferring from one T Level to another

When a student moves to a different T Level (that is, one with a different technical qualification (TQ)), you must close the original programme aim and open another learning aim record for a new programme aim. This is because the pathway code for the new programme aim must match the pathway code for the TQ.

If there are aims continuing as part of the new pathway, you must not close them. You must update them with the pathway code that corresponds with the new TQ.

When a student moves to a different T Level before completing the qualifying period, you must update the planned hours if they are different for the new T Level.

The funding qualifying period is 6 weeks for a full-time programme; we expect T Levels to be full time. More information on qualifying periods is in the funding rates and formula guidance.

When a student transfers after completing the qualifying period, you must record the same planned hours against the old and new programme aims (for the ILR) or keep the planned T Level hours the same (census). We will calculate funding using the latest programme aim. We do not expect providers to amend planned hours after the student’s funding qualifying period has completed, except in the circumstances set out in the funding regulations guidance.

You must have the core aim flag against the technical qualification for each qualification. The ILR allows a student to have multiple learning aims with the core aim flag if they do not have overlapping dates – that is, the learning aim with the later dates should have a start date at least one day after the actual end date of the earlier one.

Students transferring from one occupational specialism to another

Record changes to a student’s T Level occupational specialism on the ILR or census as soon as possible. Changes should also match the registration and assessment entries submitted to the relevant awarding organisation.

As with transfers from one T Level to another, you must not change the planned hours if the student transfers after completing the qualifying period.

Students transferring between T Levels and study programmes

The same considerations apply whether a student moves from a T Level to a study programme or the other way around.

You do not need to change the study programme or T Level planned hours. The funding calculation will use the planned hours recorded for the most recent programme and will disregard planned hours recorded for programmes that a student has transferred off or withdrawn from.

The hours recorded for a study programme must reflect the hours planned for the remainder of the year.

The hours recorded for a T Level must reflect the hours planned for the remainder of the year plus the hours for subsequent years of study.

You must make sure that you record the core aim flag against a learning aim as appropriate.

Students transferring from a T Level to an apprenticeship

When a student moves from a T Level to an apprenticeship, you must adjust the T Level hours so that they do not include any hours that you plan to deliver after the apprenticeship start. This follows the principles and requirements set out in the funding regulations, which state that students are usually only eligible for one ESFA funding model at a time and therefore providers must remove from the study programme all the planned hours for the period in which apprenticeship funding is being claimed.

It is appropriate to amend the hours, even if a student then falls into a lower T Level funding band, or even band 5 or below. It is possible for T Levels in general to be funded below band 6. The funding earned for the student’s T Level programme must be appropriate for the delivery that took place.

Check data accuracy: 16 to 19 funding reports

The 16 to 19 funding reports in the funding information system (FIS), submit learner data, and COLLECT will identify your T Level students and the funding bands assigned to them. To ensure the accuracy of funding allocations, in-year monitoring report and reconciliation, you must correctly record your T Level students in your data returns.

16 to 19 funding claim report (ILR) and 19 funded student summary report (census)

These reports have separate sections for study programmes and T Levels. The second report shows the total number of T Level students and the funding bands assigned to them according to the T Level and planned hours you have recorded.

16 to 19 summary of funding by student (ILR)

This report has a T Level student indicator, and the student detail report (census) is split into study programme and T Level sections showing you which students our calculation recognises as a T Level student based on the data you have returned.

From 2023 to 2024, the report includes additional columns to show T Level students’ TQ, occupational specialism, programme dates and length. You can use this information to check that students are on the correct T Level and occupational specialism, what their funding band is (T Levels should be in band 6, 7, 8, or 9), and whether their programme is at least 2 years long.

ESFA 16 to 19 T Level student report (COLLECT)

From 2023 to 2024, COLLECT has a T Level specific report. You can use this to check that students are on the correct T Level and occupational specialism, what their funding band is (T Levels should be in band 6, 7, 8, or 9), and whether their programme is at least 2 years long.

ESFA post-16 monitoring reports

For 2023 to 2024 we will publish the FRM65 report: T Level industry placements below the minimum hours for the specialism. This report identifies T Level programmes in their second academic year where the planned industry placement hours are below the specialism minimum. It shows the aims that are in year two and the total industry placement hours for the programme.

Students with more than one programme in a year

Where a student has more than one 16 to 19 programme in a single funding year we will fund on the latest programme only. You must record all components correctly against each programme record so that we can calculate your funding accurately.

Checklist

If some T Level students are not displaying as you expected, use this checklist to ensure you have recorded all programme elements correctly.

1. Have you recorded a valid T Level qualification?
2. Is the T Level technical qualification the core aim?
3. Have you recorded a valid T Level occupational specialism linked to the T Level qualification?
4. Have you recorded a programme aim (ZPROG001) spanning the delivery of all T Level components?
5. Is your programme aim 2 years in duration? We expect most T Levels to last 2 years, although we allow longer and shorter programmes.
6. Are all the learning aims (including the programme aim) in the T Level programme coded programme type 31 (T Level)?
7. Is the T Level programme the latest programme recorded for the student?
8. Have you recorded T Level hours for the whole programme (and not annually)?
9. Are your T Level planned hours recorded against the latest T Level programme aim? These are some examples of how T Level programme elements and scenarios should be recorded in your data returns.
10. Have you checked the funding reports to make sure you have recorded your T Level students against:

a. the correct funding bands
b. the correct TQ
c. the correct occupational specialism
d. the correct duration

Examples

We have published a spreadsheet with examples of recording T Levels and T Level transition programmes, including transfers onto and off T Levels.

How to record T Level transition programmes

From academic year 2024 to 2025, we will refer to the T Level transition programme as the T Level foundation year.

We will continue to refer to T Level transition programmes in this guidance until the department and ESFA use the new wording in all T Level guidance and data recording.

You should only record students on the T Level transition programme if you have:

• been selected to deliver T Levels
• confirmed you are delivering the T Level transition programme in the same T Level routes

T Level transition programmes are a variant of 16 to 19 study programmes, linked to a T Level route. The recording requirements are:

All T Level transition programmes must have a programme aim (ZPROG001) – you must record this as aim type 1 (ILR only).

Record all learning aims within a T Level transition programme as programme type 30 (T Level transition programme).

Link all T Level transition programmes to the T Level route the student plans to progress to.

To make this link, record a T Level route level class code in each T Level transition programme.

There are 11 route level class codes which you can find in the find a learning aim service by entering ZTPR* in the learning aim reference search box. This aim must be the core aim (aim type 5 in the ILR) of a T Level transition programme.

Record any other learning, including maths and English where applicable, as a component aim (aim type 3 in the ILR).

As T Level transition programmes are a form of 16 to 19 study programme, you must record annual planned hours values in the planned learning hours and planned employability, enrichment, and pastoral hours fields.

Do not record hours in the T Level planned hours fields (the planned hours field in the ILR and the T Level planned learning hours and T Level planned employability, enrichment, and pastoral hours fields). These fields are only used for students undertaking T Level programmes.