16 to 19 funding: high value courses premium
The high value courses premium (HVCP) is additional funding to encourage and support delivery of selected level 3 courses in subjects that lead to higher wage returns, to enable a more productive economy.
Applies to England
Introduction
Education and skills are key components to addressing national and local productivity challenges, making sure individuals have the skills needed to meet the needs of the new economy.
The high value courses premium (HVCP) is funding to encourage and support delivery of selected substantial level 3 study programmes and T Levels in selected A level subjects or sector subject areas (SSAs). These subjects have been selected using data on earnings outcomes as a way of indicating which will help to develop a more productive economy.
This guidance sets out the conditions under which Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will pay HVCP in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
Qualifications attracting HVCP
The qualifications attracting HVCP must be approved for 16 to 19 funding during at least part of the relevant academic year and be:
- an A level in one of the qualifying A level subjects, or
- a level 3 qualification (other than an A level) with recommended guided learning hours (GLH) of 360 or more in a qualifying SSA, or
- a T Level aligned to the qualifying SSA
| Qualifying A level subjects |
|---|
| Biology |
| Chemistry |
| Computer science |
| Design and technology |
| Electronics |
| Further mathematics |
| Mathematics |
| Physics |
| Statistics |
| Qualifying SSAs |
|---|
| SSA 2.2 – Mathematics and statistics |
| SSA 4.1 – Engineering |
| SSA 4.2 – Manufacturing technologies |
| SSA 4.3 – Transport operations and maintenance |
| SSA 5.2 – Building and construction |
| SSA 6.1 – ICT for practitioners |
We selected these qualifying subjects and SSAs because they have higher earnings outcomes according to available data. We considered A level subjects and non-A level subject areas separately. This way of selecting programmes identifies those most likely to contribute to a more productive economy.
We will update the list of qualifications annually to reflect the qualifications approved for funding in the relevant year.
2024 to 2025 allocations
We have published the qualifying qualifications that we will use to calculate HVCP for 2024 to 2025 allocations. We have taken the qualifications from those approved for funding for all or part of 2022 to 2023.
The HVCP does not reflect or anticipate the outcome of the ongoing review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below. As part of this review, we will remove 16 to 19 funding approval from qualifications that:
- overlap with T Levels in waves 1 and 2 from 1 August 2024
- overlap with T Levels in wave 3 from 1 August 2025
We have also published a provisional list of qualifications that overlap with wave 4 T Levels. This list is still subject to an appeals process for awarding organisations. Following this process, we will publish a final list of overlapping qualifications that will have 16 to 19 funding approval removed from 1 August 2025.
In addition, we will remove 16 to 19 funding approval from qualifications in scope of:
- cycle 1 routes of the post-16 qualifications reform, from 1 August 2025
- cycle 2 routes of the post-16 qualifications reform, from 1 August 2026
Please see the guide to the post-16 qualifications landscape at level 3 and below for 2025 and beyond for more details.
We allocate HVCP funding to qualifications currently funded by ESFA. Eligibility for HVCP funding does not mean that a qualification will or will not continue to be included on ESFA’s list of qualifications approved for funding for 16 to 19 year olds in the future.
Students eligible for HVCP
Students eligible for ESFA 16 to 19 funding, both full-time and part-time, can attract the premium. To attract the premium, students will also need to be enrolled on a qualifying level 3 programme, defined as follows:
- qualification must be on our published list of qualifying qualifications
- an academic study programme consisting of at least 2 of the selected A levels*
- a study programme with a core aim of a qualifying level 3 qualification in the selected SSAs with recommended GLH of 360 or more
- a T Level aligned to a qualifying SSA
*We treat A level double awards as 2 A levels. We do not count AS level double awards.
Calculation and payment
Funding rate
We will pay £600 for each student attracting HVCP.
Calculation
We will calculate HVCP as follows:
Step 1 – identify students eligible for HVCP
Step 2 – calculate the amount of HVCP per institution by:
- multiplying the total number of eligible HVCP students per institution by the funding rate
Examples of students eligible or not for HVCP and how we calculate the allocation are in Annex A.
We base the HVCP payment for a year on data from 2 years previously. For example, for 2024 to 2025 allocations, we use full year data from the individualised learner record (ILR) or census from 2022 to 2023. You can check the data sources for a particular year on our 16 to 19 allocations page.
Payment
We pay funding through 16 to 19 allocations for each academic year, through the usual monthly profile. We will take infrastructure changes such as mergers and demergers into account as far as practicable in calculating the eligible amounts.
HVCP and the advanced maths premium
HVCP operates in parallel to the advanced maths premium. Students may qualify for both if they meet the respective criteria for funding.
Funding guidance
Further information is in the 16 to 19 funding regulations and the funding rates and formula funding guidance.
Contact us
If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.
Updates to this page
Last updated 14 March 2024 + show all updates
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We have updated the 2024 to 2025 allocations section to give more detail on the potential impact of the post-16 review at level 3 and below on future high value courses premium lists.
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We've updated this page to streamline the information, removing information on monitoring and reference to the post-16 level 3 qualifications review, as this is now complete.
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We've updated the page for academic year 2023 to 2024. The page links to the qualifications for 2023 to 2024 and we've included a new student example file. The rate remains at £600.
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We have updated the page to confirm funding for academic year 2022 to 2023.
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We have extended this guidance to cover academic year 2021 to 2022.
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First published.