Post-16 Reform - Background

Background to post-16 vocational reforms

The post-16 landscape is changing and from September 2025 it will look significantly different to the current one. Our aim here is to explain some of these changes to you.

What's happened so far?

The previous government wanted to create a new streamlined qualifications system for students aged 16 and over, aimed at supporting them to move into high-skilled jobs, either directly, or through progression into good quality higher education courses.

Following a review of post-16 qualifications and below in 2022, post-16 qualifications in England went through a 3 phase reform process:

• Phase 1 - the Department for Education (DfE) removed funding from qualifications with sustained low or no publicly funded enrolments
• Phase 2 - the DfE removed funding from 16-19 qualifications which overlap with T Levels and academic qualifications where a subject is more suited to a technical qualification or there is already an associated A level.
• Phase 3 - DfE introduce a new integrated approval process for qualifications that will receive public funding from September 2025. This sets quality criteria for all academic and technical qualifications. Those qualifications that get approved will be those that provide skills for the future and lead to good outcomes.

This reform meant that there would be two routes available for students in 2025. They would choose between:

• A Levels or a mixed curriculum of, typically, two A Levels alongside an Alternative Academic Qualification, such as a Cambridge Advanced National
• T Levels or they may wish to enrol in an apprenticeship.

The new Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs) would be developed in two cycles:

• Cycle 1 includes subjects that align with waves 1 and 2 of T Level roll-out with  these AAQs being funded from September 2025.
• Cycle 2 will include everything not covered in cycle 1 and AAQs will be funded from September 2026.

Following the election of a new government, in July 2024 the Department for Education (DfE) announced an immediate pause and review of the post-16 vocational qualification reform in England.

Where are we now?

The Department for Education (DfE) published the outcome of their review of post-16 qualification reform on 12 December 2025. The review was set up to determine which qualifications will be funded for 16-19 learners in England for the 2025/26 academic year. The funded post-16 qualifications will sit alongside A Levels and T Levels.

The Government believes that the current qualifications landscape is too confusing and fails to provide the clear routes to success needed by students and employers. During the review of qualification reform, DfE heard strong arguments that the plans to remove level 3 qualifications and implement proposed rules of combination risked leaving students with too little choice and too few opportunities.

They acknowledged that the sector needs certainty, and their announcement sets out plans up to 2027.

Students deserve high- quality qualifications that meet their needs and we must continue to develop and improve qualifications so that they provide for the needs of students and employers.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review will be taking a view on the curriculum more broadly as part of its wider consideration of how we prepare all young people for life and work, but there are some areas where actions were needed in advance of the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s recommendations.

Folllowing a sector-by-sector analysis, qualifications in sectors key to the government’s economic growth mission that were previously scheduled for defunding will continue to receive funding from September 2025 for one or two years depending on the sector, until “reformed alternatives” become more established.  This includes sectors such as agriculture, environmental and animal care, engineering, manufacturing, health and social care, legal, finance and accounting, business and administration, and creative and design.

Qualifications that overlap with T Levels will be able to coexist whilst reformed qualifications are developed and improved.  The DfE is committed to the long-term delivery of T Levels as the large technical qualification of choice for young people but has announced that further enrolments will not take place for the Onsite Construction T Level due to a lack of demand.

As part of these post-16 announcements, the DfE has also said that it will not tell providers and students which types of qualifications they can combine.

The DfE has confirmed that over 200 post-16 qualifications that had either no or below 100 enrolments per year over the last three years will have their funding withdrawn from 1 August 2025.

What does this mean for OCR qualifications

Cambridge Technicals

A number of Level 3 Cambridge Technicals qualifications will be defunded by July 2025. Our Level 3 qualifications page sets out at a glance the funding status for our Level 3 vocational qualifications.

Cambridge Advanced Nationals

The government has confirmed that cycle 1 Alternative Academic Qualifications (AAQs) are funded for first teaching in September 2025.

All our Level 3 150 GLH, 180 GLH (AS Level size) and 360 GLH (A Level size) Cambridge Advanced Nationals, our new Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualifications, are funded and can be taken alongside as a part of a post-16 programme of study.