New reforms to transform further and higher education

The government has announced a package of reforms to elevate and transform the education skills system.

The reforms include a bold new target: two-thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning – academic, technical or apprenticeships – by age 25, up from 50% today. 

A sub-target will ensure at least 10% of young people pursue higher technical education or apprenticeships by age 25 by 2040, a near doubling of today’s figure.

Schools will play a greater role in ensuring every pupil has a clear post-16 destination, with a new approach to a guaranteed college or FE provider place available as a safety net being tested.

There will also be 14 new Technical Excellence Colleges established, focused on high-growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and digital – helping deliver excellent provision in these key sectors. This builds on the 10 Technical Excellence Colleges already announced for construction and five for defence.

Colleges will be expected to deliver at least 100 hours of face-to-face English and maths teaching for those who haven’t passed those GCSEs, supported by targeted funding and training. To bolster the quality of teaching, we will support further education teachers with new structured professional development from initial teacher training through to leadership.

The government will hold the sector to account through the new Ofsted framework, and new Regional Improvement Teams in Further Education will support college improvement, including how they meet skills needs of their communities, and empower high-performing leaders to support others – driving attendance and standards.

A single funding model for all Level 4-6 courses will be introduced, with FE and HE courses brought under the regulation of the Office for Students and with new awarding powers for providers offering higher technical courses, so they can more easily deliver these skills. Backed by the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, this will ensure equal access to student finance for higher level study in further and higher education providers, including modular courses aligned to priority skills.

To support these reforms, the government will also invest nearly £800m extra into funding for 16–19-year-olds next year (2026-7). Coming from the existing Spending Review settlement, this funding will support an additional 20,000 students.