Awarding organisations are being invited to bid for contracts to refresh and develop seven existing T Levels.

T Levels are classroom-based two-year courses, for 16- to 19-year-olds, that follow GCSEs and are equivalent to 3 A Levels. They crucially involve extensive ‘on-the-job’ training through an industry placement lasting around 45 days.

The successful bidders for these seven Generation 2 contracts will be taking on responsibility for T Levels that have been successfully rolled out since the programme launched in 2020.

The outline content of each T Level has already been created by employers, with support from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). These identify the core knowledge, skills, and behaviours that leading sector figures have agreed must be learned for students to prove they are work ready.

The Generation 2 suppliers will be expected to refresh and develop the content and assessment methods. The bidding lots are for the following T Levels:

  • Building Services Engineering for Construction
  • Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction
  • Onsite Construction
  • Digital Business Services
  • Digital Support Services
  • Digital Production, Design and Development
  • Education and Early Years (formerly Education and Childcare)

The bidding process, overseen by IfATE, will comprise of two stages. The first closes later this month and those that successfully pass will progress to stage two to complete their bid submission by early 2024.

Chris Morgan, IfATE’s deputy director for commercial, said:

“This exciting opportunity will see the first two waves of T Levels, rolled out from 2020, going back to market for bidding in three key sectors. We welcome widespread interest and look forward to receiving submissions from awarding organisations.”


T Levels will underpin the technical options within the government’s long-term plans for the new Advanced British Standard (ABS) qualification.

Plans for ABS, which will build from the best of T Levels and A Levels, will be developed over the next decade. T Levels will, in the meantime, remain the gold standard employer-shaped technical qualification at level 3 for 16 to 19 year-olds and it is vital that the Generation 2 qualifications are refreshed and developed to the highest standard.

The full suite of procurement documents can be found online at procontract.due-north.com/Login.

Further information about the procurement is also published on the Government’s Find a Tender Service.