T Levels up 65% in their fifth year, but they’re still just 1.4% of today’s Level 3 results

T Level results have jumped 65.1% in their fifth year, with 19,665 students receiving overall results today compared with 11,909 on results day in 2025. Yet those results account for just 1.4% of the more than 1.36 million Level 3 results published today, based on JCQ’s published figures.

How results day breaks down

• A Levels: 906,425, which is 66.6% of the overall results
• VTQs: 300,005, which is 22.0% of the overall results
• AS Levels: 134,910, which is 9.9% of the overall results
• T Levels: 19,665, at 1.4% of the overall results

T Levels, the Government’s flagship technical qualification, made up a mere 19,665 results… just 1.4% of the total this results day. Although it is important to highlight that T Level numbers are increasing, with the number of learners growing from 11,909 in 2025 to 19,665 in 2026, a rise of 65%… and the number of providers delivering T Levels has increased to 307, up from 255 in 2025, a rise of 20.4%.

This year’s data covers 21 individual T Levels, three of which have been awarded for the first time.

Outcomes improving as the cohort grows

The pass rate has edged up to 92.6% in 2026 (18,218 students), from 91.4% (10,888 students) in 2025, a notable result given cohort growth on this scale often drags outcomes down.

The improvement holds further up the grade scale. 68.9% of students achieved Merit or above, up from 65.3% in 2025, and 18.1% achieved Distinction or above, up from 15.7%. Of this year’s cohort, 74 students achieved Distinction*, 3,491 Distinction, 9,993 Merit and 4,660 Pass, with 1,421 recording a Partial Achievement.

The retained and assessed rate, the proportion of starters who stayed on the programme and were assessed, also rose from 72.9% to 76.7%.

Industry placements holding up at scale

Every T Level includes an industry placement of at least 315 hours, and completion is the number to watch as work experience moves up the policy agenda. This year 97.2% of students (19,113) completed their placement, up from 96.3% (11,472 students) in 2025.

That means providers found and delivered roughly 7,600 more completed placements year on year while improving the completion rate, a signal that employer capacity is so far keeping pace with the programme’s growth.

The caveats

JCQ cautions that comparisons with 2025 are of limited value given the increases in student numbers, T Levels available and providers offering them.

The 2025 figures above are as released on results day last year. They have since been revised upwards as part of standard statistical updates, to include late completion of industry placements and the outcomes of remarking and moderation, with the 2025 pass rate now standing at 93.5%.

Percentage shares of results day are FE News calculations from JCQ’s published totals and may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

The full breakdown of results for each T Level component and individual T Level pathways will be available on explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk.