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Post-16 Education & Skills white paper - October 2025

Date

21/10/2025

Category

Policy News , News

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Enginuity, the charity dedicated to closing the skills gaps in the UK’s engineering and manufacturing sector, welcomes the publication of the Post-16 Education and Skills white paper and will help ensure that the voice of the vital SME community is heard by the Government. 

An efficient and effective skills system is key to the Government’s plans to grow the economy, tackle worklessness, and improve inclusion. 

Strong, clear and credible routes for young people to gain skills in much-needed roles in advanced engineering and manufacturing are important in helping to address critical skills shortages. 

The new V Level programmes, which will be on offer to 16-year-olds alongside T Levels and A Levels, could boost vocational training routes and should be informed by the sectors current and future skills needs. 

Lessons can be learned from the roll-out of T Levels, which illustrated the importance of supporting careers advisors, parents, employers and other stakeholders understanding and confidently communicating the benefits of the new offer to young people. 

Advanced engineering and manufacturing SMEs have called for stability in the skills system and greater engagement with policy making to ensure that their needs are understood and reflected in the skills offer. 

The new V Level qualifications should support progress from Level 2 and help employers to develop and define routes into the great careers that the sector offers. 

Sector employers have long called for flexibility in the Apprenticeship Levy, and the white paper’s announcement of apprenticeship units to be funded through the growth and skills offer will be welcome in supporting sector apprenticeships. 

Key to the success of the vocational reforms will be engagement with businesses. Enginuity looks forward to collaborating with sector employers and stakeholders to drive a simpler, stronger and more effective skills system. 

We welcome the Government’s consultation on vocational pathways. Enginuity will consult directly with SMEs, which make up 90% of the manufacturing sector to understand the benefits, challenges, and impact of these changes and, in turn, work with the Government to ensure the reforms deliver real value for the sector and its people.