Post-16 Skills and Education in England: New white paper & other higher education policies now in play

The government’s post-16 education and skills white paper was published on Monday 20 October 2025.  

So, what’s in the 70-page tome and what has the reaction to it been? 

Ed Bridges, Head of Policy & Public Affairs for the Academy of Social Sciences helpfully produced a summary for learned societies to use, and I have consequently drawn upon this heavily below. Thank you, Ed! 

The first notable aspect is that this strategy looking to reform post-16 education and skills in England is a joint endeavour between the Department for Education, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Department for Work and Pensions. It's not, on the whole, seeking to consult the public and doesn’t set out any legislative timetable. It will be interesting to see also how the long-awaited curriculum and assessment review supports these goals. 

It enjoyed significant media coverage which focussed on: 

• Addressing the undesirable number of young people who are NEETs. The government has set a new target that two-thirds of under 25s participate in higher-level learning to address skills shortages to support growth. Skills England have an enhanced role in making this happen. 

• Re-centring Further Education colleges in the education landscape to help address the skills gaps especially in Maths, English and digital areas.  

• New V-levels – vocational qualifications for post-16 set to replace the 900 or so existing offerings including BTECs (a public consultation on these has now been launched). 

• Allowing tuition fees and maintenance loans to rise with inflation (but with conditions, see below).  

However, within a wide-ranging white paper there were a number of other proposals affecting higher education which I’ll touch on below. 

The white paper sets out five objectives for the HE sector (which align with the government’s existing Plan for Change and industrial strategy priorities): 

• economic growth  

• a high-quality student experience  

• national capability via specific research and skills development  

• regional impact  

• increase in international standing. 

Universities are challenged to “specialise in areas of strength within a more collaborative system, with clearer roles for teaching- and research-intensive institutions with areas of specialist advantage, and stronger access and participation”.  

Tuition fees in England will go up with inflation for the next two academic years (and legislation will be prepared to make this automatic in the future) provided that the teaching carried out by institutions is judged to meet a “higher quality threshold” (some are seeing this as potentially TEF Silver and Gold ratings).  The Office for Students in England (OfSE) will be the body tasked with making that judgement which along with other proposals may mean enhanced powers for the regulator going forward.  

It is also worth bearing in mind that there is a consultation by OfSE on the Teaching Excellence Framework et al already underway (until 11 December 2025) Consultation on the future approach to quality regulation - Office for Students 

As had been heavily trailed over recent months, there will be new targeted maintenance grants funded by a levy on international student fees.  

The white paper indicates that the UK’s dual support system of research funding i.e. QR funding will remain; focussed on delivering UK government priorities: “We will ensure basic curiosity-driven research is protected and can grow as the economy allows and will set UK Research and Innovation a new strategic objective to support this.” And this will be targeted to drive a “more strategic distribution of research activity”.  

The white paper puts a greater focus on regional skill gaps and universities’ ‘civic’ role to their local communities, arguing that some of this can be addressed through greater regional collaboration between institutions. It suggests this could involve providers in the same region sharing back-office functions and estates and could extend to allowing regional ‘groupings’.  

Vivienne Stern of Universities UK said that the white paper offered a “much-needed reset” of the university system, adding: “The decision to raise undergraduate fees in line with inflation in England will help to halt the long-term erosion of universities’ financial sustainability, following a decade of fee freezes”.  

Tim Bradshaw of the Russell Group urged the UK Government to rethink the proposed international tuition fee levy, which he warned will “seriously hamper universities’ ability to invest in students and communities”.  

He also said that plans to restrict maintenance grants to just those courses aligned to the UK Government’s agenda were “deeply concerning”, arguing that “the UK needs a wide range of skills to build up a robust graduate workforce and successfully deliver a new industrial strategy.” Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, added that plans “assume that government knows what the most valuable courses of the future are”.  

The British Academy also expressed its opposition to the introduction of a levy on international student fees. The academy highlighted its 'cold spots' research which shows that despite being highly sought after by students and employers, inequality of access to arts, humanities and social science subjects already exists and risks getting worse. 

Andy Westwood, professor of public policy, government and business at the University of Manchester, observed: “While universities may be soothed by the promise of measures to monitor and support their financial sustainability, address cost recovery, maintain QR funding and protect curiosity-driven research, there are two important caveats. First, all these are driven firmly by industrial strategy and wider government priorities. Second, generating cross-subsidies for research is going to become harder. The international student levy, reforms to international students’ entitlement to post-study work and further tightening of immigration will affect universities’ international income and how it is spent. DSIT and UKRI will have to think about the consequences—and may end up paying for rather more of them than they currently envisage.”  

I also found these analyses useful reading: 

WonkHE: What is in the post-16 education and skills white paper for higher education? | Wonkhe 

Schools Week Skills white paper: everything school leaders need to know 

It’s also worth taking a look at the drivers of this white paper: 

Plan for Change - GOV.UK (government missions: growing the economy, an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, opportunity for all, and making Britain a clean energy superpower - are part of a decade of national renewal, built on the foundations of a stable economy, secure borders and national security). 

Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy - GOV.UK (structured around eight growth-driving sectors: advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences, professional and business services)