Academic Year 2018/19

Further education: outcome-based success measures

This is the latest dataOfficial Statistics

Published: 9 December 2021
Next update: October 2022
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Headline facts and figures - 2018/19

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All supporting files

All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:

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Destinations by qualification title, provision and sector subject area (QUA01) - formatted (xlsx, 187 Mb)
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Formatted version of QUA01 file, for ease of access. Reports on the employment, and learning destinations of adult FE & Skills learners, all age apprentices that achieved their learning aim, and Traineeship learners that completed their aim. Destination rates are calculated as a proportion of learners for whom a match was found in the LEO data. Includes earnings data one year after learning for learners achieving at Full level 2, Full level 3 and Level 4+. Broken down by qualification title, learner age, level of learning, access to higher education and sector subject area (tiers 1 & 2).
Progression of young learners by qualification title (QUA02) - formatted (xlsx, 77 Mb)
More details
Formatted version of QUA02 file, for ease of access. Reports on the learning destinations and progression of young learners that achieved their FE & Skills, and apprenticeship aims, and Traineeship learners that completed their aim. Broken down by qualification title, learner type, level of learning and sector subject area (tiers 1 & 2). This file contains only data for learners whose full academic record is recorded in the NPD and ILR datasets, and who were born in or after 1988, meaning the department holds the full educational history. Destination rates are calculated as a proportion of learners who meet these criteria.

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About these statistics

What are further education outcome-based success measures and what do they cover?

Further education outcome-based success measures (OBSM) show the percentage of further education learners going to or remaining in an education and/or employment destination in the academic year after achieving their learning aim. The most recent data reports on learners who achieved their aim in the 2018/19 academic year, and identifies their education and/or employment destinations the following year (2019/20).

OBSM also includes estimates on the earnings outcomes of learners who achieved a Full Level 2, Full Level 3 or Level 4+ qualification and have an earnings record, a record of sustained employment and no record of further study at a Higher Education institution within the earning year.

This publication reports outcomes by various learner demographics and type and level of learning. Where a learner achieves more than one aim within an academic year, the outcomes for the learner are reported against the highest and latest aim within that year. For example, if a learner achieves an aim at Level 2, and a separate Full Level 3 aim in the same academic year, their destinations will be reported against the Full Level 3 aim. Full Level 2 and Full Level 3 are counted as higher than Level 2 and Level 3 aims respectively, and apprenticeship aims are prioritised over education and training aims.

What data is used in the further education outcome-based success measures?

The data uses the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset, which looks at how learners move through education and into the labour market by bringing together:

schools, further and higher education information from the Department for Education (DfE)
employment information from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
benefit histories from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)

All learner counts reported here relate to those learners for whom a match was been found in the LEO data, therefore the counts will not match headline achievements in the FE & Skills National Statistics release.

What further data is available?

In addition to the headline measures presented in this publication, further data is available on detailed destination, earnings and progression measures broken down by geographic areas, provider, learner demographics, type/level of learning completed and qualification title.

A number of detailed breakdowns using this data have been signposted throughout the publication, and can also be accessed using the table builder tool which allows users to build custom tables. Alternatively, the underlying data files themselves can be downloaded from the ‘Explore data and files' section above.

Provider level and qualification level figures are not currently available through the table builder tool. However, provider data can be downloaded from the ‘Explore data and files’ section above. For qualifications level data, we recommend downloaded the formatted version of the data files due to the size of the raw data files. These formatted data files can be accessed via ‘Explore data and files’ then ‘Other files’.

Rounding and suppression

Full details on rounding and suppression are available in the accompanying methodology document.

Any percentage point (ppt) changes reported that appear to mismatch the percentages provided in the charts and tables are due to rounding conventions. The use of rounding and suppression may also mean that some charts do not appear to add up to 100%.

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Overall results

Destinations of all learners

What is a sustained positive destination?
To be counted in a sustained positive destination, learners have to be recorded as having participated in education and/or employment for a 6 month period (October 2019 – March 2020) in the year following study. This means attending for all of the first two terms of the academic year at one or more education providers, spending the 6 months in employment or having returned a self-assessment record for the destination year, or a combination of employment and learning (see methodology document for further information).
A sustained apprenticeship is recorded when 6 months continuous participation is recorded at any point in the destination year (between August 2019 and July 2020).

In the academic year 2018/19, 983,800 learners achieved a government funded learning aim, or completed a traineeship. Of these learners, 75% had a sustained positive destination into employment, learning or both in the following academic year (2019/20).

A further 12% had a positive destination in 2019/20, but it was not sustained.

8% of these learners had no positive destination and were in receipt of benefits in 2019/20, and the remaining 5% of learners had no identifiable destination in the data.

Please note: The outcomes in this release are presented as raw figures. They do not seek to control for differences in learner characteristics that may influence outcomes over time or across different learner populations.

Sustained employment dropped in 2018/19, but remains the common destination

The percentage of learners with a sustained positive destination rose from 73% in 2013/14 to 78% in 2016/17 and 2017/18, before dropping to 75% in 2018/19.

The most common destination in each year was sustained employment (including self-employment), rising from 65% in 2013/14 to 69% in 2017/18, with a drop back to 65% in 2018/19. In 2018/19, 52% of learners were in sustained employment only, while 13% had both a sustained learning and sustained employment destination.

The decrease in sustained employment drove the drop in the sustained positive destination rate for 2018/19. This fall in employment is likely to be partially due to the reference period for employment destinations overlapping slightly with the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown.

The second most common destination was going into further learning, with 23% of learners in 2018/19 going into a sustained learning destination. For 10% of learners this was their only sustained destination.

The sustained learning rate in 2018/19 is 2 ppt higher than it was in 2013/14 when monitoring began, although this represents a 1 ppt fall from 2016/17 and 2015/16 when it was highest at 24%.

Apprentices achieving in 2018/19 were most likely to go on to a sustained positive destination in 2019/20

Destination rates vary by the type of learning provision a learner undertakes. While sustained employment was the most likely destination for each group the proportion of learners going into this destination varied significantly.

In the 2018/19 academic year:

91% of learners who achieved an apprenticeship went into a sustained positive destination. The majority of these destinations were in sustained employment (89%), with only 2% of apprenticeship learners having a sustained learning only destination. High employment is to be expected as apprentices are likely to remain with their employer following their apprenticeship.
72% of learners who achieved an education and training course had a sustained positive destination and 60% moved into sustained employment. Learners on these courses had the lowest rate of sustained employment and learning (12%).
63% of learners who completed a traineeship in 2018/19 went on to a sustained positive destination.
Traineeships help young people get ready for an apprenticeship or job if they don’t have the appropriate skills or experience. In line with this they had the lowest sustained employment rate at 48%. However, trainees had the highest rate of sustained learning destinations (38%), and the highest rate of positive destinations that were not sustained (21%) of all types of provision.

Learning destination rates remain relatively stable over time, but there has been a decrease in learners moving into sustained apprenticeships

The overall sustained learning rate was 23% in 2018/19. This is 2 ppt higher than 2013/14, but 1 ppt lower than in 2015/16 and 2016/17 when it was at its highest at 24%.

Within the overall sustained learning outcome, sustained further education rates were the highest (18%), which is 2 ppt higher than in 2013/2014.

4% of learners went onto a sustained apprenticeship. This rate has been steadily declining since it peaked at 7% in 2015/16 and is now at the lowest point since monitoring began in 2013/14.

The sustained higher education rate was 4% in 2017/18, this is 1 ppt higher than when monitoring began in 2013/14.

Destinations by region

Sustained positive destinations varied significantly between regions in England

The overall sustained positive destination rate ranged from 71% in the North East, to 80% in the South East and South West.

Sustained employment rates followed broadly the same pattern as the overall sustained positive destination rate, however London (59%) had the lowest sustained employment as opposed to the North East (62%). The South West had the highest rates of sustained employment at 73%.

Sustained learning rates were highest in London (27%), and lowest in the North East (19%).

Broadly, sustained positive destination rates were higher in southern and eastern regions of England, and lower in northern and western regions.

Community Learning

What is community learning?
Community learning includes a range of community based and outreach learning opportunities, primarily managed and delivered by local authorities and general further education colleges designed to bring together adults (often of different ages and backgrounds).

There were 355,700 learners whose highest aim was in community learning in 2018/19. Community learners are a distinct group from the 983,800 learners reported on in other sections of this publication.

Of these learners, in the year following their learning aim:

65% had a sustained positive destination
58% were in sustained employment
15% were in sustained learning
36% were in some form of learning whether sustained or otherwise

Why do so many community learners have positive destinations that are not sustained?
There is a large increase in sustained learning rates when including the non-sustained learning. This is because community learners typically move into another community learning course or other qualifications that are structured in a similar way to community learning. That is to say that these courses tend to be short but intensive.

Explore data on community learning

You can create your own tables looking at community learners by using the table builder tool to explore the underlying data file ‘b. Destinations of community learners by demographics (NAT02)’

The following tables also offer a range of useful breakdowns:

File subject

What is available in the file

Community learners - 2013/14 to 2018/19

Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19

Indicators: All employment and education destination measures

Filters: Provision type

Community learners by demographics - 2018/19

Academic year: 2018/19

Indicators: All employment and education destination measures

Filters: Gender, BAME status, age band

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Adult education and training

Destinations of education and training learners

What is education and training?
Education and training is mainly classroom-based adult further education that is not classed as an apprenticeship or community learning. It can also include distance learning or e-learning.
Contrary to the Education & Training statistics in the ‘FE and Skills’ National Statistics, it excludes traineeships and offender learning.

Of the 983,800 learners in 2018/19, 786,600 achieved an education and training course as their highest learning aim.

72% of these learners went into a sustained positive destination in the 2019/20 academic year, this is a 1 ppt decrease from learners who achieved an education and training aim in 2017/18. It also represents a rise of 3 ppts compared to the rate when monitoring began in 2013/14 (69%).

Sustained positive destination rates for education and training learners have generally improved over time, largely driven by a higher proportion of learners moving into sustained further education

The increase in sustained positive destination rates for education and training learners since 2013/14 is mostly due to a 3 ppts increase in sustained learning destinations (24%).

Most learning destinations have remained relatively stable over time, but there has been an increase in the percentage of learners moving into sustained further education destinations. This has remained stable at 19% since 2016/17, however this still represents a 3 ppts increase from 2013/14.

The rate of education and training learners moving onto benefits only is the highest it has ever been

The percentage of these learners who went onto benefits only in the destination year has increased by 2 ppts to 9% since 2017/18. This is the highest rate since monitoring began in 2013/14.

Destinations by level of learning achieved

What is level of learning?
Most learning aims have a difficulty level. The higher the level, the more difficult the learning aim is. Further information can be found on this list of qualification levels.
How is the level of learning classified for learners with multiple aims?
This publication reports outcomes by various learner demographics and type and level of learning. Where a learner achieves more than one aim within an academic year, the outcomes for the learner are reported against the highest and latest aim within that year. For example if a learner achieves an aim at Level 2, and a separate Full Level 3 aim in the same academic year, their destinations will be reported against the Full Level 3 aim. Full Level 2 and Full Level 3 are counted as higher than Level 2 and Level 3 aims respectively, and apprenticeship aims are prioritised over education and training aims.

Broadly speaking, education and training learners who studied at higher levels had higher sustained positive destination rates, although there were some notable exceptions at the highest levels

‘English and Maths’ aims at Level 1 and Level 2 had higher sustained positive destination rates than other Level 1 and 2 aims, although this was a generally a result of having a higher proportion of learners going into a sustained learning destination.

The overall sustained positive destination rate of learners who had achieved:

Full Level 2 was 78%
Full Level 3 was 84%
Level 4 was 82%
Level 5 was 85%
Level 6 was 78%

Data for some outcome categories at Level 6 have been supressed due to small numbers of learners, meaning the chart below does not fully reflect the overall sustained positive destination rate

Learners achieving higher levels of education and training were more likely to move into sustained learning

42,400 learners achieved a Full Level 3 education and training aim in 2018/19, of which 55% went into a sustained learning destination. The most common sustained learning destination for Full Level 3 learners was sustained higher education at 42%, followed by sustained further education at Level 4 or above at 5%.
23,400 learners achieved a Full Level 2 education and training aim in 2018/19, of which 38% went on to a sustained learning destination. The most common sustained learning destination for Full Level 2 learners was a sustained Full Level 3 further education aim at 25%, followed by sustained Level 3 further education aims at 6%.
279,500 learners achieved a Level 2 education and training aim in 2018/19, of which 13% went on to a sustained learning destination. The most common sustained learning destinations for Level 2 learners were sustained Level 2, Level 3 or higher education aims (Level 6+) at 3%.
127,300 learners achieved a Level 1 education and training aim in 2018/19, of which 13% went on to a sustained learning destination. The most common sustained learning destinations for Level 1 learners were sustained Level 2 further education aims at 4%.

Further details on learning destinations by level of learning achieved can be found in the following tables:

Access to Higher Education Courses

What are ‘Access to Higher Education’ courses?
Access to Higher Education courses are qualifications which prepare people without traditional qualifications for study at university

Overall, over two thirds of learners achieving an ‘Access to Higher Education’ course moved into higher education, but rates vary by sector subject area

18,200 learners achieved an ‘Access to Higher Education’ course in 2018/19, of which 69% went on to a sustained higher education destination in the following year, a decrease of 1 ppt from 2017/18.

There was wide variation in the sustained higher education destination rate by sector subject area, ranging from 85% of learners in 'Languages, Literature and Culture', to 32% of learners in ‘Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care’.

With the exception of ‘Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care’, every sector subject area saw over half of learners who achieved an ‘Access to Higher Education’ course in 2018/19 going on to a sustained higher education destination in 2019/20.

The majority of sector subject areas saw a decrease in rates of progression to higher education, compared to the previous year

Since 2017/18 the rates of progression to higher education have increased in 5 of 13 sector subject areas with the largest increase (6 ppts) being in ‘Leisure, Travel and Tourism'.

In 8 of 13 sector subject areas the rates of progression to higher education have decreased since 2017/18. The largest decrease (10 ppts) was in ‘Construction, Planning and the Built environment’.

Destinations by region

Sustained positive destinations varied between regions in England

The sustained positive destination rates of education and training earners by region followed a similar distribution to those of all learners, with the North East having the lowest rate (67%). The highest rates were in the South East and South West (76%).

Sustained employment rates for education and training learners were lowest in the West Midlands (55%), followed by the North West and London (57%). The highest rate of sustained employment was in the South West (68%), who also had one of the highest sustained employment rates for all learners.

London had the highest rate of sustained learning (28%) followed by the North West and West Midlands (25%), whereas the North East had the lowest sustained learning rate (18%).

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Apprenticeships

Destinations of apprenticeship learners

What is an apprenticeship?
Apprenticeships are paid jobs that include an off-the-job programme of learning.

Compared to the previous year, a lower proportion of apprenticeship learners in 2018/19 moved into sustained employment but a higher proportion moved into sustained learning

Of the 184,900 learners achieving an apprenticeship as their highest aim in 2018/19, 91% had a sustained positive destination, a decrease of 1 ppt from 2017/18 and from 2013/14 when monitoring began. This decrease was driven by a 2 ppts decrease in the proportion of apprenticeship learners moving into sustained employment (89%) in 2018/19, compared to the previous year.

Nevertheless the sustained positive destination rate for apprenticeships remains higher than for other types of provision. This is to be expected as many apprentices remain with the employer following their apprenticeship, which results in a high rate of sustained employment.

The percentage of apprenticeship learners in sustained learning (with or without sustained employment) has increased by 2 ppts to 18% since 2017/18. However, this still represents a decrease of 3 ppts since monitoring began in 2013/14, meaning that overall there had been a decline in sustained learning for apprenticeship learners over time.

The sustained positive destination rate for apprenticeship learners varies a lot less by level than it does for education and training learners.

There was only 3 ppts difference between higher (Level 4) apprenticeships which have the highest sustained positive destination rate (94%), and intermediate (Level 2) and advanced (Level 3) with the lowest rate at 91%.

However, there was some variation in sustained learning rates by level, with the highest sustained learning rates being for intermediate (Level 2) apprenticeships (23%) and the lowest for higher (Level 5) apprenticeships (7%).

Just under one in five learners achieving an intermediate apprenticeship continued into an advanced apprenticeship

Of the 86,000 learners who achieved an intermediate (Full Level 2) apprenticeship in 2018/19, 19% progressed onto a sustained advanced (Full Level 3) apprenticeship in the 2019/20 academic year. This is 4 ppts higher than in the previous year 2017/18 when the rate was 15%, but represents a return to the same rate as from 2013/14 to 2015/16.

Progression from intermediate to advanced apprenticeships varied considerably by sector subject area of the intermediate apprenticeship

Intermediate apprenticeship learners studying an ‘Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies’ or ‘Science and Mathematics’ aim had the highest rates of progression to advanced apprenticeships at 31%, followed by those in ‘Education and Training’ (26%). The sector subject area with the lowest rate of progression was ‘Information and Communication Technology’ at 7%.

Progression rates increased in almost all sector subject areas, compared to the previous year

The rate of progression from intermediate to advanced level apprenticeships increased between 2017/18 and 2018/19 in all sector subject areas, with the exception of 'Information and Communication Technology' which had a decrease of 2 ppts compared to the previous year.

The largest increases since 2017/18 were in ‘Arts, Media and Publishing’ (10 ppts increase), followed by ‘Education and Training’ and ‘Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies with an increase of 5 ppts each.

Destinations by apprenticeship type

What are apprenticeship frameworks and apprenticeship standards?
As part of the Government’s apprenticeship reform programme all apprenticeship frameworks will be phased out by the start of the 2020/2021 academic year. Instead, new apprenticeship standards were introduced in 2014. Apprenticeship standards are focussed on quality learning with a single end point assessment, and are developed by the employers and industry experts.
Findings for apprenticeship standards were first reported in 2017/18, as prior to this the number of standard achievements was too low for publication. Although the volume of standards has risen to 27,500 (an increase from 2,700 last year) , the proportion of apprenticeships that are standards (15%) remains low in comparison to those that are framework apprenticeships (85%).
As such, all findings below may change as the number of apprenticeship standards increases in future years.

Learners achieving apprenticeship standards were more likely to move into a sustained positive destination than learners achieving apprenticeship frameworks

In the 2018/19 academic year there were 157,400 apprenticeship frameworks and 27,500 apprenticeship standards achieved. The number of apprenticeship standards will continue to increase and apprenticeship frameworks will decrease as apprenticeship frameworks are phased out.

The overall positive destination rate for apprenticeship standards (93%) was higher than that of apprenticeship frameworks (91%). This trend was consistent across all apprenticeship levels.

The profile of destinations for learners on apprenticeship standards was notably different to those on apprenticeship frameworks, and varied by apprenticeship level

For advanced and higher (Level 4) apprenticeships, a greater proportion of learners on apprenticeship standards moved into sustained employment and learning than those on frameworks. However, this trend was reversed for intermediate and higher (Level 5+) apprenticeships.

Intermediate apprenticeship standards had a sustained positive destination rate of 92%, 1 ppt higher than for frameworks. Learners on standards were more likely to be in sustained employment compared to frameworks learners (91% vs 89%), but were less likely to be in sustained learning (16%, 9 ppts lower than for frameworks)
Advanced apprenticeship standards had a sustained positive destination rate of 94%, 3 ppts higher than for frameworks. Advanced standards had a higher sustained employment (92%), and learning rate (19%) than frameworks (89% and 12% respectively) of the same level.
Higher (Level 4) apprenticeship standards had a sustained positive destination rate of 96%, 3 ppts higher than for frameworks. Learners from standards at this level were both more likely to move into sustained employment than those on frameworks (95% vs 92%), and more likely to move into sustained learning (30%, 15 ppts higher than for frameworks).
Higher (Level 5+) apprenticeship standards had a sustained positive destination rate of 93%, 2 ppts higher than for frameworks. The sustained employment rate for standards (93%) was higher than for frameworks (91%), but the sustained learning rate was consistent across both apprenticeship types (7%).

Data on earnings outcomes by apprenticeship type can be found in the following table:

Earnings one year after learning by apprenticeship type and level - 2018/19

Destinations by region

Sustained learning showed a different pattern across regions to sustained employment and overall sustained positive destinations

The sustained positive destination rates of apprenticeship learners were fairly uniform across regions (92%), although rates were slightly lower in the North East and North West (91%). London had the lowest sustained positive destination rate (88%).

There was more variation among sustained employment, although there was a broadly similar pattern with London having the lowest sustained employment rate (87%), and rates in the North East and North West (89%) being slightly lower than in most other regions (90%). The exception was the South West which had the highest rate at 91%.

Sustained learning showed a different pattern across the regions of England, with the South East having the lowest rate (15%) and the East Midlands and West Midlands having the highest rates (20%).

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Traineeships

Destinations of traineeship learners

What are traineeships?
Traineeships are a work-based pathway programme to apprenticeships and other employment for young people aged 16 to 24 (or up to age 25 if they have an Education Health and Care Plan) with no higher than a Level 3 qualification.
Traineeships data
Completions were recorded under a slightly different method in 2013/14 , making the figures for 2013/14 less comparable to later years. As such comparisons are made to the 2014/15 academic year for rate changes over time.
The number of traineeship learners completing their course is reported on, rather than the number achieved, as the definition of ‘achieving’ a traineeship is based on the learner’s outcome.
Note that some traineeships go on to complete further aims at a higher level in the same academic year, and a learner's outcomes are reported against the highest aim. Therefore, traineeship numbers presented here will be lower than those presented in the ‘Further education and skills’ publication
Percentages are calculated using unrounded figures, discrepancies in sum totals are due to rounding.

Employment is the most common sustained destination for traineeship learners

There were 12,300 learners who completed a traineeship as their highest aim in 2018/19. Of these learners:

63% had a sustained positive destination
48% went into sustained employment
38% went into sustained learning
21% went into a positive destination which was not sustained

Generally the proportion of traineeship learners moving onto a sustained positive destination has fallen over time

The percentage of traineeship learners with a sustained positive destination (63%) decreased by 3 ppts in 2018/19, from 66% in 2017/18. This represents a 4 ppt decrease in the sustained positive destination rate since 2014/15 when consistent monitoring began.

The proportion of traineeship learners going into any positive destination (whether sustained or not) was 83% in 2018/19, a 5 ppts decrease from 2017/18 (88%). This represents a 6 ppts decrease since 2014/15 (89%).

The percentage of traineeship learners going into sustained:

Employment (48%) has decreased 5 ppts since 2017/18, decreased 7 ppts since 2014/15
Further education (33%) has increased 1 ppt since 2017/18 and 2 ppts since 2014/15
Apprenticeships (21%) has decreased 1 ppt since 2017/18, decreased 5 ppts since 2014/15
Higher education (2%) has increased 1 ppt since 2017/18 and 2014/15

Explore traineeships data

You can create your own tables looking at traineeships data by using the table builder tool to explore the underlying data file 'a. Destinations by demographics and provision (NAT01)’.

The following tables also offer a range of useful breakdowns:

File subject

What is available in the file

Traineeships - 2013/14 to 2018/19

Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19

Learner type: Traineeship learners only

Indicators: All employment and education destination measures

Filters: None

Traineeships by demographics - 2018/19

Academic year: 2018/19

Learner type: Traineeship learners only

Indicators: All employment and education destination measures

Filters: Gender, benefit status, BAME status

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Earnings

Where does earnings data come from?
Earnings estimates are based on information recorded through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system used to collect Income Tax and National Insurance from employment by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Learners are only included in the figures if they have an earnings record on the P14 (HMRC data) and a record of sustained employment on the P45 (HMRC data) or in the Real Time Information submitted to HMRC in more recent years, and no record of further study at a Higher Education institution.
Limitations of earnings data
The PAYE records from HMRC do not include reliable information on the hours worked in employment so it is not possible to accurately distinguish between learners in full time and part time employment.
See the quality and methodology information that accompanies this release for more detail.
When interpreting the results below, it should be remembered that some of the difference in earnings could be a result of factors other than the qualification achieved, such as:
the number and proportion of achievers in part time employment,
the employment history of achievers,
pay conditions within the local labour market,
any additional income recorded through the self-assessment tax system,
characteristics of individual learners.
The outcomes in this release are presented as raw figures. They do not seek to control for differences in learner characteristics that may influence outcomes over time or across different learner populations.

Earnings five years post training

Earnings steadily increase each year after achievement for all levels of learning

Median annualised earnings one year after study for learners who achieved in academic year 2013/14 were:

£15,110 for intermediate apprenticeships - rising 36% to £20,530 five years after study
£17,220 for advanced apprenticeships - rising 28% to £21,990 five years after study
£19,230 for Level 4 higher apprenticeships - rising 52% to £29,180 five years after study
£25,010 for Level 5+ higher apprenticeships - rising 13% to £28,260 five years after study
£14,110 for Full Level 2 education & training courses - rising 27% to £17,950 five years after study
£12,390 for Full Level 3 education & training courses - rising 52% to £18,790 five years after study
£19,580 for Level 4 education & training courses - rising 23% to £24,060 five years after study
£25,140 for Level 5 education & training courses - rising 11% to £27,840 five years after study

For all levels of learning in both apprenticeship and education and training, earnings steadily increase each year after achievement. At one year after study, apprenticeship learners had lower earnings at Level 4 and Level 5 than equivalent level education and training courses, but five years after study earnings for apprenticeships were higher at all levels of learning.

On average, median annualised earnings rose 8% every year for intermediate, 6% for advanced, 11% for Level 4 higher, and 3% for Level 5 higher apprenticeships.

For education and training courses the median annualised earnings rose 6% every year for Full Level 2, 11% for Full Level 3, 5% for Level 4, and 3% for Level 5.

Earnings one year post training

Learners who achieved higher levels of learning tended to have higher median earnings one year after training

For learners who achieved their course in academic year 2018/19, median annualised earnings in the first full tax year after training tended to correspond with the level of learning, with higher median earnings for those who had achieved higher level training:

£17,670 for intermediate apprenticeships
£20,200 for advanced apprenticeships
£25,280 for higher (Level 4) apprenticeships
£28,240 for higher (Level 5+) apprenticeships
£15,640 for Full Level 2 education and training courses
£15,810 for Full Level 3 education and training courses
£17,240 for Level 4 education and training courses
£19,890 for Level 5 education and training courses

Median annualised earnings vary considerably between sector subject areas for Full Level 3 education and training learners

Earnings for Full Level 3 learners have been split by Sector Subject Area Tier 1 rather than Sector Subject Area Tier 2 as the number of Full Level 3 learners achieving an aim decreased significantly for 2018/19, meaning numbers in some categories are too small for more detailed analysis. See methodology note for further details.

One year after study, median annualised earnings for learners who achieved a Full Level 3 education and training course in academic year 2018/19 were:

highest in ‘Construction, Planning and the Built Environment’ at £21,390
lowest in ‘Arts, Media and Publishing’ at £9,530

Within some sector subject areas earnings had a wide range between the upper and lower quartiles of earnings

this was widest in ‘Construction, Planning and the Built Environment' for which the lower quartile was £13,330 and the upper quartile was £27,700
followed by ‘Leisure, Travel and Tourism’, which ranged from £8,730 at the lower quartile to £20,980 at the upper quartile and ‘Information and Communication Technology’, for which the lower quartile was £7,590 and the upper quartile was £19,790

Large variations in median annualised earnings can also be seen for advanced apprenticeships across sector subject areas.

One year after study, median annualised earnings for learners who achieved an advanced apprenticeship in academic year 2018/19 were:

highest in Engineering (£31,090), Public Services (£29,390) and Manufacturing Technologies (£29,150).
lowest in Sport, Leisure and Recreation (£15,430), Service Enterprises (£14,470) and Direct Learning Support (£14,120)

Explore earnings data

The following tables contain useful further breakdowns of earnings data:

File subject	What is available in the file
Earnings one year after learning by provision, level of learning and sector subject area tier 2 - 2018/19	Academic year of achievement: 2018/19 Years after learning: One Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2
Earnings one to five years after learning by provision, level of learning and sector subject area tier 2 - 2013/14	Academic year of achievement: 2013/14 Years after learning: One to five Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2
Earnings one year after learning by apprenticeship type and level - 2018/19	Academic year of achievement: 2018/19 Years after learning: One Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings Filters: Apprenticeship type, level of learning

Create your own earnings tables

You can create your own tables looking at earnings outcomes by using the table builder tool to explore the following data files:

File subject

What is available in the file

q. Earnings one to five years after learning by provision, demographics, sector subject area and qualification title (EAR01)

Academic year of achievement: 2010/11 to 2018/19

Years after learning: One to five

Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings

Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2, qualification title, years after learning, gender, ethnicity

a. Destinations by demographics and provision (NAT01)

Academic year of achievement: 2013/14 to 2018/19

Years after learning: One

Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings

Filters: Provision type, level of learning, apprenticeship type, gender, age band, learning difficulties status, BAME status, ethnicity, benefit learner status

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Progression

Progression into higher level of study

'Sustained progression from achieved aim' details the proportion of learners with a sustained further learning aim, who went on to sustained study at a higher level than they just achieved.

Just under two thirds of learners who moved on to a sustained learning aim progressed into a higher level of study

65% of learners with a sustained learning destination progressed to a higher level of learning in the 2019/20 academic year than the level they had achieved in 2018/19. This represents a 1 ppt decrease compared to the previous year, but is consistent with the rate when monitoring first began in 2013/14.

Learners who achieved an apprenticeship were more likely to progress to a higher level of learning than students studying an education and training course

The percentage of apprenticeship learners progressing onto a higher level of sustained learning in 2019/20 than they had achieved in 2018/19 (87%) was 25 ppts higher than for education and training learners (62%).

The rate of progression for apprenticeship learners has increased over time, and was 9 ppts higher in 2018/19 (87%) than in 2013/14. This is likely due to the increase in the number of learners undertaking higher (Level 4+) apprenticeships over this time period.

Rates of progression to a higher level of learning in 2019/20 varied considerably by level of learning achieved in 2018/19

There was considerable variation by level in terms of progression from an education and training course to a higher level of learning, ranging from 26% for Level 2 ESOL courses, to 87% for learners at Full Level 3 and Level 1 English & Maths.

Progression to a higher level of learning in the destination year for apprenticeship learners also showed variation between levels, although the range was much narrower than for education and training learners. Rates ranged between 70% for Higher (Level 5) apprenticeships, and 92% for Intermediate (Level 2) and Higher (Level 4) apprenticeships.

Progression of young learners

The department has used the National Pupil Database (NPD) in conjunction with the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) and Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) data to detail students’ attainment throughout their educational history . The resulting dataset includes attainment records from schools, and further and higher education institutions allowing for robust comparisons over time.
This has enabled experimental statistics on progression to be calculated for those learners whose full educational history has been recorded. This cohort is limited to learners who were born in 1988 or later, as this is the earliest year the department has attainment data available for.
Please note that the data displayed in this section of the publication is experimental.

Of the 983,800 learners achieving their further education aim in 2018/19, 236,500 (24%) were born in or after 1988, and had a full educational history recorded by the department.

The rest of the analysis in this section relates specifically to this group of learners.

Young learners studying at this level of learning for the first time

Data on studying a particular level of learning for the first time is presented to provide further insight into learners’ pathways through further education and training. Care should be taken when interpreting the data, particularly when making comparisons between different subgroups or seeking to draw wider conclusions. In particular, there may be valid reasons for a learner to take a qualification at a level of learning they have previously achieved, including:
Where a learner is moving from an academic to a technical pathway, and needs to develop the core technical skills and knowledge that will enable them to progress to higher levels
Where the qualifications are complementary, such as a qualification in English or maths that is required to access a technical or vocational qualification at the same level
Where a learner is retraining in order to develop a new career pathway, or to update their skills after a significant career break in order to re-enter employment.

Just over one in five young learners were studying at their level of learning for the first time

For 22% of these 236,500 young learners, the aim they achieved in 2018/19 was the first time they had achieved that level of learning.

Apprenticeship learners were more likely to be studying at their level of learning for the first time (34%) than education and training learners (13%).

Since 2015/16, the rate of young learners who were studying at their level of learning for the first time has risen for apprenticeship learners, and fallen for education and training learners

The rate of young learners who were studying at their level of learning for the first time rose 1 ppt from 2017/18 to 22%, the highest rate since monitoring began in 2013/14.

For both types of provision, rates declined from 2013/14 to 2015/16. However, since 2015/16 the trend for apprenticeship learners and education and training learners has been markedly different.

For apprenticeship learners, the rate of learners studying their level for the level for the first time has increased by 11 ppts from 23% to 34%, while for education and training learners the rate has fallen by 4 ppts for education and training learners from 17% to 13%. This trend is likely to be driven by the increase in learners undertaking higher (Level 4+) apprenticeships over this time period.

Generally young education and training learners at higher levels of learning were more likely to be achieving their level of learning for the first time

There was wide variation in the rate of young education and training learners studying at their level for the first time in 2018/19, ranging from 1% for Level 1 to 92% for Level 4.

Broadly speaking, for education and training aims, learners at higher levels of learning were more likely to be achieving their level of learning for the first time, although learners at Level 5 (62%) and Level 6 (89%) were less likely to be achieving their level for the first time than learners at Level 4 (92%).

Young apprenticeship learners also showed a general trend of more learners at higher levels achieving for the first time

As with young education and training learners, young apprenticeship learners showed variation between levels in the proportion of learners achieving their level for the first time in 2018/19, ranging from 23% for intermediate (Full Level 2) apprenticeships to 89% for higher (Level 4) apprenticeships. This range was narrower than for education and training learners.

In general, more apprenticeship learners at higher levels were achieving for the first time. The exception to this was the rate for learners on Level 5 apprenticeships (88%) which was slightly lower than that of learners on Level 4 apprenticeships (89%).

Young learners progressing to highest level of sustained learning to date

'Sustained progression for learner overall’ gives the percentage of learners that progressed on to a sustained level of learning higher than they have attained at any point in their educational history.

Of the 983,800 learners in 2018/19, 69,400 (7%) were born after 1988, had a full educational history recorded by the department, and went on to a sustained learning destination. The analysis in this section relates specifically to this group of learners.

The proportion of young learners progressing to their highest ever level of sustained learning is at the highest since monitoring began

61% of these young learners in 2018/19 progressed into their highest level of learning to date in 2019/20. Although this rate has not changed since 2017/18, in general it has steadily increased over time and is now 6 ppts higher than when monitoring began in 2013/14.

Young learners who achieved an apprenticeship were more likely to progress to their highest level of sustained learning to date than students studying an education and training course

The percentage of apprenticeship learners progressing into their highest level of sustained learning in 2019/20 (71%) was 17 ppts higher than for education and training learners (54%).

Rates of progression to the highest level of sustained learning to date in 2019/20 varied considerably by level of learning achieved in 2018/19

There was considerable variation by level in terms of progression from an education and training course to the highest sustained level of learning so far. This rate ranged from 35% for Level 1 English and Maths courses, to 86% for learners at Level 4.

Progression to the highest level of sustained learning to date in the destination year for apprenticeship learners also showed variation between levels, although the range was much narrower than for education and training learners. Rates ranged between 65% for intermediate (Level 2) apprenticeships, and 95% for higher (Level 4) apprenticeships.

The numbers of young learners at Level 6 was too low to draw any meaningful comparisons and this data has therefore been omitted from the chart below.

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Learner characteristics

Benefit learners

Benefit learners were considerably less likely to move into a sustained positive destination than learners who were not on benefits

A quarter (25%) of learners were on benefits at the start of their learning. Of these 240,800 benefit learners:

51% went on into a sustained positive destination, 32 ppts lower than learners who were not on benefits (83%)
38% went into sustained employment, 36 ppts lower than learners not on benefits (74%)
17% went into sustained learning, 8 ppts lower than learners not on benefits (25%)

Learners who were on benefits at the beginning of their learning aim in 2018/19 were more likely to have a destination that was not sustained (23%) compared to learners who were not on benefits (8%), and were far more likely to be on benefits only with no positive destination (25%) compared to learners who were not on benefits (2%).

Differences in destination rates may be partially explained by the levels of learning undertaken by benefit learners

Learners on benefits tended to achieve lower level learning aims than learners not on benefits. 58% of learners on benefits took Entry Level, or Level 1 learning aims, compared to 31% of learners who were not on benefits.

Only 5% of learners on benefits undertook learning at Level 3 or above compared to 22% of learners who were not on benefits.

However, when comparing learners at Full Level 3 education and training aims specifically there is still a wide gap, with benefit learners having a sustained positive destination rate of 72%, 14 ppts lower than learners not on benefits (86%). The gap in sustained employment is even more pronounced with the rate for benefit learners (33%) being 27 ppts lower than non-benefit learners (60%).

Benefit learners who achieved apprenticeships were most likely to move into a sustained positive destination

The outcomes of benefit learners were highly variable depending on the type of provision, with benefit learners undertaking apprenticeships having the highest sustained positive destination rate (83%), and sustained employment rate (81%). This is consistent with trends seen for all learners.

The sustained positive destination rates of benefit learners on education and training courses was 50%, followed by traineeships at 43%.

Benefit learners on traineeships had the lowest sustained employment rate (35%), 2 ppts lower than those on education and training courses (37%).

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) learners

Learners declaring themselves as black, Asian, or other minority ethnic groups were less likely than white learners to move into sustained employment or a sustained positive destination overall, but were more likely to move into sustained learning

Over a quarter of learners (27%) were from a black, Asian or minority ethnicity (BAME) background. Of these 261,500 learners:

70% went on into a sustained positive destination, 7 ppts lower than white learners (77%)
51% went into sustained employment, 19 ppts lower than white learners (70%)
33% went into sustained learning, 14 ppts higher than white learners (19%)

BAME learners were also more likely to have a positive destination that wasn't sustained (14% vs 11% for white learners), to be on benefits only (8% vs 7% for white learners), or to not have any destination recorded in the data (7% vs 5% for white learners).

Differences in destination rates may be partially explained by the levels of learning undertaken by BAME learners

As with benefit learners, the levels of learning that BAME learners undertake may partially explain discrepancies in destination rates, with over half (56%) of BAME learners undertaking an Entry or Level 1 aim compared to 30% of white learners.

When looking specifically at learners that achieved a Full Level 3 education and training aim, there is no difference in overall sustained positive rate for BAME and white learners (84%). However, the trend of BAME learners having lower sustained employment rates (54% vs 58% for white learners) and higher sustained learning rates (59% vs 53% for white learners) is still present .

Explore learner characteristics data

You can create your own tables looking at outcomes by various learner characteristics by using the table builder tool to explore the underlying data file ‘a. Destinations by demographics and provision (NAT01)’ .

The following tables also offer a range of useful breakdowns:

File subject	What is available in the file
Destinations and earnings by ethnicity - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and learning destinations, earnings measures Filters: Ethnicity
Destinations and earnings by benefit learner status - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and learning destinations, earnings measures Filters: Benefit learner status
Destinations and earnings by learning difficulty status - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and learning destinations, earnings measures Filters: Learning difficulty status
Destinations and earnings by gender - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and learning destinations, earnings measures Filters: Gender

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Geographical breakdowns

Explore geographical tables

The following tables offer a range of useful breakdowns for geographical data:

What is ‘English devolved area’?
English devolved area is used to refer to combined authorities, mayoral combined authorities, and the Greater London Authority

File subject	What is available in the file
Destinations by local authority district - 2018/19	Geography: Local Authority District Academic year: 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and education destination measures
Destinations by local educational authority - 2018/19	Geography: Local Education Authority Academic year: 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and education destination measures
Destinations by English devolved area - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Geography: English Devolved Area Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and education destination measures
Earnings by English devolved area - 2013/14 to 2018/19	Geography: English Devolved Area Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings
Destinations by local enterprise partnership - 2015/16 to 2018/19	Geography: Local Enterprise Partnership Academic year: 2015/16 to 2018/19 Indicators: All employment and education destination measures
Earnings by local enterprise partnership - 2015/16 to 2018/19	Geography: Local Enterprise Partnership Academic year: 2015/16 to 2018/19 Indicators: Number of learners with earnings, lower quartile annualised earnings, median annualised earnings, upper quartile annualised earnings

Create your own geographical tables

You can create your own tables looking at different geographical breakdowns by using the table builder tool to explore the following data files.

File subject	What is available in the file
j. Destinations by local authority district, provision, level of learning and demographics (LAD01)	Geography: National, Regional, Local Authority District Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Age band, gender, learning difficulty status, provision type, level of learning
k. Destinations by local authority district provision, level of learning and sector subject area (LAD02)	Geography: National, Regional, Local Authority District Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2
l. Destinations by local education authority, provision, level of learning and demographics (LEA01)	Geography: National, Regional, Local Education Authority Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Age band, gender, learning difficulty status, provision type, level of learning
m. Destinations by local education authority, provision, level of learning and sector subject area (LEA02)	Geography: National, Regional, Local Education Authority Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2
n. Destinations by English devolved area, provision, level of learning and demographics (EDA01)	Geography: National, Regional, English Devolved Area Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Age band, gender, learning difficulty status, provision type, level of learning
o. Destinations by English devolved area, provision, level of learning and sector subject area (EDA02)	Geography: National, Regional, English Devolved Area Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2
p. Destinations by local enterprise partnership, provision, level of learning and sector subject area (LEP01)	Geography: National, Regional, Local Enterprise Partnership Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 (LEP level data only available from 2015/16 onwards) Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures Filters: Provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2

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Provider and qualification breakdowns

Downloadable provider data

Provider level figures are not currently available through the table builder tool, but can be downloaded from the ‘Explore data and files’ section above. The table below provides a summary of information available in each file.

File subject	What is available in the file
d. Destinations by provider, provider type and benefit status (PRV01)	Data Level: National, regional, provider Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Learner type: All learners Indicators: Destination measures Filters: Provider type, provision type, benefit learner status
e. Destinations by provider, provision, level of learning and demographics (PRV02)	Data Level: National, regional, provider Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Learner type: All learners Indicators: Destination measures Filters: Provider type, provision type, level of learning, age band, gender, benefit learner status
f. Destinations of community learners by provider, provision and benefit status (PRV03)	Data Level: National, regional, provider Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Learner type: Community learners only Indicators: Destination measures Filters: Provider type, provision type, benefit learner status
g. Destinations by provider, provision, level of learning and sector subject area (PRV04)	Data Level: National, regional, provider Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19 Learner type: All learners Indicators: Destination measures Filters: Provider type, provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2

Downloadable qualification data

Qualification level data are not currently available through the table builder tool. Due to the large file size of the raw data, we recommend downloading formatted versions of the data for ease of access. These can be found under ‘Explore data and files’ and then ‘Other files’ above.

File subject

What is available in the file

Destinations by qualification title, provision and sector subject area (QUA01) - formatted

Data Level: National, qualification

Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19

Learner type: All learners

Indicators: Destination measures, earnings measures

Filters: Age band, provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2, access to HE status, qualification title

Progression of young learners by qualification title (QUA02) - formatted

Data Level: National, qualification

Academic year: 2013/14 to 2018/19

Learner type: Young learners only

Indicators: Destination measures, progression measures

Filters: Age band, free school meals status, provision type, level of learning, sector subject area tier 1, sector subject area tier 2, qualification title

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