GovWire

Eligible FE teachers can claim a levelling up premium payment for teaching specific courses in the following subject areas:

• building and construction
• chemistry
• computing, including digital and ICT
• early years
• engineering and manufacturing, including transport engineering and electronics
• maths
• physics

Check the full list of eligible FE courses to see if you can claim a payment. Well update the eligibility criteria for the 2025 to 2026 academic year in spring 2025.

When to apply

You must be in the first 5 years of your FE teaching career to claim. This means it must be 5 years or less since you started your first role with teaching responsibilities at an FE provider. If you were employed as a teacher in FE in the 2019 to 2020 academic year or before, youre not eligible to claim.

The claim window opens each autumn. Use the table to find out when you can apply for a levelling up premium payment.

The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August.

What youll get

For the 2024 to 2025 academic year, the levelling up premium payment ranges from 2,000 to 6,000, depending on:

• the provider you teach at
• the number of hours you teach

If you teach at an FE provider that has higher levels of disadvantage, youll receive a higher payment. Well publish a list of eligible FE providers and the matching value of payment by summer 2024.

We expect eligible teachers at most general FE colleges will be eligible for the top payment of 6,000 if they teach at least 12 hours a week.

Eligibility

You can apply for a payment if you:

• are employed as an FE teacher in England
• are employed by an eligible FE provider
• are in your first 5 years of teaching in FE
• teach an eligible subject at level 3 or below
• are contracted to teach more than 2.5 hours a week
• spend at least half of your hours teaching 16- to 19-year-olds (including people up to the age of 25 with an EHCP)
• are not currently subject to any formal performance measures as a result of continuous poor teaching standards
• are not currently subject to any disciplinary action

You must also meet one of the following criteria:

• have a teaching qualification
• are currently working towards a teaching qualification
• will start working towards a teaching qualification within the next 12 months

We also expect you to have developed, enhanced and maintained your teaching competences and practices, or have plans to do so.

Eligible FE providers

An eligible FE provider in England must employ you as a teacher. Eligible providers are:

• statutory FE providers, such as:
  • FE colleges
  • sixth-form colleges
  • designated institutions
• 16-to-19-only academies and free schools

Eligible roles

You must be employed as a member of staff with teaching responsibilities, in a role such as:

• advanced practitioner
• practitioner
• instructor
• lecturer
• teacher
• trainer
• tutor

If youre a supply teacher, you can only apply if you:

• are employed directly by an eligible provider
• have been working for the provider for at least one term before applying

Breaks in teaching

Youre still eligible if you have some breaks in your normal employment such as:

• sickness
• maternity or paternity leave
• parental or adoption leave

You should apply for payments as usual during these breaks before the claim window closes each year.

When youll not be eligible

Youll not be eligible to claim if you:

• are employed as support staff or a non-teaching leader
• are employed by a private supply-teaching agency or a non-statutory FE provider
• were employed as an FE teacher in or before the 2019 to 2020 academic year
• have already claimed a levelling up premium payment for 2024 to 2025
• are receiving an FE initial teacher education bursary for 2024 to 2025

Eligible FE courses

We have included subjects that are:

• eligible for secondary school teachers

• linked to critical skills priorities and currently have the highest unfilled vacancy rates in the statutory FE sector

You must spend at least half of your hours, on average, teaching eligible subjects.

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