The St Martin’s Group (SMG) welcomes the ambition of the Government’s new Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, which sets out a vision for a more coherent and responsive skills system, focused on creating closer alignment between skills development, employment and economic growth.

Key updates aligned with SMG’s core policy positions:

An all-age, all-level system

SMG policy position: Ensuring national skills policy targets all ages and all levels. SMG’s policy position mandates a system that empowers individuals at every stage of their careers. To drive productivity, policy must support skills development across the entire workforce.

Updates from the White Paper include:

• An outline of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), giving individuals more flexibility to fund their own training and reskilling throughout their lives, across both further and higher education.
• The Government ambition that by 2040, two-thirds of young people will take part in higher-level learning by the age of 25, with 10% reaching Levels 4 and 5.
• Responsibility for skills policy will shift from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions, bringing employability and skills policy closer together.
• There will also be an expansion of Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), the introduction of a Youth Guarantee for those not in education, employment or training, and the development of Skills Passports to help people record and demonstrate their abilities.
• Careers guidance will be made available to people of all ages.

Employer Engagement and Investment

SMG policy position: Employer engagement is critical to building a skills system that addresses gaps, boosts productivity, and drives growth. This requires greater flexibility, clearer information, and meaningful incentives to ensure employers are active partners in shaping and delivering training. Understanding the needs and experiences of those on the frontline is key to achieving the government’s ambition for a high-skill, high-productivity economy.

Updates from the White Paper include:

• Updates to the Growth and Skills Levy; from April 2026 levy funds to be used for shorter courses (known as apprenticeship units).
• Coverage of the announced sector-specific packages focused on digital and AI, engineering, construction and defence.
• Commitment to a simpler and more flexible approach to employer engagement and investment in training.
• An Industry Exchange Programme will encourage collaboration between education providers and employers to ensure training meets real business needs.

Commitment to Policy Stability

SMG policy position: To build a stable and effective skills system, SMG asks for a long-term strategy with clear implementation plans and meaningful employer engagement. Frequent, uncoordinated policy changes have created uncertainty and risk disengaging employers. Stability must be prioritised, with reforms designed around employer insight, phased rollouts, and cross-departmental coordination.

Updates from the White Paper include:

• Establishment of Skills England as a single national body to align local and national skills policy.
• Commitment to remove regulatory duplication for technical qualifications.
• Confirmation that young people will continue to have a choice between vocational and academic qualifications at 16–19. One of the key educational updates is the announcement of V Level courses, which will replace hundreds of courses that sit alongside A Levels and T Levels, beginning from 2027. Students will be able to take V Levels, which will be linked to real-world job standards, alongside A Levels, to provide young people a broader post-16 education.
• Clarity on Government’s funding priorities, allowing the sector to plan for future provision.

Next steps

It is clear that further change is on the way, and it will be essential to work closely with employers to engage them on this journey. Continued communication and consultation around the next level of detail will be welcomed. While the white paper’s focus is largely on young people, we look forward to working with Government to understand what these reforms will mean for adult reskilling and upskilling, and to seeing how this agenda is developed further through the forthcoming Autumn Budget.