Level 2 is being rebuilt around two new certificates
The two year occupational route is the one that changes who applies for your level 2 apprenticeships.
Level 2 reform is confirmed, with two new qualification types first taught in September 2027.
Foundation Certificates are the further study route: one year, 240 to 300 guided learning hours, combined with English or maths where the student needs it, plus enrichment. They are linked to T Level and V Level subjects and lead to level 3 study, whether that is an apprenticeship, A Levels, a V Level or a T Level. Subjects roll out through to 2030.
Occupational Certificates are the employment route: two years, 540 to 720 guided learning hours, with a core of up to half the content shared across a sector and a technical qualification linked to an occupational standard. They lead to level 2 jobs and level 2 apprenticeships. The two year length is deliberate, and the stated reasons are keeping students in education until 18 and giving more time to pass GCSE English and maths.
That second point is the one worth sitting with if you recruit at level 2. The profile of a seventeen or eighteen year old applying for a level 2 apprenticeship in 2029 is intended to be different from today: more occupational content behind them, a sector core rather than a narrow qualification, and more likely to hold the GCSEs. Whether it works out that way is another matter, but it is what the design is aiming at, and it changes what a sensible entry requirement looks like.
Some areas have already moved or gone. Hair and beauty Occupational Certificates go to 2030. Domestic plumber is deferred to 2029. Stonemasonry, furniture making operative, healthcare science assistant and pharmacy services assistant have been removed from planned delivery altogether, with funding for the current qualifications kept until 2029 or 2030. For employers in those four areas that means legacy provision for a few more years and nothing confirmed after it.
The T Level foundation year runs in its current form for 2026/27, is renamed simply Foundation Year from September 2027, and is then phased out subject by subject as Foundation Certificates arrive, with full replacement by 2030/31. Delivery guidance is due before 2027/28. A response on level 1 English and maths is due later this year.
What follows: if you take level 2 apprentices, the planning question is which sector cores exist in your area by 2029, because the Occupational Certificate core is what your applicants will have in common. If you run foundation year provision, the order in which Foundation Certificates arrive by subject is what determines when your own offer has to change.