As an employer using T Level industry placements as part of the early-career domestic talent pipeline, this guide provides insights and reflections on how to expand and develop your offer.
Introduction
This guide is designed for employers who have already piloted or offer a small number of T Level industry placements. It provides practical advice on scaling up delivery into new areas and potentially new T Level subjects. The guide outlines sectors suitable for T Level industry placements, example placement structures, explains key flexibilities and shares strategies for maximising the opportunities that placements offer.
For employers new to offering T Level industry placements, we have developed a guide with advice on making those first steps. These guides form part of our NHS Employers T Level hub, which includes an extensive FAQ section.
Where can students go on placement
During their industry placement, T Level students should be offered the opportunity to experience some of the many career opportunities in the health and care sector, whilst ensuring they have time to embed fully into a team, learning valuable team working, communication and clinical skills.
Recent updates to industry placement delivery guidance now allow placements to be undertaken at pathway or route level, rather than occupational specialism level. This allows students to experience a broader range of content. While this provides more variety in placement settings, employers should be mindful of the student’s intended career pathway. For example, a student who is confident that they want to pursue nursing could spend more of their industry placement in a nursing environment. Whereas, others who are not sure of the area in which they want to work could expand their understanding of the breadth of careers by rotating through a number of different areas.
The list below highlights just a few potential options to consider. Whilst not all aspects of these areas will be suitable for students, most contain elements that are appropriate for industry placements:
| Frailty wards | Theatres | Speech and language therapy | Audiology |
| Outpatient services | Physiotherapy | Midwifery | Community nursing teams |
| Elderly care wards | Radiography | Pharmacy | Mental health nursing teams |
Case study
East Coast Community Healthcare CIC (ECCH) offers Health T Level students hands-on, multidisciplinary placements across Norfolk and Suffolk, working in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and nursing teams. It has found industry placements to be an effective way to build future workforce supply in a rural area by facilitating exposure to a range of different roles. Read the full case study.
Example placement structures
At University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, placements are organised into three blocks of three weeks over the two-year qualification period. During the first two blocks, students rotate through different areas, such as urgent treatment centres, pharmacy and the frailty ward, allowing them to integrate into the team over three weeks. For the third block students have the option to choose a new area or return to one of their previous placements. This model is developed in collaboration with other employers, which allows students to spend one of these blocks in social care, for example.
The NHS Sussex Integrated Care System have a model agreed with employers across the system that works as a hybrid model where students spend three days a week on industry placement for blocks of three to five weeks. These placement blocks avoid academic breaks and times of high demand, such as the resident doctor changeover. Their system wide placement model ensures consistency across organisations, providing clarity to both employers and providers and reducing administrative pressure.
To find out more about different placements structures the NHS Employers What makes a great T Level industry placement page and T Level industry placements at a system level: reflections from industry placement coordinators publication explore this in more detail.
We would recommend that employers speak to other employers offering T Level industry placement in their area, as this could be an opportunity to align placement structures or learn from other employers’ challenges and successes.
Case study: implementing a T Level industry placement in a new area
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA), part of Greater Manchester integrated care board (ICB), was keen to expand its T Level industry placement capacity by offering placements within midwifery. Here it reflects on its key drivers for success, including the importance of working with other stakeholders and system partners to anticipate and mitigate any pitfalls, and build on prior learning.
It cites the below key drivers behind the successful implementation of industry placements in maternity:
Next steps
As part of its ambitions across the system, NHS GM is reflecting on how best to scale the model and how to ensure the learning from this project is shared with other stakeholders. Its ambition is to share this learning both locally and nationally, achieved through ongoing meetings and a shared learning workshop which showcased national success case studies, local thinking for early adoption in Oldham, and open discussion and about potential logistics elsewhere. The workshops raised awareness for colleagues working in maternity in organisations across Greater Manchester and allowed them to anticipate many of the concerns that can develop into blockers to expansion.
The integrated care board is pleased with the programmes progress but see opportunities for further work to support industry placement expansion, both in areas with urgent workforce needs and across wider T Level delivery. Its suggested improvements include:
To build on the momentum of the programme and support future delivery, NHS GM is exploring practical ways to strengthen and expand industry placements. The shared learning workshop helped surface common challenges and creative solutions, offering valuable insights for teams considering similar approaches. These reflections have informed a set of top tips designed to support new areas of delivery, build staff confidence, and ensure placements are successful for learners, educators, and healthcare teams alike.
Work taster activity
A work taster activity is an opportunity for a student to gain an understanding of the working environment prior to starting their placement.
This could involve a site visit, a chance to meet employees sharing information on their roles, completion of mandatory training or the opportunity to share expectations. Employers should reflect on how this time can be used effectively, for example bringing the entire cohort of students together for the training or integrating some elements of the taster activities with other staff groups, for example healthcare support worker inductions. This may also be used as an opportunity to explore some of the roles available in healthcare, potentially shaping later parts of the student's placement.
Maximising the benefits of T Level industry placements
Case study
Thatcham Family Hub found that staff value the fresh perspectives and innovative ideas the students bring to the team. Many students have expertise with technology and combine this with creative ideas to develop practical solutions that improve the health support for the service users. Since hosting a T Level student, it has developed a new talent pipeline into the organisation. Read the full case study.
Exploring the small team project
The small team project offers flexibility in industry placements, allowing students to spend up to a third of their placement hours working with peers on a specific project under employer supervision. For health and care students, this may be an opportunity to introduce them to other careers in health and care with the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with a member of staff and experience an environment outside that of their other placements.
Kirsti Shaw, Senior Development Nurse at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Health and Care Academy piloted a small team project to offer interested students some insight into the work of a mental health, learning disability and neurodevelopmental trust. This project, focused on the interaction between physical health and mental health, was chosen to encourage students to think about the relationship between a patient’s physical and mental health, developing their research skills, presentation skills and communication skills by discussing their work with Kirsti.
The project ran for fifty-four hours, with the students spending one day a week in a facilitated session with some additional independent learning. This independent study was an opportunity to use the hybrid working model, a recently added flexibility to industry placements, where students can work independently in locations like their college IT suite. The project concluded with students presenting their research to peers, tutors and a representative from the integrated care board. The trust is now exploring how this small team project could be developed to support more students.
Industry placements for students under 18
There is a common misconception that students under 18 cannot undertake industry placements in clinical settings. This is not the case. To support employers in hosting younger students, we have developed a dedicated resource. It includes guidance on creating a robust T Level policy, either as a standalone document or integrated with your existing work experience policy, to ensure colleagues feel confident that all risks have been appropriately considered.
The resource also features insights from Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, who have adopted a collaborative approach to placements. Its model enables first-year students to complete observational placements, preparing them for hands-on experience in a variety of settings during their second year.
Our Recruiting under 18s into the NHS guidance looks at wider considerations when employing or hosting young people in the workplace. This page includes links to case studies with Yeovil District Hospital NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust
Working with providers
An integral part to organising T Level industry placements is working with further education providers to implement placements and ensure the students are supported throughout. This may be the first time that employers are engaging with further education, or it may be that your organisation has worked with schools and colleges in other areas and for other qualifications. Below are some recommendations for considerations prior to starting to offer industry placements which can prevent challenges at a later date.
"Working collaboratively through our community of practice with NHS Trusts, Social Care organisations and local colleges we have been able to provide over 120 T Level students placements in a range of specialities within our organisations. T Levels have enabled us to strengthen our recruitment pipeline and provide opportunities to young people from a wide range of backgrounds from our local community." - Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West (BOB) Integrated Care System
Working across the system
We have developed a resource, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of the seven Department for Education funded industry placement coordinators, exploring how collaboration between organisations can support the implementation and upscale of T Level industry placements. This resource contains practical advice and strategic guidance with links to further information. While the resource focuses on collaboration across integrated care systems, the insights are equally valuable for organisations working together informally or across wider regional partnerships.
Supporting young offenders and SEND students
T Levels and industry placements are available to students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). These learners may receive additional adjustments to their course, including a maximum of 105 hours of the industry placement being delivered in the education setting, before completing the remainder of the industry placement in an industry setting. This is to help SEND students prepare for a real-life work environment.
Employers and providers should work together to identify how best to support students with additional needs including what reasonable adjustments may be appropriate for the learner. Extensive resources are available to support employers and providers, including guidance on hosting students with special educational needs and disabilities and advice on hosting neurodiverse students.
Some early considerations could include:
- Whether the timing of the industry placement needs adjusting to support the student’s needs.
- If the provider is offering a part of the industry placement in the education setting, when will this be and how will it affect the timings of the workplace industry placement.
- What areas in the organisation are most suited to industry placement for this person.
- Would the student benefit from a more in-depth induction period, perhaps involving multiple visits to the organisation and time spent with their mentor prior to starting placement.
- Discuss with the education provider to ensure they visit this student more regularly to check on their wellbeing.
All young offenders studying T Levels within young offender institutions and other custodial settings can undertake their full placement hours in the institutions on-site facilities.
