ESOL for young refugees aged 16–19: levels, funding and routes onward

ESOL, English for Speakers of Other Languages, is the main way a young refugee or asylum seeker aged 16 to 19 learns English in England. It is usually taught at a further education college, at five levels from Entry 1 to Level 2. For 16 to 18 year olds it is funded through 16–19 study programmes with no waiting period for asylum seekers; from 19, the rules change, and a place can be hard to find at any age.

That is the short answer. The longer one matters, because ESOL sits at the exact point where many young people who arrive in their mid-teens either find a route onward or stall. A student can spend three years passing ESOL exams and still not hold the English qualification that a Level 3 course or a university asks for.

This guide is for students, and for the teachers, social workers, foster carers and volunteers who support them. It covers what ESOL is, what each level means and how it maps to the international CEFR scale, how funding works before and after 19, why waiting lists form, how ESOL compares with GCSE English and Functional Skills, the routes from ESOL to Level 3 and university, and what good provision looks like.

What is ESOL, and how is it different from other English courses?

ESOL is English teaching for people who live in the UK and whose first language is not English. The emphasis is on English for life here: reading, writing, speaking and listening in the situations a new arrival actually meets, from a GP appointment to a college enrolment form.

That is different from two other kinds of English course a young person might come across. EFL or EAP courses (English as a Foreign Language, English for Academic Purposes) are designed mainly for international students preparing to study in English, and they are often paid for privately. GCSE English Language and Functional Skills English are designed for people whose first language is English. They assume a native speaker’s grasp of grammar and cultural reference, and test how well that speaker reads and writes.

In England, the regulated ESOL qualifications that colleges use for young refugees are mostly ESOL Skills for Life. According to Ofqual’s 2022 research review, these were accredited in 2014, are offered at Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2, and are delivered by several different awarding organisations. Each skill can often be certificated separately, so a student may pass Entry 3 speaking and listening while still working towards Entry 3 writing.

There is a second family, ESOL International, aimed mainly at learners living abroad. Some of these are recognised for university entry and for visa purposes. Most young refugees in English colleges will not take them, but it is worth knowing they exist, because they are the ESOL qualifications Ofqual describes as recognised for entry to higher education.

What do the ESOL levels mean?

The five levels sit inside England’s Regulated Qualifications Framework. Entry 1 to Entry 3 are below GCSE level. Level 1 is roughly the level of a GCSE at grades 1 to 3, and Level 2 is roughly the level of a GCSE at grades 4 to 9, although an ESOL Level 2 is a different qualification from a GCSE and is not always treated as equivalent by colleges or universities.

Providers and learners often describe the levels using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the international six-step scale from A1 to C2. The Council of Europe’s global scale groups these into basic users (A1, A2), independent users (B1, B2) and proficient users (C1, C2). College guides, such as Glasgow Kelvin College’s equivalence chart, commonly place Entry 1 at A1, Entry 2 at A2, Entry 3 at B1, Level 1 at B2 and Level 2 at C1.

Those labels are useful shorthand. They are not a guarantee. Ofqual’s study linked real exam papers and student writing to the CEFR and found a more complicated picture, set out in the last column below.

Two findings from the Ofqual research are worth holding onto. First, there did not appear to be enough difference between the higher levels at the pass threshold, particularly between Entry 2 and Entry 3 in writing, which Ofqual suggests may contribute to the “large jump” in standards at Level 1 that its curriculum reviewers noted. Second, some literacy demands, such as knowledge of the Latin alphabet and accurate spelling at Entry 1, were judged potentially too advanced for learners at that level, particularly in a migration context, which is why pre-entry provision matters so much for young people with interrupted schooling.

For comparison, Ofqual notes that B2 is typically required for entry to higher education institutions. A student who has just passed Level 1 ESOL may be close to that in speaking and still some way from it in academic writing.

If you arrived with qualifications from home: a strong school record from another country does not automatically place a student at a high ESOL level, and a low ESOL level does not mean a student is academically weak. Keep the two separate. Previous qualifications can sometimes be recognised through UK ENIC, and in some cases that recognition exempts a student from the GCSE English and maths requirement. Our guide to recognising overseas qualifications explains how.

How is ESOL funded for 16 to 18 year olds?

A young person who is aged 16, 17 or 18 on 31 August at the start of the academic year is funded under the Department for Education’s 16 to 19 rules, not the adult budget. ESOL is normally delivered as part of a study programme, a full-time or part-time timetable that can include English, maths, other subjects, tutorials and enrichment.

The 16 to 19 funding rules for 2026 to 2027 set out who is eligible on residency grounds. Three points matter most for this group:

• People with refugee status, humanitarian protection, discretionary leave or exceptional leave are eligible, including those who have not lived in the UK for the previous three years.
• Asylum seekers aged up to 18 are listed as eligible. There is no minimum period in the UK.
• Young people, including unaccompanied asylum seekers, placed in the care of social services, or receiving section 4 support, are eligible aged up to 18.

A student who begins a programme at 16, 17 or 18 and turns 19 part-way through is funded at 16 to 18 rates to finish it. That rule matters: it is the difference between completing a two-year course and losing funding in the middle of it.

Help with costs

The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund guide for 2026 to 2027 allows colleges to support students with travel, meals, books and equipment. There is a specific rule for asylum seekers: a college can give in-kind support such as books, equipment or a travel pass, but must not give cash to any asylum seeker unless they are an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child. Unaccompanied children who are looked after can qualify for the defined vulnerable groups bursary of up to £1,200 a year where they are in financial need.

For unaccompanied children, the local authority that looks after them is also responsible for their education planning through a Personal Education Plan. Our guide to the education rights of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children sets out those duties in detail.

What changes at 19? The Adult Skills Fund and the six-month rule

A learner aged 19 or over on 31 August who is starting a new programme moves on to adult funding. Outside devolved areas, that is the Adult Skills Fund. Responsibility for adult skills policy moved from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions on 16 September 2025, with DfE continuing to run the fund on its behalf.

Under the Adult Skills Fund rules for 2026 to 2027, ESOL up to and including Level 2 is fully funded for learners earning below the earnings threshold, which is £26,800 in 2026 to 2027 (up from £25,750), and that includes people who are unemployed or economically inactive. Learners above the threshold are co-funded, which means they may be asked to pay part of the cost.

The rule that catches young asylum seekers is residency. An asylum seeker is eligible for Adult Skills Fund support if they:

• have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is considered by the Home Office, and no decision has been made, or
• are receiving local authority support under section 23C or 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014.

Someone refused asylum can be eligible if they appealed and no decision has been made within 6 months of lodging the appeal, or if they receive section 4 support or care leaver support in their own right.

The section 23C route is important for former unaccompanied children. A care leaver supported by their local authority does not have to wait six months. A young person who arrived with family at 18, by contrast, may find that adult ESOL funding is not available at all for their first half-year.

Why are there waiting lists for ESOL?

Eligibility for funding does not create a place. The most detailed recent evidence on 16–19 ESOL comes from a Learning and Work Institute study published in March 2026, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and covering the South East of England. It combined a mapping of college websites with interviews with colleges, local authority resettlement teams and community organisations.

Its findings describe a system with broad coverage and narrow doors:

• 34 of 37 further education colleges in the region offered ESOL for 16–19 year olds.
• Only half (17) offered pre-entry ESOL, despite clear need among young people with very little English or literacy. Colleges interviewed said pre-entry qualifications for 16–19 year olds were not fundable.
• Level 1 and Level 2 ESOL were offered by 27 and 22 colleges respectively, partly because learners at those levels tend to move into Functional Skills, GCSE or vocational courses.
• Most colleges enrolled new ESOL learners only in September, with a smaller intake in January, leaving many young people, particularly unaccompanied children who arrive throughout the year, waiting six months to a full year to start.
• Some colleges were routinely oversubscribed. One reported a waiting list for Entry 1 long enough to run another class, but it lacked the rooms and teachers to do so.

The same report links rising demand to growing numbers of unaccompanied children. Nationally, DfE’s children looked after statistics recorded 6,540 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children on 31 March 2025, down 12% from a peak of 7,440 the year before but well above 4,150 in 2021. 90% were aged 16 or older, exactly the age group this guide is about.

Waiting lists are not new. As long ago as 2017, Refugee Action surveyed seven ESOL providers in cities with large refugee populations and found waits of over a year at many of them, with one provider reporting an average wait of 20 months. That survey was not specific to young people and is now nine years old, so it is best read as evidence that the problem is long-standing rather than as a current measure.

What the national numbers show

The essential skills figures in the further education and skills statistics cover adults aged 19 and over, so they do not show how many 16–18 year olds study ESOL within study programmes. The adult figures are published, and they show demand holding at a high level.

Adults taking regulated ESOL courses in England

Participation by learners aged 19 and over in government-funded ESOL qualifications, by academic year

Show the data as a table

Adults taking regulated ESOL courses in England

Category	Value
2019/20	80,860 learners
2020/21	65,250 learners
2021/22	84,760 learners
2022/23	100,790 learners
2023/24	104,320 learners
2024/25	105,000 learners

In 2024/25, 168,730 adults took part in an ESOL course, relatively unchanged from 2023/24, according to the further education and skills release for 2024/25. Participation in regulated ESOL alone reached 105,000, 23.9% above 2021/22. The in-year figures for 2025/26, covering August 2025 to April 2026, show 159,440 adults on ESOL courses, making it the most popular essential skills subject while participation in adult English and maths courses fell.

The level breakdown tells the progression story more clearly than the totals.

Adult ESOL participation and achievement by level, 2024/25

Learners aged 19 and over in England, all government-funded ESOL courses (regulated and non-regulated)

• Participation
• Achievements

• Entry level (Entry 1–3)143,980vs 127,380
• Level 123,850vs 20,290
• Level 28,470vs 7,180

Show the data as a table

Adult ESOL participation and achievement by level, 2024/25

Category	Participation	Achievements
Entry level (Entry 1–3)	143,980	127,380
Level 1	23,850	20,290
Level 2	8,470	7,180

For every adult on Level 2 ESOL in 2024/25, there were roughly 17 at Entry level. The statistics do not say why. Ofqual notes that many ESOL learners take several years to complete Entry level, and that many who want to study at Level 1 appear to move on to other qualifications such as Functional Skills English, either because higher-level ESOL is not available or because they want a mainstream qualification. The Learning and Work Institute heard the same from colleges about their 16–19 learners.

ESOL, GCSE English or Functional Skills: which should a student take?

For 16 to 19 year olds, the choice is shaped by the maths and English condition of funding. The 2026 to 2027 guidance requires students on study programmes of 150 hours or more who have not achieved GCSE grade 4 in English to keep studying English as part of their programme.

Here is how the rules apply to a student who arrives from abroad:

• A student with GCSE grade 3, or an overseas qualification at an equivalent grade, must study GCSE English if full-time.
• A student with grade 2 or below, an overseas equivalent at that grade, or no GCSE can study any approved qualification for the minimum hours. That includes GCSE, Functional Skills Level 2, and approved qualifications at level 1 and below, which explicitly include ESOL qualifications.
• A student whose overseas qualification is confirmed by UK ENIC as equivalent to GCSE grade 4 or above is exempt, although the college must still check they have the English they need for their course.
• Passing Functional Skills Level 2, for a student who started at grade 2 or below, meets the condition for the rest of their programme.

The guidance also says that a student studying ESOL in their first year should be supported to enrol on a non-ESOL English qualification when the institution and student feel they are ready. And it gives a practical example for maths: a student with limited English could study ESOL in the first term and start maths in the second, as long as the minimum hours are met across the year.

There is a real trade-off here. Ofqual’s review noted concerns that Functional Skills and GCSE English, whose standards are aimed mainly at first-language speakers, may not suit learners with ESOL needs, and that government policy favouring GCSE and Functional Skills in 16 to 19 study programmes had led some providers to insist that all young people take them, regardless of language need. Moving too early can mean failing a qualification that tests idiom and inference a student has not had time to acquire. Moving too late can mean turning 19 without the qualification that unlocks the next course.

Three questions to ask at enrolment. If you are a student or supporting one, ask the college: which ESOL level has the student been placed at in each skill, and can they move up mid-year if they progress faster; when will they be ready to try Functional Skills or GCSE English, and what is the plan to get there before 19; and does the college have a January or termly intake if a place is not available now. Write the answers down and revisit them at each review.

How long does it take to get from ESOL to Level 3 and university?

There is no fixed timetable, and it depends heavily on where a student starts. Ofqual notes that many ESOL learners take several years to complete Entry level. One college in the Learning and Work Institute study described a “race against time” to get learners to Level 1 ESOL before they turned 19, and said many learners with aspirations to be doctors, dentists or engineers could not get the English skills in time to get onto a programme.

The realistic routes onward look like this.

Two worked examples show how the same rules play out differently. Both are illustrative composites, built from patterns described in the research and in our own work, not accounts of real individuals.

Illustrative example: arriving at 16 with strong schooling

A girl arrives in November, aged 16, with a school record in physics and chemistry and an assessed English level around Entry 3. The college’s ESOL classes are full until January. She starts Entry 3 ESOL in January, alongside GCSE maths, and passes Entry 3 in the summer.

In September she starts Level 1 ESOL and asks her tutor about GCSE English. Because she has no GCSE and no overseas qualification recognised as equivalent to grade 4, she can study Functional Skills Level 2 or GCSE. The college enters her for Functional Skills Level 2 in the spring and she passes. She has now met the condition of funding for the rest of her programme and, at 18, applies for a Level 3 course in applied science, which she can finish at 16 to 18 rates even though she turns 19 part-way through. She will need to check each university’s English requirements when she applies, because a Functional Skills pass is not accepted everywhere.

What made the difference: an early question about GCSE and Functional Skills, and a tutor willing to move her on when she was ready.

Illustrative example: arriving at 18 with interrupted schooling

A young man arrives in February, aged 18, with his family and applies for asylum. He had several years out of school and reads confidently only in his first language. He turns 19 before the next 31 August, so when he tries to enrol that September he is an adult learner. Under the national Adult Skills Fund rules he becomes eligible once he has lived in the UK for six months with his claim undecided, and he has, but the college’s pre-entry class is full.

He joins a volunteer-run conversation group, a Tailored Learning literacy course the college runs a few hours a week, and starts Entry 1 ESOL in January. His route to university, if he wants one, is likely to be longer: several years of ESOL, then Functional Skills, then an Access to HE Diploma. Our guide to Access to HE Diplomas and foundation years explains that stage, and his fee status for university will depend on his immigration status at that point, which our guide to home fees and student finance covers.

What made the difference: filling the waiting time with something structured, rather than nothing.

What does good ESOL provision look like for 16 to 19 year olds?

Good provision for this age group is not simply adult ESOL delivered to younger people. The Learning and Work Institute report found that many young learners arrive highly motivated, with high aspirations, and become disengaged when a timetable of English and nothing else does not connect to those goals. One local authority team quoted in the report described young people used to art and PE at school suddenly facing five hours of English a day.

The research, and the Ofqual review, point to a consistent set of features.

Academic English and subject vocabulary

The gap between conversational English and study English is the single biggest reason capable students stall. A student can handle a college corridor with confidence and still be defeated by an exam question asking them to “evaluate” or “account for” a result. Scientific and mathematical English uses everyday words with technical meanings, such as solution, product, mean and power, and builds long noun phrases that general ESOL rarely practises.

Good provision teaches this deliberately: pre-teaching the key terms before a science or maths topic, modelling how to write an explanation, and giving students repeated chances to say an idea aloud before writing it. This is why our own summer school combines STEM with English, and why we think subject-specific English deserves a place in 16–19 timetables alongside general ESOL. We say more about the teaching side in inside a free STEM summer school.

Contextualised learning and the whole young person

The Learning and Work Institute found very few providers in the South East offering embedded or combined ESOL and vocational courses at Entry level, and recommended more. It also highlighted approaches that were working: a college letting a community organisation run a pre-entry class on its site in exchange for a pipeline of learners ready for Entry 2; one-to-one tuition, which one local authority could fund for young people on college waiting lists; and dedicated ESOL pastoral leads, one of whom had 78 learners on her caseload.

The report also flagged that colleges’ digital-first systems can shut out learners who have used a smartphone but never a laptop or college email account, a theme we explore in our piece on digital exclusion and asylum seekers. And it emphasised trauma-informed practice, including understanding the reasons behind lateness and absence rather than applying standard warnings, which our guide to trauma-informed teaching covers in depth.

What can you do while waiting for a place?

Waiting is the most common experience in this guide, and the most damaging. The Learning and Work Institute report quotes a resettlement worker describing it as devastating for a young person to wait an entire academic year to carry on with their studies. Here is what tends to help, depending on who you are.

If you are a student: ask the college to put your name on the waiting list in writing, and ask whether there is a January start, a short course, or a Tailored Learning class you can join now. Keep practising in ways that build towards study, not just conversation: reading short news articles, watching science explainers with English subtitles, and writing a few sentences each day. Look for free programmes in your area run by refugee organisations and volunteers.

If you are a social worker or personal adviser: raise ESOL in the Personal Education Plan as early as possible, and check whether the Virtual School or local ESOL network knows of interim provision. For a young person approaching 19, check the date of birth against the 31 August cut-off and the care leaver funding route, because both change what is available.

If you are a teacher or tutor: assess each skill separately, move students up when they are ready, and start the conversation about Functional Skills or GCSE English early. Our guide for professionals on supporting a young refugee into education has more on referrals and planning.

If you are a volunteer: structured conversation practice, help with homework in a subject, and explaining how UK education works are all valuable while a young person waits. You do not need to be an ESOL teacher to help someone practise explaining a maths problem in English.

Where the system needs to change

This guide is practical, but the evidence points to a few structural problems that no individual student or tutor can fix.

Pre-entry ESOL for 16–19 year olds needs a clear funding route. The Learning and Work Institute recommends that study programme rules clearly identify how pre-entry provision can be funded, and Ofqual’s research independently raised the possibility of a qualification below Entry 1. Both point at the same gap: the young people with the least English and the most disrupted schooling are the least well served.

Enrolment needs to follow arrivals, not the academic calendar. Termly or rolling intakes exist, and some colleges make them work. Where they do not, a young person arriving in October can lose most of a year.

The age cliff at 19 is too sharp for late arrivals. The Learning and Work Institute suggests considering an enhanced education plan, similar to an Education, Health and Care plan, that would let young refugees and asylum seekers stay in 16–19 provision up to 25. Whatever the mechanism, the current combination of a 19 cut-off and, for some, a six-month wait for adult funding lands hardest on those who arrive at 17 or 18.

Progression needs to be designed, not discovered. A student should know from their first term what qualification they are working towards next and roughly when. Too often, as we described in the GCSE vacuum, that knowledge depends on whether one informed adult happens to be present.

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Figures compiled in September 2026 from the sources listed below. Funding rules are those published for 2026 to 2027 and apply to England only; this article is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Rules and figures change — if you spot something out of date, please tell us.

Keep reading

• The GCSE vacuum — why displaced 16-year-olds fall through UK education, and what closes the gap.
• Access to HE Diplomas and foundation years — the main routes to university for students without A-levels.
• Education rights of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children — what local authorities, schools and colleges must provide.
• Supporting a young refugee into education — a practical guide for professionals.