New Engineering and Manufacturing T-level toolkit for food and drink employers

The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, in partnership with The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink (NSAFD), has launched a new T-level toolkit for employers in the Food & Drink sector, designed to help businesses strengthen their engineering and manufacturing talent pipelines.

The toolkit brings together practical guidance, employer insights and sector specific advice to help food and drink manufacturers understand how T-level industry placements work, and how they can use them to develop future technical talent.

Drawing on real world employer experience, surveys and a number of case studies, the resource explains how industry placements can support recruitment, build workforce capability, and open up new pathways into engineering and manufacturing roles.

Why this matters for the sector

According to the NSAFD, engineering and manufacturing roles remain some of the hardest to fill across the food and drink sector. T-levels offer a powerful solution: a two-year technical qualification combining classroom learning with at least 315 hours of industry placement, giving students hands on experience and employers early access to emerging talent.

Employers already hosting placements report significant benefits – from fresh ideas and increased capacity to stronger future recruitment pipelines. As one employer put it,

“Hosting T-level students… has been highly beneficial: they bring strong technical knowledge, quickly become productive, and contribute real value to the business.”

The new toolkit

The toolkit provides a clear overview of the three T-levels in Engineering and Manufacturing and includes practical guidance on planning, managing, and reviewing placements; advice on health and safety, supervision, safeguarding, and insurance.

It also includes employer case studies, including ABP Food Group’s multi block placement model and step by step support for identifying providers, selecting students, and designing meaningful projects.

It also addresses common employer concerns, from working with under 18s to managing supervision, and shows how these can be resolved with the right preparation and T-level provider support.

Real impact in real businesses

The toolkit features a detailed case study from ABP Food Group, which has successfully integrated T-level work placements into engineering teams across multiple sites. Their structured placement model enabled students to gain deep technical experience across key areas of their business including machinery, butchery, and retail operations, and demonstrate how support from the students on their projects have seen tangible business benefits, such as proposed machinery improvements identified by the students saving thousands of pounds.

Download the T-level toolkit for Employers in the Food & Drink sector.

For further information on how T-levels can support the food & drink sector, please contact The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink (NSAFD) at info@nsafd.co.uk. To speak to your local T-level provider please visit the T-levels Support for Employers website.