Thanks for taking the time to write an elaborate answer!

I'm not in the UK, but in Germany. There's the first tier Gymnasium (5-12th grade) preparing you for Uni, second tier Realschule (5-10) preparing you for "higher" vocational work (eg: office clerk) and finally the third tier Hauptschule (5-9) preparing you for "lower" vocational work (eg: construction worker and all the jobs you mentioned).

Paying for it isn't the problem, you actually get PAID in vocational training over here, but that's not what I actually want to do.

I'm not sure what city colleges are (and they're not a thing here), but I will definitely need the first tier HS diploma in order to get into the medical field (not necessarily as a doctor, but maybe as a physician assistant for starters, because right now I obviously don't have what it takes to go through 6 years of med school)

For unrelated reasons I've actually done a real IQ test at an actual psychologist so I KNOW the opportunity/right foundation is there, but the motivation is zero.

I know my bad study habits are 100% on me and I'm desperately trying to change that, but it isn't easy to overcome 10 years of laziness and bare minimum work. Furthermore you're only allowed to fail 7 courses in 4 semesters (so, overall 7 out of ~32) and I've already failed 4(!!) this semester alone. I need the remaining 3 fails For maths (Dyscalculia), so my back is against the wall because obviously I absolutely cannot afford to fail anything but maths from now on. Actually pretty easy, but you never know what might happen (asshole teachers, unexpectedly failing an exam etc).

That's a lot of pressure. 110% my own fault, but still a lot of pressure.