Skills for Life: Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit, one of the units learners combine into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma. Learners learn why managing money responsibly matters, how to save and invest, how to make sensible spending and borrowing choices, and how to plan and manage a personal budget. No criterion names a digital tool, but the unit overview expects learners to explore online banking and budgeting tools, and spreadsheets are the natural way to keep and monitor the budget the criteria require. Other digital work is researching saving and borrowing products, comparing prices online and spotting scams.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Identity, image and reputation
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Using online banking safely and spotting financial scams
Entry 1 learners point out simple ways of keeping money safe, and the unit overview says digital competence is developed by exploring online banking, budgeting tools and secure money management. Citizens Advice is listed for information on scams. Online banking and scam awareness are taught content, not named in the assessment criteria.
DCF: Identity, image and reputation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils look at sample emails and texts that claim to be from a bank and sort them into genuine and phishing, circling the warning signs.
- Year 8
- Pupils explore a demo banking app and list the security features it uses, such as a passcode, two step login and spending alerts.
- Year 9
- Pupils make a short guide for a younger sibling opening their first account, covering strong passcodes, secure websites and what to do if they are scammed.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit overview, integral and cross-curricular skills, page 4; Entry Level, assessment criterion E1 1.2, page 5; Resources available to support delivery, page 12
“digital competence to explore online banking, budgeting tools, and secure money management”
Progression step 3
I can understand how to protect myself from online identity theft, e.g. identifying secure sites, phishing, scam websites.
Progression step 4
I can use strategies for guarding myself against identity theft and online scams that try to access my personal information.
Good to know
- The unit codes are S612E1, S612E2, S612E3, S612L1 and S612L2, and the unit is 20 guided learning hours (Unit overview, page 3).
- No special resources are needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (Resources required for assessment, page 13). Online tools such as the MoneyHelper "Budget Planner Tool and Savings Calculator" are listed only as support (page 11).
- Evidence can be digital: the pack lists "digital spreadsheet records demonstrating tracked income, expenditure, or savings over time" and video recordings of role-plays (Sources of evidence, page 11), and a portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (Specification section 4.1, page 18).
- Suggested assessment tasks are optional: "These tasks are not mandatory." Teachers may adapt them or devise their own (Specification section 4.1, page 18).
- AI misuse includes "Using AI to complete parts of the assessment so that the work does not reflect the learner's own work, analysis, evaluation or calculations." (Specification section 4.6, page 21). In this unit that covers budget calculations as well as written work.
- Several Level 1 and 2 suggested activities on page 10, such as "research and present examples of emerging jobs or industries" and labour market information, are about careers rather than money and look carried over from another unit, so plan finance activities instead.
Links with other qualifications
The pack names GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy and GCSE Business as linked WJEC qualifications. GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy covers the same personal finance at a higher level, including budgeting, bills, interest and borrowing, and a spreadsheet budget model serves both. GCSE Business covers money from a business point of view. The pack names Home management and maintenance, Online safety, Personal development planning and Business finance as Skills Suite units to deliver alongside it, and Online safety in particular covers the scams and safe online banking this unit touches.
Source: WJEC Financial literacy unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).