Skills for Work: Business Finance
Business Finance is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners learn how small businesses and other institutions raise money, through sales, loans, grants or crowdfunding, manage costs, save money and use budgets and financial plans to stay viable, applied to their own setting or an enterprise activity. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, assessed internally by the centre. Digital demand is low because no criterion requires digital work. Digital skills sit in building a budget or financial plan in spreadsheet software, researching sources of finance, presenting the plan and referencing sources and AI.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, moving from stating how businesses or other institutions earn and manage money, to outlining basic business finance concepts, to identifying sources of income, cost-saving measures and how a budget helps a business stay viable. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describing how a small business or other institution manages money and the benefits and drawbacks of financial planning and budgets, then creating a simple financial plan showing how to generate income and spend effectively so the business is viable. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
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Researching sources of finance and costs online
Entry 3 learners identify sources of income such as grants and loans, Level 1 learners give benefits and drawbacks of options such as bank loans and crowdfunding, and Level 2 learners explain their chosen sources. The knowledge is required by the criteria, while finding it online is suggested by Pearson's mapping of searching as the digital link, so the research itself is taught, not assessed.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils search online for the price of three items needed for a stall and record the shop and price for each.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for what crowdfunding is, compare two explanations from different websites, and note which source is more trustworthy.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a bank loan, a grant and a crowdfunding platform for a small business, evaluate the reliability of each source and justify which option they would recommend.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 8, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 3 and Level 1, page 45; Annexe C, Digital Links, page 119
“basic benefits and drawbacks of different methods of financial support, e.g. bank loan, crowdfunding”
Progression step 3
I can adjust keywords and search techniques to find relevant information.
I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.
Progression step 4
I can search a variety of sources using relevant search techniques with increased complexity.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
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Referencing sources and acknowledging AI
At every level learners must certify that their evidence is their own and reference any sources and any AI tools they used, for example websites about loans or grants. Using AI without acknowledging it is malpractice, so this is a requirement of every submission.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list the websites they used to find prices for a stall budget, with the page title and address for each.
- Year 8
- Pupils discuss when using an AI tool to write a budget explanation would be plagiarism, and write a sentence acknowledging any AI help they used.
- Year 9
- Pupils reference every source in a financial plan in a set format and add a note stating exactly how any AI tool was used.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 8, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 47
“they have clearly referenced any sources and any artificial intelligence used”
Progression step 3
I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
Progression step 4
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 8 in the Overcoming barriers group and is worth "10" guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours and requires an enterprise activity, while the Pearson unit applies finance to "their own setting or an enterprise activity" (Purpose and Aim, page 44).
- Pearson units are achieved once: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- The unit content is not printed in the specification: it is in the "Teaching and Learning Support documentt for this unit" (Unit content, page 45), so centres need that document to plan teaching. The doubled t is a typing error in the specification.
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 45), so a spreadsheet budget is one option, not a requirement.
- AI tools must be acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 47).
- The Skills for Work specification says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (Authorised Assignment Briefs, page 8), a leftover from the Skills for Life document.
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills for Work unit Business Finance is 20 hours, requires learners to take part in an enterprise activity and includes profit, cash flow and break-even, while the Pearson unit is 10 hours and centres on income, costs, cost saving, budgets and a simple financial plan at Level 2. Sources of finance, costs and budgeting link to WJEC GCSE Business, the budgeting work to the Skills for Life unit Financial literacy and the WJEC Skills for Work unit Enterprise venture, and building a budget in a spreadsheet links to GCSE Digital Technology and the WJEC Skills for Work unit Using IT in the workplace. The finance content also supports the WJEC VCSE and Foundation qualifications in Retail and Customer Service.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 8: Business finance.