VCSE Hospitality and Catering
The VTCT Skills VCSE Hospitality and Catering has two mandatory units. Unit 1 covers the industry in Wales, food safety, nutrition, customer care and sustainability and is tested by a 28 mark multiple-choice examination taken on screen. Unit 2 is a 12 hour Non-Examined Assessment in which learners plan, cook and serve a dish at a simple event and evaluate their performance. Digital work is light. The examination asks how booking apps, QR code menus, contactless payment, social media, online reviews and AI chatbots are changing the industry, and VTCT links Unit 2 planning to digital tools, but no software, typed work or digital evidence is required. Key Stage 3 should build confident on-screen planning and costing.
- Awarding body
- VTCT Skills
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Step before
- Foundation Hospitality and Catering, Entry Level and Level 1
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1 (UWHC1): Introduction to the Hospitality and Catering industry: MCQ External theory examination 60 minutes, 30%, 28 marks, multiple-choice questions on LO1 to LO5, set and marked by VTCT Skills, taken on screen with a paper option, sat in the April or May series at the end of Year 10 with one resit in Year 11 (best result counts); 40 GLH
- Unit 2 (UWHC2): Planning, preparing and serving a meal: Non-Examined Assessment, maximum 12 hours, 70%, four tasks worth 8, 12, 16 and 12 marks, set by VTCT Skills with a new brief each year, released in December of Year 11 and submitted in April, marked and internally quality assured by the centre with a level-based mark scheme, externally moderated by VTCT Skills, no resit; 100 GLH
Skills that use Online behaviour and online bullying
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Answering multiple-choice questions in an on-screen examination
Unit 1 is assessed by a 60 minute examination of multiple-choice questions worth 28 marks, taken online through VTCT Skills' on-screen assessment system in a set series, with a paper version for reasonable adjustments or where on-screen testing is not suitable. Learners need to read each question on screen, select and review answers, and manage their time under examination conditions.
DCF: Creating digital content, Online behaviour and online bullying, Health and well-being
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- In a lesson on kitchen hygiene, pupils complete a ten question Microsoft Forms quiz on handwashing and protective clothing, then check their score and the correct answers on screen.
- Year 8
- Pupils take a timed 20 question on-screen quiz on the 14 allergens and safe storage temperatures, flagging any question they are unsure of and returning to it before they submit.
- Year 9
- Pupils sit a 30 minute on-screen multiple-choice test on food safety, nutrition and customer care under exam conditions, then use the results breakdown to choose two topics to revise.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Section 5.1, page 15; Section 5.3.1, page 17; Appendix 1, A1.1, page 76
“The MCQ External theory examination will be undertaken online using VTCT Skills on-screen assessment solution.”
Progression step 3
I can use keyboard commands such as shortcuts.
Progression step 4
I can act appropriately online, keeping myself safe and behaving in a responsible manner.
Progression step 5
I can take reasonable steps to avoid health problems caused by the use of technology and suggest strategies to prevent or reduce the problems, both physical and psychological.
Good to know
- Codes: qualification number C00/5368/9, product code HC2W1, with mandatory units UWHC1 and UWHC2 (Sections 1 and 4, pages 5 and 13). The "First registration date 1st September 2027" and VTCT states it is approved for "first awarding summer 2029." (page 5).
- The Unit 1 examination is on screen by default but not only on screen: "A paper-based option will also be available for learners" (Section 5.3.1, page 17). This differs from the WJEC VCSE, whose food safety examination is on screen only.
- No digital evidence format is required of learners. The specification never says NEA work must be typed, photographed or submitted digitally; it only says the centre's evidence and marks are submitted "using VTCT Skills e-testing platform." (Section 8.2.1, page 28).
- Resources: the Unit 1 classroom includes "computers/access to internet" (Section 7.2, page 24), and Unit 2 kitchens need "Access to systems/resources that support" food safety recording, allergen communication, labelling and basic planning documentation, including "costing where applicable" (page 25). No software is named.
- AI appears only as Unit 1 content; there is no rule on learners using AI in the NEA, unlike WJEC's use of JCQ AI guidance. Supervision must ensure "Plagiarism, collusion or cheating is prevented" (Section 5.4.5, page 20), learners sign a "Declaration of Authenticity Form" (Section 5.4.7, page 21), and teachers must not "Provide feedback on any evidence produced by the learner" (Section 5.4.6, page 21).
- There is "no resit opportunity for the Non-Examined Assessment" (Section 5.4.8, page 21), while the examination has one resit, for which "A resit fee will be charged." (Section 5.3.4, page 18).
- VTCT's Curriculum for Wales mapping links digital competence only to Unit 1 LO1.5 "(industry use of digital systems" and Unit 2 LO1.2 "(using digital tools for planning)" (Section 11.1, page 73).
- The document contradicts itself on NEA marking: Section 5.1 (page 16) lists task marking as "high control", while Appendix 1, A1.2 (page 78) lists task marking for the same NEA as "medium control".
Links with other qualifications
Compared with the WJEC VCSE Hospitality and Catering, which has four units, a choice between Catering in Action and Hospitality in Action for the 70% NEA, an on-screen-only food safety examination, digital NEA submission, photographs of practical outcomes and digital promotion of an event, the VTCT Skills version has two mandatory units, one multiple-choice examination on the whole of Unit 1 and one NEA that combines cooking with table service, and its digital demand is lighter, limited to knowledge of digital systems in the industry and planning and costing documents. The planning and costing overlap with GCSE Food and Nutrition and GCSE Business, and the Skills for Work topics VTCT suggests, Customer Service and Working in Wales, match WJEC Skills Suite units already on the page.
Source: VTCT Skills Level 1/2 VCSE Hospitality and Catering Qualification Specification, HC2W1 (qualification number C00/5368/9), Version P1, issued 01/09/2026.