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 Problem-solving and modelling
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Costing a dish against a budget
Unit 2 learners provide costing calculations in their dish specification, add up ingredient costs and check the dish fits the budget in the brief, then check in their evaluation that the costs were correct and the dish stayed within budget. The assessment criteria require the costing; no software is named, but a spreadsheet is the natural tool.
DCF: Data and information literacy, Problem-solving and modelling
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils enter the prices of the ingredients for a batch of Welsh cakes into Excel and use SUM to find the total cost.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a recipe costing sheet that works out the cost of the amount used of each ingredient and the cost per portion, then compare two versions of a pasta bake.
- Year 9
- Pupils set up a costing spreadsheet for a dish with a budget cell and a formula that shows whether the dish is over or under budget, then swap one ingredient to bring it within budget.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, LO1, sections 1.2 and 1.3, pages 58 and 59; LO4, section 4.1, page 68; assessment criteria 1.2, 1.3 and 4.1, page 71
“Check whether the dish fits within the set budget for the brief”
Progression step 3
I can construct, refine and interrogate data sets within tables, charts, spreadsheets and databases to test or support an investigation.
I can use a range of spreadsheet formulae, e.g. + - / x, sum, average, max, min.
Progression step 4
I can create a data capture form, capture data, search data and create a database and spreadsheet with appropriate data input method.
I can create a simple model or self-contained algorithm.
Progression step 5
I can independently create and design models, and explain how they represent real-world problems, e.g. selecting and correctly using an appropriate method for illustrating a problem, such as a flowchart or spreadsheet.
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Sequencing a time plan and planning for problems
The Unit 2 time plan breaks the work into preparation, cooking, finishing, service and close down, sequences the tasks logically and overlaps simple tasks when it is safe. In their evaluation learners judge whether the order of tasks was logical and look for missing steps, unrealistic timings or a lack of contingency planning, which builds the same ordering and debugging habits as computational thinking.
DCF: Problem-solving and modelling
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils put jumbled step cards for making a vegetable soup into order on a digital whiteboard and mark the steps that can happen at the same time.
- Year 8
- Pupils draw a flowchart for cooking chicken goujons with a decision box asking whether the core temperature has reached 75°C for 30 seconds, looping back if not.
- Year 9
- Pupils write a timed plan for two dishes split into preparation, cooking, finishing, service and close down, then find and fix a deliberate error in a partner's plan and add one contingency.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, LO1, section 1.2, page 58; LO4, section 4.1, pages 68 and 69; assessment criteria 1.2 and 4.1, page 71
“Overlap simple tasks when safe and appropriate to do so”
Progression step 3
I can create and refine algorithms and flowcharts to solve problems, making use of features such as loops, Boolean values and formulae.
I can understand the importance of the order of statements within algorithms.
Progression step 4
I can identify the different parts of an algorithm to determine their purpose.
I can detect and correct errors in algorithms.
Progression step 5
I can develop logical solutions to determine the input, outputs and processes of a program, e.g. following pseudocode or a flowchart to come to an outcome, developing a written sequence of steps that could be followed.
I can demonstrate the benefits of compartmentalising sections of a problem (using functions/procedures).
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.