Skills for Life: Everyday Law
Everyday law is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit about how the law touches daily life: legal terms, rights and responsibilities, where to get legal help, and the consequences of keeping or breaking the law. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma. Literacy carries the unit: learners match, define and explain legal words, apply them to scenarios, compare advice sources and justify choices, mostly through talk, role-play and short written answers. Numeracy is light, limited to weighing cost when choosing advice and consumer examples such as refunds.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes (common legal terms, rights and responsibilities, where to get help, situations where the law applies), each with two 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 (legal concepts and terms, rights and responsibilities, accessing legal advice, how the law affects situations and decisions), each with two 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 Understanding, response and analysis
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Reading scenarios and case studies to apply the law
Learners read short everyday scenarios and work out which terms, rights, responsibilities and laws apply, from sorting examples into legal and not legal at Entry 1 to analysing how terms apply in a variety of scenarios at Level 2. The criteria require this; the case studies on faulty goods, workplace rights and tenancy problems are suggested examples.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read six one line situations, such as taking a sweet without paying, and sort them into legal and not legal with a reason for each.
- Year 8
- Pupils read a half page story about a teenager whose new headphones break and highlight the facts that show which consumer right applies.
- Year 9
- Pupils read a one page case study about a young worker refused a break, identify the rights and responsibilities involved, and note what the worker and employer should each do next.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 1, assessment criterion 1.2, learning outcome 2, assessment criterion 2.2, learning outcome 4, assessment criterion 4.1, page 7; suggested activities, page 10
“Analyse how these terms apply in a variety of scenarios”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can show understanding of and use the main ideas and significant details in different texts on the same topic.
Progression step 4
I can read, with concentration, printed and digital texts that are new to me and update, broaden and deepen my understanding of information, ideas and issues.
I can summarise, synthesise and analyse information to gain in-depth understanding, e.g. of causes, consequences, patterns, using different sources.
Progression step 5
I can read and analyse a range of unseen, printed and digital texts with concentration and independence.
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Comparing sources of advice and justifying a recommendation
Learners identify people and organisations who can help at Entry Level and describe the support each gives at Level 1. At Level 2 they compare sources for purpose, reliability and accessibility and recommend one for a given legal problem with justification, which the criteria require.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read short leaflets from three helping services, such as Childline and Citizens Advice, and write one sentence on who each one helps.
- Year 8
- Pupils read two short advice pages on the same consumer problem and note which seems more reliable and why, using clues such as who wrote it and how up to date it is.
- Year 9
- Pupils read three sources of advice on a housing problem, rank them for reliability, cost and ease of access, and write a justified recommendation for a friend.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level, learning outcome 3, page 5; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 3, assessment criteria 3.1 and 3.2, page 7; amplification LO3, page 9
“Identify appropriate sources of advice based on given legal problems, with justification”
Progression step 3
I can use inference and deduction to understand the text, and can consider the reliability of what I read.
I can collate and make connections, e.g. prioritising, categorising, between information and ideas from different sources including digital and audio-visual texts.
Progression step 4
I can evaluate the usefulness and reliability of texts.
I can use inference and deduction to understand more complex texts, and can consider the reliability and impact of what I read.
Progression step 5
I can confidently evaluate the purpose, impact and reliability of texts.
Good to know
- The unit codes are "S609E1" to "S609L2" (Unit overview, page 3), one code per level from Entry 1 to Level 2, and the unit is 20 guided learning hours.
- Evidence does not have to be written: "evidence may be verbal, written, practical, or visual, extended written work is not required unless appropriate", and assessors judge the standard, "not spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 11).
- Possible evidence includes "Audio or video recordings of discussions, role-plays, or learner explanations" and "Question-and-answer records, quizzes, or simple tests assessing understanding" (Sources of evidence, page 11).
- No special resources are needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (Resources required for assessment, page 12).
- AI can be used only if acknowledged. When properly referenced it "can be acceptable", but learners "cannot be credited for any work they produce for assessment which is not their own" (section 4.6, page 21).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may use them, adapt them or write their own (section 4.1, page 18).
- Plural criteria mean at least two: "a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two" (pages 6 and 7).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names GCSE Social Studies and GCSE Religious Studies as related WJEC qualifications, and both develop reading viewpoints and explaining rights, responsibilities and fairness. Consumer rights also appear in GCSE Business and in the VCSE and Foundation Retail and Customer Service, which cover the Consumer Rights Act 2015, while VCSE and Foundation Public Services cover criminal justice services such as the police and courts. GCSE English Language and Literature supports the reading, explaining and debating this unit asks for. Related Skills Suite units named in the pack include Financial literacy, Democracy in action, Ethical choices, Rights and responsibilities in the workplace, and Fairness and inclusion in the workplace.
Source: WJEC Everyday law 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).