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 to manage money responsibly, save and invest, make sensible spending and borrowing choices, and plan a personal budget. Numeracy is central: income, expenses and balance from Entry 1, checking spending against a budget at Entry 3, and at Level 2 monitoring and analysing a detailed budget with realistic data and comparing products by risk and return. Literacy sits in explaining and evaluating money decisions, reading financial information and giving sensible spending and borrowing advice.
- 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
- High
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 Strategic competence
-
Monitoring and analysing a detailed budget with realistic data
At Level 1 learners review a budget for changes in circumstances such as a new job or fewer hours, and at Level 2 they monitor a detailed budget using realistic data, then analyse it and suggest improvements for financial stability. This is the most demanding numeracy in the unit and is required by the assessment criteria.
Numeracy: Strategic competence, Conceptual understanding, Calculation, Logical reasoning
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils change one cost in a simple budget, such as a bus fare going up by 50p a day, and work out the new weekly balance.
- Year 8
- Pupils track a family's food spending for four weeks against a set amount, find the week that went over and by how much, and suggest two savings.
- Year 9
- Pupils analyse a realistic budget with a drop in working hours, work out what percentage of income goes on rent, and justify a set of changes that brings it back into balance.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 4, assessment criteria L1 4.2, L2 4.1 and L2 4.2, page 6; amplification of LO4, page 9
“Analyse the budget and suggest improvements for financial stability.”
Progression step 3
I can identify, measure or obtain required information to complete the task.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
Progression step 4
I can select, trial and evaluate a variety of possible approaches and break complex problems into a series of tasks.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
I can express one quantity as a percentage of another.
Progression step 5
I can construct and develop a mathematical argument.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
-
Working out the cost of borrowing and repayment
Level 1 learners identify responsible ways to borrow and repay money, including a repayment plan, and Level 2 learners evaluate borrowing options such as bank or credit union loans, credit cards, overdrafts and payday loans. The criteria do not require interest calculations, but working out total repayments is the clearest way to compare options.
Numeracy: Calculation, Strategic competence, Financial literacy
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils work out how many weeks it takes to repay 30 pounds borrowed from a friend at 5 pounds a week.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare paying 240 pounds for a phone upfront with 12 monthly payments of 23 pounds and work out the extra cost.
- Year 9
- Pupils compare the total repaid on 500 pounds from a credit union loan, a credit card and a payday loan using given rates, and decide which is most responsible.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 3, assessment criteria L1 3.2 and L2 3.1, page 6; amplification of LO3, page 8
“Evaluate different borrowing options and their implications.”
Progression step 3
I can calculate a percentage, fraction and decimal of any quantity with a calculator where appropriate.
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
Progression step 4
I can carry out calculations relating to VAT, saving and borrowing.
I can appreciate the basic principles of budgeting, saving (including understanding compound interest) and borrowing.
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).
- A plural in a criterion means at least two: "If not specified, then a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two." (pages 5 and 6).
- No special resources are needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (page 13). Evidence can include completed budget worksheets, price comparison charts and "banking or financial account statements (real or simulated)" (Sources of evidence, pages 10 and 11).
- 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), so budget calculations must be the learner's own.
- Several Level 1 and 2 suggested activities on page 10, such as "research and present examples of emerging jobs or industries", 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 personal finance in more depth, including budgeting, bills, compound interest and borrowing, so this unit gives learners practical, everyday practice of the same skills. GCSE Business looks at 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 the pack says they help learners apply budgeting and money management in home, online, personal and business contexts.
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).