Skills for Life: Home Management and Maintenance
Home management and maintenance is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit, offered from Entry 1 to Level 2, about household routines, simple home maintenance done safely, hygiene and cleaning, and sustainable habits such as recycling and saving energy. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma. Literacy sits in following instructions and product labels, reporting hazards, reviewing routines and explaining sustainable choices. Numeracy sits in planning routines over a week or month, which is assessed, and in budgeting, comparing costs and tracking energy and water use, which are suggested.
- 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
- Medium
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes, with separate 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 separate 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 Reading strategies
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Following written and visual instructions and safety labels
Entry 2 learners follow instructions to carry out basic tasks safely, to clean using appropriate materials and to use household cleaning products safely. At Level 1 and Level 2 the amplification adds selecting cleaning products for different surfaces using COSHH principles, which means reading labels and hazard information. Following instructions is required by the assessment criteria; reading COSHH labels is taught content.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read a picture and word instruction card for wiping down a table safely and carry out the steps in order.
- Year 8
- Pupils scan the labels of three cleaning products to find the hazard symbol, the safety instructions and what surfaces each is for.
- Year 9
- Pupils read a COSHH style data sheet for a bleach product and write a short safe use card listing protective equipment, ventilation and storage rules.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level, learning outcomes 2 and 3, assessment criteria 2.1 and 3.1, page 5; learning outcome 4, assessment criterion 4.2 (Entry 2), page 6; learning outcome 3 amplification, page 10
“Follow instructions to use household cleaning products safely”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can read closely, identifying and noting features of texts, e.g. introduction, sequence, illustrations, formality, key vocabulary.
Progression step 4
I can use a range of strategies, e.g. speed reading, close reading, annotation, prediction, to skim texts for gist, key ideas and themes, and scan for detailed information.
I can read closely, follow up and use additional material in texts to extend my understanding.
Good to know
- The unit has five codes, one for each level, from "S616E1" to "S616L2" (Unit overview, page 3). Only the highest level achieved counts, because "only the highest level of the unit achieved will count towards the GLH" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 2.2, page 10).
- This is a practical unit and needs equipment: "Centres delivering this unit should have access to a range of household equipment, materials, and environments" (Resources required for delivery, page 13).
- Evidence can be spoken or practical as well as written: "extended written work is not required unless appropriate", and the pack lists "question and answer records (oral or written) to confirm knowledge and understanding" and "records of budgeting or cost-comparison activities" (Sources of evidence, page 12).
- Spelling and presentation are not judged: "Assessor judgements should focus on meeting the standard, not spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 12).
- The suggested activities and tasks are optional. The specification says suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory" and teachers "may choose to use these suggestions, adapt them, or develop their own alternatives" (section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools are only acceptable "When properly referenced", and learners "cannot be credited for any work they produce for assessment which is not their own". 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).
- Where a criterion uses a plural without a number, "a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two" (pages 6 and 8).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names links with "GCSE Design and Technology and VCSE Built Environment": reading safety guidance, using tools safely and planning practical tasks are shared with both. Within the Skills Suite it suggests delivering this unit alongside Basic first aid, Financial literacy, Food planning and preparation, Healthy lifestyle, Healthy relationships, Looking after others, Practical gardening and Teamwork. Financial literacy covers budgeting and comparing costs in more depth, which supports the cost comparison of household items suggested here, and Food planning and preparation shares the reading of product labels and hygiene instructions.
Source: WJEC Home management and maintenance 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).