Ofqual
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The Department for Education has introduced a new legal entitlement that specified digital qualifications, at Entry Level and Level 1, will be fully funded for adults with no or low digital skills. This entitlement was made available starting in August 2020. Alongside the new entitlement, the Department is reforming basic digital qualifications, introducing new Essential Digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) and new Digital Functional Skills qualifications (Digital FSQs).
You can find further information about the 2 qualifications in the table below. From August 2020, the Department for Education introduced funding of specified Entry Level and Level 1 digital qualifications for adults with no or low digital skills.
At the same time, the Department started reforming basic digital qualifications, introducing new Essential Digital skills qualifications and new Digital Functional Skills qualifications.The documents on this page let you follow the progress of those reforms.
| Essential Digital Skills qualifications | Digital Functional Skills qualifications |
|---|---|
| New qualification available at Entry level 3 and at Level 1 | Replacing Functional Skills in ICT, but new qualifications available at Entry level 3 and at Level 1 |
| Appropriate qualification for adults with no or low digital skills wishing to gain digital skills for a specific life, work or study purpose - for example, to apply for jobs online, to manage finances online or to access government services online | Appropriate qualification for adults with no or low digital skills wishing to confirm they have digital skills needed for employment or further study |
| Qualifications based on new national standards for essential digital skills | Qualifications based on DfE subject content derived from the national standards for essential digital skills |
| 30-50 hours of guided learning | 55 hours of guided learning |