The Foundation Skills competitions have been created to showcase the skills of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), additional learning needs (ALN), or who require additional support for learning (ASL). Participants will be tested against core competencies aligned to Entry level 3 or level 1.
These competitions provide excellent opportunities for students and learners to develop their vocational skills, employability and wider skills for work, personal, social and independence skills.
This competition is an opportunity for young people who may be aspiring to become self-employed or work in a business related role to develop work-readiness skills and progress to gain paid employment.
During the competition, competitors will work as a team on a project with a sustainable theme. The competition will focus on taking an everyday item that is readily available in abundance and asking the students to create an Enterprise project around this.
Teamwork
Problem solving
Communication
Presentation Skills
Research skills
Money Management skills
Analytical
Creativity and Design
Our library of endorsed local skills competition briefs ‘benchmarking assessments’ helps prepare learners to build technical skills, productivity, and mindset competencies for national competition success, including employability progression pathways.
Paired with the benchmarking tracker, educators can record progress, identifying strengths and target areas for improvement. Together, they offer a reliable, standards-led framework, creating a sustainable model for skills development that supports educators to empower learners to be competition ready.
Registrations open on Monday 2 March 2026, 9am and will close Friday 27 March 2026, midnight.
Entry Stage will be released Monday 13 April with a final deadline of Monday 11 May 2026.
Qualifiers will take place Tuesday 10 & Wednesday 11 June at North Warwickshire & South Leicestershire College – Nuneaton Campus.
To help finalists prepare ahead of the UK Final, we will provide relevant technical training and share mindset development techniques, to support them to remain focused on achieving success.
Prepare students and apprentices by engaging with our benchmarking resources to master their skills and mindset masterclasses to build confidence and resilience on the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.
The National Finals are scheduled to take place in Wales during the week commencing 16 November 2026.
