Workforce Standards

An update on The National Occupational Standards for Playwork, which are currently under review by the four nations across the UK

The UK Playwork National Occupational Standards (NOS) Consortium comprises Play England, the Playwork Foundation, PlayBoard Northern Ireland, Play Scotland and Play Wales. The consortium of non-profit play and playwork organisations has been meeting since October 2021. It was established to plan strategically across the four nations for the future of workforce development and sector skills initiatives, including a future review of the NOS. In 2024, the NOS Consortium gained approval from the UK Standards and Framework Panel to lead this review of the NOS, which were last updated in 2016.

National Occupational Standards (NOS) are statements of the standards of performance for a given sector. For playwork, they include the knowledge, understanding and skills required to be a support playworker, playworker or playwork manager. NOS are competency based, agreed by the sector and used as the basis for the development of qualifications. They can also be used to support the development of job descriptions and staff appraisals.

There are strong links between the UK Playwork NOS Consortium and the four Playwork Education and Training Councils (PETCs) whose role is to discuss issues of strategic importance on all aspects of playwork education, training and qualifications in their respective nation.

Play Wales is leading the process on behalf of the NOS Consortium. Throughout 2025 the Writing Group has been meeting to review the old NOS and draft updated NOS that reflect the ways in which playwork is developing across the four nations. A scoping exercise, conducted in 2023, gathered information on how NOS are used by employers, governments and national organisations. There was a strong desire to reflect that playwork should be seen as an approach to working with children of any age in a range of settings, and that the Playwork Principles are central to defining the role of the playworker.

As of November 2025, draft NOS have been written for the roles of support playworker, playworker and playwork manager. These are being shared with an Advisory Group of sector representatives for feedback prior to a formal consultation, which is planned for March/ April 2026. Please also look out for opportunities to engage in regional webinars during the spring to give your views on the draft standards by following the social media channels of your national play organisation.

The resulting new NOS will ensure that playwork qualifications reflect the ways that playwork roles are evolving and support the mobility of playwork qualifications across the UK

The resulting new NOS will ensure that playwork qualifications reflect the ways that playwork roles are evolving and support the mobility of playwork qualifications across the UK. We know from feedback that NOS can also be used to evidence unique elements of playwork as an occupation. This includes setting playwork apart from other aspects of the children’s workforce and important elements of the playwork approach, such as benefit-risk assessment and playwork intervention.

The NOS will be published in both English and Welsh in May 2026 on the UK National Occupational Standards Repository.

To find out more about the NOS review read the consortium’s series of information sheets that are shared by members on their respective websites: [www.play.wales/playwork/workforce/](http://www.play.wales/playwork/workforce/)