Resourcing our work
Our aim is to build an inclusive organisational culture that recognises individual talents and backgrounds, both among our staff and stakeholders. We are committed to being open and transparent about the work that we do and how we spend public money.
Wellbeing of future generations
We became subject to the Well-being of Future Generations Act in June 2024. We involved stakeholders, employees and our union to help us develop our approach.
We published our wellbeing statement and objectives within our corporate plan, incorporating the wellbeing principles into our reform and regulation work. Across the organisation we have adopted sustainable ways of working and actively involve stakeholders in our decisions.
Our wellbeing objectives are:
- to shape qualifications that prepare and support learners in life, learning and work, and promote equality of opportunity
- to develop an agile qualification system for Wales that responds to socio-economic changes, meeting learners’ needs whilst protecting the value of the qualifications they receive
- to operate as a forward-thinking, high-performing and inclusive organisation that delivers for the people of Wales
Education itself enables long-term wellbeing since:
- economic prosperity and growth rely on the workforce being able to gain the right skills and knowledge
- employment has a strong correlation to long-term health and wellbeing, and can, with fair pay, overcome the impact of poverty
- there is a correlation between levels of qualifications gained and earnings
- childhood learning shapes understanding, attitudes and behaviours in later life (for example tackling issues such as obesity, anti-racism and climate change, and in widening experiences of arts, culture and sport)
- being able to learn and be educated in Cymraeg fosters a bilingual nation and supports growth in the number of Welsh speakers
Sustainable ways of working
“Despite only being subject to the legislation from June 2024, it has been positive to see the way that Qualifications Wales have already embraced their responsibilities to meet the needs of current and future generations in Wales.
Their approach to reforming qualifications, involving learners and collaborating with a range of people, has shown they are applying the principles of the Future Generations Act already.
Education impacts wellbeing in a number of ways. As a key organisation in Wales, influencing learners of all ages, Qualifications Wales’ new wellbeing statement outlines the great work in progress and the work yet to be done to get us closer to a Wales we all want to live in.
I look forward to working with them more as they seek to deliver their wellbeing objectives.”
Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
Equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging
An inclusive approach to our engagement ensures conversations, feedback and experiences from a diverse range of learners and stakeholders.That feedback is shared across the organisation to help develop and shape our thinking and future plans.
Our 2024-28 strategic equality plan outlines how we intend to deliver our equalities commitments and complements our wellbeing of future generations endeavours.
Our annual equalities progress report summarises how we have fulfilled our equalities duties both as an employer and regulator. We continued the delivery of our inclusion training and commenced work with Race Council Cymru to hear colleague experiences as part of our anti-racism training.
In March 2024, we published our latest anti-racist action plan progress report.
In our 2023 staff survey, 92% of employees agreed that we were committed to creating an inclusive workplace, and 89% agreed that they are treated with respect by their peers.
Staff development
We are committed to supporting the professional and personal development of our employees through formal training and exposure to learning opportunities through their work.
Over the past year our staff have attended training such as:
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effective writing
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the legal context of being a regulator
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equality and inclusion
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anti-racism
Throughout the year, we held several all-staff development days to share knowledge and skills, and to build relationships outside immediate teams which can be more challenging in a hybrid environment. We have also supported staff to attend and represent us at a number of key conferences and knowledge- sharing events.
We have been delivering a programme of anti-racism training to all staff, which commenced with open conversations to understand individual perspectives. We also supported training for two employees on neurodiversity and for another colleague to attend a conference on accessibility in assessments.
We extended our contract with Leaderful Action to deliver leadership and management programmes and supported a further 12 employees to attend. Employees also engaged with Academi Wales’ Springboard programme which supports women into management.
Support was also provided for union representatives to attend training to support them in their roles, and we provide health, safety and IT training.
We raised awareness of the Well-being of Future Generations Act through our all-staff days. A representative from the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner ran a workshop to help staff engage with longer-term thinking, which has informed our work on qualifications reform and modernising assessment.
Social partnership
We have always worked in partnership with our union branch, seeking insight on policy development, engaging them in decision-making during the pandemic, so that a range of opinions were heard, and sharing views and solutions.
The Social Partnership Act has strengthened the way we work. We are committed to ensuring that our activities takes account of voices and experiences at all levels, and that what we do is shared and understood by our employees, whilst promoting the principles of fair work.
Involving unions
“The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act came into force in 2024.
It states that public bodies and trade unions should work together to ensure fair work in Wales and to agree, and deliver, the organisation’s well-being objectives as part of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (2015).
Qualifications Wales and our PCS union branch have worked positively in partnership since QW was established in 2015.
Through regular partnership forum meetings between the executive team and union branch chair and secretary, consultation on policies and engagement in organisational planning, union members have been able to input into positive changes to ways of working.
We continue to build on the strength of this partnership to reach mutually agreed outcomes and our wellbeing objectives.”
Ceri Phillips, PCS Union Branch
Finance and procurement
We are primarily funded by Welsh Government. Our core revenue funding for 2024-25 is £9.807m and we receive a capital funding allocation of £250k. As in previous years, this year we have also been allocated £200k to fund Welsh for Adults qualifications.
We provide information technology support services to two other Welsh Government sponsored bodies and expect to generate income of just over £40k from this partnership each financial year. A summary of our 2024-25 budget is outlined opposite .
Last year, we had to reduce our non-pay budgets by around 25% to cover our pay cost pressures. A flat line funding allocation from Welsh Government for 2024-25 has meant that this regearing between pay and non-pay budgets has had to continue.
A summary of our 2024-25 budget
In anticipation of (at best) continued flat line funding levels for the next few years, whilst at the same time facing ongoing pay inflation cost pressures, we are in the process of reviewing our long-term operating model to ensure that our costs can be contained with the funding levels likely to be available, whilst we continue to deliver against our key priorities.
We follow the principles of managing welsh public money to ensure all of our spending decisions deliver value for money. When we procure goods and services, we review our approach and specifications and consider whether we can make further efficiency savings or realise wider benefits.
We are preparing for the introduction of new procurement legislation by reviewing our policies and procedures to ensure we remain compliant and carry out socially responsible procurement.
Our procurement policy reflects the Wales procurement policy statement and what actions we will take to further our compliance with the wellbeing of future generations goals.
We continue to achieve savings – totalling £18.8k for financial year 2023-24 – from contracts awarded prior to the reporting period. Some of the more substantial ongoing savings are from translation services and printing. Other savings have been achieved through contracts for mobile phones, internal audit, desk booking software, facilities management services and insurance.
We also take account of social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts in our procurement activity and monitor and report on the outcomes.
These include reducing the carbon footprint of our contractors, encouraging bids from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) along with voluntary, community and social enterprises, promoting equal opportunities and fair work in our supply chains - including ensuring contractors pay the real living wage to their employees and sub-contractors.
We reported reduced carbon emissions for our subject expert services and Microsoft Office 365 licenses due to calculating actual emissions related to their use rather than a spend based approach.
We monitor our collaborative spend and the amount spent with Welsh suppliers, SMEs, voluntary, community and social enterprises, and with Black, Asian and minority ethnic suppliers.