Guidance
National essential digital skills standards: 2019
Standards setting out the digital skills needed for life and work.
Documents
Details
Revised standards have been published.
Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs) and Digital Functional Skills qualifications (DFSQs) remain in place.
We will provide further information in due course on how:
- the revised standards should be used with existing EDSQs and DFSQs
- we intend to update our approach to these qualifications
The standards set out the essential digital skills that adults need to:
- participate fully in life
- undertake most jobs
- engage in further study
The national standards apply to:
- Entry Level 3
- Level 1
They:
- are based on the essential digital skills framework
- inform the development of subject content for:
- Essential Digital Skills qualifications
- Digital Functional Skills qualifications
Updates to this page
Published 23 April 2019
Last updated 15 July 2026
—
Show all updates
-
Added a link to the revised standards, stating that Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQs) and Digital Functional Skills qualifications (DFSQs) informed by the national standards remain in place.
-
First published.