Work experience quality standard

Important Update

The Work Experience Quality Standard is due to be paused from January 2026 until further notice. A final cycle will run in September 2025 for those who have already contacted our Widening Access and Participation team.

Existing Work Experience Quality Standard Awards held by organisations will remain valid until their expiry date and the suite of resources remain available on this website for use when developing your own work experience programmes.

If you would like to join our stakeholder list and receive information on any changes to this programme, please click on this link to add your details.

WEx QS – Subscribe to Stakeholder List

We want to thank you for your continued support in providing work experience opportunities for those interested in a career in health and social care.

What is the Work Experience Quality Standard?

A NHS England work experience quality standard is available for healthcare organisations to apply for. The quality standard award, which can be displayed, will give organisations and placement holders assurance that the work experience on offer reaches the highest possible standards.

The standard which aims to support a good level of standardisation and consistency of offer between organisations across the country will also allow an appropriate amount of flexibility to acknowledge that work experience placements are offered in a variety of different ways.

To be awarded the standard, organisations must demonstrate how the work experience placements they offer are planned, delivered and evaluated. NHS England will then award a bronze, silver or gold quality standard award, free of charge, which will last for two years. The organisation can then display the quality standard digital logo and certificate in order to demonstrate that it meets the standard.

Please note, while this quality standard has been designed for the assurance of in-person work experience, it can be used to support and add value to existing quality assurance processes for other types of programmes and work placements.

Work experience quality standard framework

The quality standard framework includes all of the criteria to qualify for the bronze, silver and gold quality standard. The criteria is broken down into six sections which correspond to a work experience placement:

• healthcare organisation
• pre-placement
• placement induction
• during placement
• reflection and review
• post placement

Read the quality standard framework by clicking on the image below.

This document is also available in the related documents section of this page.

Work experience quality standard guidance

The quality standard guidance document includes further information about the purpose of the standard, and instructions to assist healthcare organisations in understanding how they can demonstrate that they meet each of the criteria, and to assist in completing the application form.

Please note, an updated version of the guidance document can be found below. The main changes include an application form checklist on p.4.

The main new points on the application form checklist include:

• clarification that evidence needs to be current (dated within the last 12 months) and should include as many completed, anonymised documents which demonstrate that templates are being used by a variety of host departments, and completed by learners. We expect to see the following minimum number of completed documents across the whole of the application to be eligible to receive each respective award: 4 for bronze, 8 for silver, 12 for gold
• blank templates cannot be accepted as evidence, all forms/ documents need to be completed in order to be accepted as evidence for the award (with any identifiable information redacted)
• mandatory completion of each supporting commentary box on the application form. As a minimum, this needs to accurately and explicitly reference all evidence which supports each criteria point including the names and page numbers of documents, reflecting the documents uploaded to Sharepoint
• reminder that evidence will only be accepted in relation to face-to-face work experience provision (for example, we will not accept evidence which relates to pre-employment programmes or online work related learning)

Read the quality standard guidance by clicking on the image.

This document is also available in the related documents section of this page.

Applying for the quality standard

Attend a drop-in session

If your healthcare organisation has already been in touch with the Widening Access and Participation Team and wishes to be included in the September cycle, you must request to join a ‘drop-in’ session to determine if you are eligible to apply or demonstrate that you have attended a drop-in session within the last 8 weeks. Please email england.workexperiencetfc@nhs.net and you will be sent the meeting links to enable you to join a drop-in session of your choice.

Request an application form

Once you have attended a drop-in session, if you wish to apply for the quality standard, please email england.workexperiencetfc@nhs.net to request an application form, using the subject title 'work experience quality standard – [insert health organisation name]'.

The work experience quality standard team will respond by providing an application form, and a private SharePoint folder for all evidence to be uploaded into. Further instructions on applying can be found in the guidance document.

Please note, only one application form will be accepted per organisation.

If further support is required with the application process, please contact england.workexperiencetfc@nhs.net.

Cycle of review dates

The final deadline for applying for a WEx QS is as follows:

2025/2026 - Cycle 2

Submission deadline: 19 September 2025

Period of review: 3 October to 28 November 2025

Decisions communicated: 1 December to 15 December 2025