The Skills Network Reviews 2,275

I took a Level 2 course, fully expecting that the course would be quick and easy to complete, given the very basic nature of the content and the fact that the course is only Level 2. How mistaken I was.

The course content is indeed extremely basic, but it has been inordinately stretched so as to fill reams and reams of repetitive, dull and pretty much pointless videos and templates. Once you have signed up, you cannot opt out - which is what I certainly would have done within minutes of seeing how dreadful the content is and how time-consuming the assessments are.

The learning material of the entire course would probably cover no more than a couple of pages of A4 if written clearly and non-repetitively. I would guess that it could be adequately comprehended by most reasonably educated people within less than half an hour. The course content therefore does not justify the amount of time you have to devote to it nor the level of stress involved in submitting the assessments within the narrow timeframes imposed.

The assessments are comprised of a series of questions to answer and a table to complete. Many of the questions are very badly worded and hence highly confusing, and the tables are nothing short of nonsensical. Moreover, no mark scheme is provided and it is therefore impossible for the learner to gauge how much to write in response. Given the basic nature of the material, it is clearly common sense to simply write short, succinct answers to the questions but, as I discovered, this is not received well by the assessor. My first three assessments were returned with the request that several answers be resubmitted within seven days. It consequently became apparent that in order to pass the assessments, a great deal of pointless waffling was required. This was an enormous waste of my time and entirely contrary to the usual expectations of assessors. If I didn’t have two degrees and proven academic ability, I would have found the whole experience deeply demoralising and discouraging. As it was, I was fortunately able to recognise the feedback for what it was: gratuitously negative, disingenuous, and unprofessional. My assessor even possessed such lack of personal insight that she “recommended” to me in her feedback that I improve my writing skills, despite being unable herself to demonstrate more than a rudimentary grasp of grammar and punctuation, and not even that at times.

Tellingly, the page featuring the assessment outcomes lists organisations such as the Samaritans in case you need help. This leads me to suspect that the Skills Network is aware that its assessment procedures are liable to cause emotional distress, especially given that there is a financial penalty for not completing the courses, and the target group of learners is adults who are not in employment and therefore cannot afford to pay the penalty. My personal feeling is that the course I took actually sets people up to fail; very few people would be incapable of understanding such basic material, but the number of assessments, the lack of transparency as to how to successfully answer the questions, and the ludicrous amount of time and perseverance required to press on and finish, are simply not justified by the course content and would surely push the limits of many. I was actually reminded of Enid Blyton’s character, Dame Slap, in “The Faraway Tree”, who demanded answers to preposterous riddles that admitted no true answers. I honestly cannot understand for the life of me why the government would fund such a course. In fact, I am seriously considering raising my concerns with my MP and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and would encourage others to do so also.

The emails I received from the Skills Network are peppered with informal interjections, words and phrases, such as “woohoo”, “hey” and “catch you soon”. I imagine they are trying to create the impression that they are friendly and approachable, but such language simply seems to me to be patronising and unprofessional. Such a casual tone also belies their power to subject to a financial penalty anybody who, quite understandably, would wish to change their mind and withdraw from whichever course they had regrettably signed up to.

In short, on the basis of my experience, I do not recommend doing any courses through the Skills Network. I have taken some excellent free courses through Future Learn, and others are available through the Open University; these are created by academics and experts in the fields in question, are highly informative and engaging, and you can do them at your own pace, with no financial penalties attached whatsoever. You receive certificates upon completion, free of charge, which can be uploaded to social media. Last but not least, they are truly worth doing!

Be aware, as soon as you have signed up (with no going back) you will get the course outline with very tight deadlines for assessments and if you give the course the attention it needs you will struggle to meet these deadlines, especially if you have work and family commitments. You only know this once you have joined. I’ve studied for years and was surprised at the tight turnarounds.
I reached out with problems meeting already tight deadlines as my work hours increased and I have other commitments. The first response was unhelpful, however to be fair a different representative was most helpful and extended the deadlines.
I struggled to meet the new dates but pulled out all the stops and submitted my work. My assessor required me to re submit two questions which deflated me after all that effort especially as I was unsure as to why, or at least why my mark couldn’t have just been lower rather than creating even more work.
My assessor also said that I needed to read around the subject and use other sources etc. My point was that I could not give the course the time the assessors demand so I have opted to withdraw with one unit to go. Had the assessor accepted my responses with constructive feedback I would have been able to complete the course but the re submission request has just added to the stress I was already experiencing.
I have asked to repay the £100 in instalments as I am struggling to pay. I assume it was all in the terms and conditions but as other reviewers have said, it is not made clear that you will have to pay to withdraw, and that the assessors make life difficult for you to pass?
I have two degrees and a post graduate degree so I am not unused to completing assignments, but I found the online content nigh on impossible to navigate at times, links don’t work or are out of date and the whole site was rather confusing. I personally would not use again and preferred my other similar free Level 2 course with a different provider, which had much better designed content, more generous deadlines and more supportive assessors.

Awful course. I have made several attempts to complete it as I can’t afford to pay the £100 withdrawal fee but the feedback I received is so incredibly discouraging I have lost the will to continue.
The course I was doing is Event planning and I understood all the material and I believe that all my answers made sense but the feedback truly made me feel like a complete idiot. The only way I know to describe this experience is as if you’re doing a math equation and you get the right answer but you didn’t use the same method as the tutor therefore you are wrong.
In addition to that I have made them aware that I am a stay at home mum with a 3 year old and a 6 month old and I regularly take my father to his hospital appointments so I don’t have that much time and did not realise how incredibly time consuming and stressful this course would be but they don’t seem to care.
Personally I would not recommend this course unless you have a LOT of time on your hands and do not get easily discouraged. Definitely not something you should sign up for if you have a full time job or other commitments.

A great course that is well-structured and insightful. This course has given me a greater understanding of the core skills and different approaches in counselling as well as a better understanding of how my own beliefs, values, and principles, and how it is important to be aware of these so that you can suspend them in a helping relationship. The support and feedback that I received from my tutor Mark Murphy were beneficial and crucial in my continuous professional and personal development. Thanks Mark!

I wanted to know that are they scammers? They said the course is completely free i have to repay the amount to the gov when i get the job. They have not mentioned how much money they borrowed from the government or the financial partners. I asked them several time no response. Even I send my copy of my passport now I’m scared.

Do not support you when you are struggling.

And then charge you £100 for not completing the course. Despite your desire to continue with support.

I have just completed the Level 2 Principles of Business Administration course and although the customer service and staff were faultless, the administration (ironically) of the course could definitely be improved. Some of the videos are in the wrong place, the questions sometimes ask for information not given in the slides, and the deadlines set for each unit are unrealistic and really quite stressful! So if you're considering this course, be aware that you may need to make your own set of deadlines to suit your needs.

This is a brief account of how long each unit took me, bearing in mind I'm quite slow at reading and processing information:

Unit 1 - 20 hours
Unit 2 - 17 hours
Unit 3 - 13 hours
Unit 4 - 6 hours
Unit 5 - 8 hours
Unit 6 - 6 hours
Unit 7 - 25 hours

It's not a bad course once you get into the rhythm of it, and once completed, the certificate came really quickly, but it's definitely more time consuming than I expected, and the deadlines really need sorting out (please!).

Amazing Experience
The skills network were amazing , gave good time frames, course was intresting and informative . My tutor marked my work quickly and gave amazing feedback . Would definately do another course ,recieved my certificate very quickly . TQUK level 2 in special educational needs and disability's .

The Skills Network is amazing. I have just completed my TQUK level 2 in caring for children and young people. I cannot recommend the skills network more. They allow you to complete the course in your own time and the Tutor's are friendly and always on hand to help when needed.

Ridiculous expectations for a L2 qualification,

I have just completed my 3rd assessment for the Mental Health First Aid in the Workplace qualification.

Having completed many Level 3's, 5's and diplomas as well as now studying a L7, I thought this would be a good short course to give myself some additional knowledge around mental health in the workplace.

The feedback on the assessments is ridiculous and is mainly focused on grammar, how long the assessor would like my paragraphs to be, not using stand-alone sentences, making sure I'm using the command verb at the start of my paragraphs and using the PEEL method for paragraph structure, as well as sending me additional guidance on paragraph structure.

Just in case I didn't understand that my assessor is slightly fixated on paragraphs, they then tell me each one should be between 3-5 sentences but when I send through my last assessment, I get the same feedback on four questions (all ironically, with a grammatical error), stating do not use stand alone sentences and "please answer in paragraphs".

As if that wasn't bad enough, all of my answers are in paragraphs between the previous desired length of 3 to 5 sentences. Except for this assignment the paragraph standards have obviously changed.

I wanted to do some additional learning but honestly people do a Level 3, 5 or even 7, on something that will actually make a difference to your life. You will get clear guidance and objectives, less referrals and you come out with worthwhile qualifications.

Maybe I got unlucky with my assessor but honestly, I give up. I didn't sign up for a course on structuing paragraphs and I have got by perfectly well in any other qualification I've undertaken at a higher level, so I think I'll just leave it there.

In all honesty what you learn on the course is basic and it's actually been detrimental to my own mental health trying to live up to my assessor's paragraph fixation.

Absolute horror show!
Do not waste your time with these people!
They are rude, obnoxious and have no idea what it means to actually learn something.
The format is terrible, the delivery of repeated information and patronising tone is abhorrent.
NONE of the staff have any idea of learning difficulties or autism or anything.
I suspect it's just a scam by some wrinkly vogons in meat suits to squeeze free money from the government.
You don't learn from these people you just repeat. useless repeaters and waffle irons.
Typical mainstream "education" just online.
It's certainly not Equal as the name suggests!

DON’T SIGN UP! SCAM FOR MONEY!

I signed up for a ‘FREE’ online course which I planned to do alongside my full time employment. I began to receive numerous calls and emails to say i had missed my first assignment, which I didn’t even know had started or that I had time frames to complete them in. I went back to them to ask for an extension to explain that I am full time employed and spend a lot of time in other countries so just need some extra time. This is where they responded and asked me if I needed ‘advice on time management’ and if I don’t complete the assignments I would be withdrawn with a £100 fine. There was absolutely no understanding of my situation or any support to help me moving forward, instead they wanted me to complete the assignment now or give them £100.
After the unsupportive and lack of empathy email I began the course, let’s just say there’s endless amount of uninteractive slides to click through, and the software they use makes the whole web page refresh when clicking through which makes it take even longer to try to go back and forth on the slides.

I’ve completely underestimated a FREE online course and now being withdrawn with a £100 fine due to not being on time with the assignments.

I wouldn’t waste your time with this company, they don’t care about anything other than making sure they receive the £100.

Informative, interesting and helpful. Good,timely feedback from the Tutor.
Straightforward and easy to follow e learning instruction. Well done!

Updated: I have now received my certificate (mid October). Better late than never!
I completed a level 2 counselling course back in May 2024. The course went fine and overall I had a good experience. However it's October and still no certificate to evidence the work I'd put in despite chasing and asking the education provider to do the same ( who has also chased with no answer).

I have just completed the TQUK Level 2 in the principles of working with and supporting individuals with learning disabilities.
Some of the course I found easy, and some were a challenge for me. But with the support of my assessor, Lee, who helped me many times when I was getting a little confused with the more in-depth sections, I managed to get my certificate! I gained so much knowledge that I would never have known.
Thanks, Lee, for all your support, also a big thank you to the ladies that called me checking how I was getting on!

They signed me up for a course without checking with me first. Then, 10 months after finishing the course I still have not gotten my certificate. I wrote to the Skills Network and the provider but no luck.

Withdrawn with one unit to go! After asking for an extension due to one of the children being ill, I was promptly withdrawn the following day. An email saying "we have not received enough evidence of learning from yourself to continue funding for your current qualification. As a result, your enrollment has been withdrawn." This is completely untrue. I received glowing feedback from my tutor throughout, with thorough answers and further research.

Upon calling TSN, they said because my course went from August into September, the withdrawal was automatic because it crossed an academic year.

Really unsympathetic to those with work and childcare commitments.

I enjoyed the Introduction to Caring for Children and Young People Course. It was clear how many hours I should spend on it, the learning materials were varied and interesting. I did get units sent back to me to expand on sometimes but this was valid as obviously you need to demonstrate your learning, I was given good feedback to help me do this. I was just a bit out of practice! I found the support and deadlines just right for me. I was ill and missed a deadline in error but was given an extension and was happy with the process.
The reason I have marked this review so low is that I was looking for a level 2 course to allow me to get jobs in childcare after changing career. This is not that. It seems all level 2 courses are not equal. This is not made clear, especially for someone new to it and on applying for my first job I was embarrassed and upset to find it wasn't 'full and relevant' so I couldn't apply for level 2 positions. The website claims it will help you get a job but in reality I have found it doesn't stand for much, the childcare sector are looking for experience or a full and relevant level 2 qualification, I'm not even going to put it on my CV now as it just causes confusion.
I am so disappointed as I really enjoyed the course and enjoyed the sense of achievement and the feeling of progress in my life. I'm afraid I'm now feeling very low about everything and really stupid for not having found this out before signing up, I would have been in a better position if I hadn't done it as at least I would still feel positive and enthusiastic. I just hope this helps someone else. Apparently there is a list of qualifications that actually count on Gov.uk

I'm in the middle of a Digital Marketing level 2 course. I find the materials interesting and stimulating as I knew nothing of the topic. The tutors are very good and the learner support centre too. Both answer emails quickly, within 2 hours. I'm already thinking about taking another course!

So I signed up for the Software Development Course sometime around April & finished halfway in July.
Going into this, I had no experience in coding or Computer Science & was expecting to have at least some understanding of learning to code & not only did I not learn how to code but my time (14 weeks to be exact) was spent 90% of my time in this course learning more theory around Computer & Data Science & learning Python, which was a waste of my time considering for any beginner learning software development most roadmaps point you into learning HTML, CSS & Javascript first, as those are usually easier to learn first & not getting you confident enough to apply to these Software Developer roles.

Another thing, when I signed on to the course they didn't explain to me that to get ahold of my certificate at the end of the course I'd essentially have to gain an interview (without their assistance might I add). Keep in mind, I just spent 14 weeks (roughly 3 months) following the course instructions, doing the assignments, and attending those pointless meetings with the Skills Bootcamp Tutor who was meant to provide support to me (as I have a learning disability), which then I only find out later on that she had no technical background in Software Development, only to then find out I'm essentially not getting my certificate unless I do the Career Advisor's job for them ...

Additionally, I did not like how the Training Provider (& more specifically, the Programme Lead for Software Development) conducted themselves when criticism was presented to them in one of our live sessions when other Students expressed concerns & issues with the course, which they then try to pin the blame on the Tutor, saying that he was teaching the wrong material ... When they were the ones who were writing the material he was teaching & was told what to teach.

Overall: Avoid at all costs. Complete waste of time & you're probably better off getting your certification from Udemy to be honest.