National Occupational Standards (NOS), also known as professional standards, specify UK standards of performance that people are expected to achieve in their work, and the knowledge and skills they need to perform effectively. NOS, which are approved by UK government regulators, are available for almost every role in every sector in the UK. For example, there are NOS for: All approved National Occupational Standards are available for downloading free of charge from the NOS Directory.

Components of NOS

According to the SSDA (the Sector Skills Development Agency, replaced in 2008 by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards, comprising all nineteen sector skills councils), a unit of NOS must comprise: NOS may also have sections covering:

Using NOS

NOS can be used to support any and all human resource management and development activities, as shown in the toolkit developed for Skills for Justice to support the use of the NOS for Legal Advice. NOS are also used in the UK as the basis for National Vocational Qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications.