Leader in Adult Care - Level 5 Higher Apprenticeship*
Apprenticeship Summary
This apprenticeship is designed for those who are ready to lead with purpose and make a lasting impact in adult care. Whether you're an employer looking to strengthen your leadership team or an aspiring care professional ready to step into a more strategic role, the Leader in Adult Care apprenticeship provides the knowledge, skills, and behaviours needed to transform care services.
Apprentices will be equipped to lead and inspire care teams, ensuring services are safe, effective, and person-centred. They will learn how to manage complex responsibilities such as business development, financial control, organisational resilience, and compliance with care regulations. From supporting individuals with physical or emotional challenges to driving culture change and service improvement, this apprenticeship develops leaders who can truly make a difference.
Employers benefit by nurturing confident and competent leaders who align care delivery with values such as compassion, courage, and commitment. Apprentices gain real-world leadership experience in a wide range of care settings—including residential homes, domiciliary services, day centres, and even individualised support environments.
Whether managing a team, a unit, or an entire service, apprentices completing this programme will be prepared to uphold and model the core values of adult care: care, compassion, communication, competence, courage, and commitment.
Apprenticeship standard dates
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Anytime
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University Centre
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Anytime
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University Centre
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Next steps
As an Employer
If you would like to offer this as an apprenticeship vacancy within your organisation, enrol one of your existing employees on this apprenticeship or simply find out more about supporting an apprenticeship within your organisation, please complete the Enquire Now form above and a member of our Business Development Team will be in touch within 2 working days to advise you on next steps.
As an Apprentice
If you are interested in securing an apprenticeship as a Leader in Adult Care, please visit our Vacancies page to check for any suitable roles.
If there are currently no roles available, please submit an enquiry form using the Enquire Now button above to register your interest. We will use this information to let you know when a suitable vacancy becomes available and also to advise you of any courses we offer that might advance your career goals in the meantime.
Key information
How will the Apprenticeship be funded?
As the employer
How your apprenticeship is funded will depend on whether or not you pay the Apprenticeship Levy. If you do pay the Levy, your apprenticeship will be funded out of this, provided you have sufficient monies available. If you do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, 95% of the apprenticeship will be funded by the Government, with the remaining 5% being funded by you. There may also be some further incentives offered by the Government which we will be able to advise you of when setting up your apprenticeship. Either way, B&FC's Business Development Team will be on hand to help you navigate the funding arrangements and support you through this process.
As the apprentice
One of the benefits of an apprenticeship is that, as the apprentice, you are not required to fund your training. You will also receive a wage for the work that you do with minimum hourly rates set by the Government. Your employer can choose to pay you more than the minimum wage, but they cannot pay you less. For details of current minimum wage rates for apprentices, please visit the Government website.
What will my Apprentice learn?
Knowledge
Apprentices will develop a sound understanding of:
- Legislative and regulatory frameworks, codes of practice, and organisational policies that ensure safe, person-centred care and compliance across adult care services.
- Systems for risk management, quality assurance, health and safety, safeguarding, and whistleblowing that promote safety, wellbeing, and rights of individuals.
- Theories of leadership, performance management, change management, and team dynamics relevant to leading adult care services.
- Strategies for promoting dignity, diversity, inclusion, and human rights in care environments.
- Models of health and wellbeing monitoring, early intervention, and response to individual care needs.
- Tools and technologies that enhance communication, record keeping, confidentiality, and service user engagement.
- Professional development frameworks that encourage lifelong learning, reflective practice, and evidence-based care improvement.
Skills
Apprentices will learn to:
- Develop, implement and monitor systems that ensure regulatory compliance, quality assurance, and effective care delivery.
- Lead a culture of dignity, inclusion, fairness, and co-production by supporting person-centred and rights-based approaches.
- Communicate complex policies and procedures clearly, adapting information for staff, individuals receiving care, families, and stakeholders.
- Identify, mitigate and manage risks to individuals and the organisation while ensuring a safe and supportive environment.
- Lead safeguarding practices by embedding systems for training, response and evaluation across the service.
- Manage resources and complex care needs efficiently to deliver responsive, effective services.
- Promote health, safety and wellbeing through policy leadership, monitoring and continuous improvement.
- Embed professional development, reflective supervision, and research-led practice across the workforce.
Behaviours
Apprentices will demonstrate:
- A strong values-based approach, modelling care, compassion, dignity, inclusion, and integrity in all interactions.
- Personal accountability and professionalism, recognising their impact on others and promoting a positive workplace culture.
- A proactive attitude to innovation, continuous improvement, and problem-solving in service delivery.
- Commitment to enabling others, encouraging initiative, and recognising individual contributions within teams.
- Courage and resilience in championing best practice, challenging poor practice, and supporting cultural or belief differences.
- Respectful and effective communication that fosters trust, collaboration, and transparency.
- A drive for personal growth and the development of others through learning and reflective leadership.
- Dedication to high-quality, person-centred care that supports wellbeing and empowers individuals.
Expert Tutors
All tutors involved in the delivery of courses and apprenticeships within the College are approved to teach the subjects and modules they deliver.
Our recruitment process ensures that tutors delivering a given programme are suitably qualified and, where appropriate, possess relevant technical and industrial experience and a familiarity with professional practice. This is especially important for apprenticeships where off-the-job training needs to align with apprentices' on-the-job experience.
How will the Apprenticeship be delivered?
The apprenticeship will typically be delivered over a 18-month period with additional time required to prepare for the End Point Assessment. Apprentices' time will be split 80:20 throughout the apprenticeship programme typically with four days a week spent at the employer premises learning on the job and one day a week spent off-site, undertaking classroom-based and workshop-based training at B&FC. This delivery model and the method of delivery can be varied to suit the needs of individual employers, including accommodating remote modes of study.
What support will I get from B&FC?
As the employer
Each employer is supported by an experienced member of our Business Development Team to set up their apprenticeship. For those employers who are completely new to the apprenticeship process, the Team will support them with all the necessary paperwork and administration to get their apprenticeship programme up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. For existing employers, their dedicated Client Services Manager will be an ongoing point of contact for all their apprenticeship queries, however big or small.
We can also help employers who are looking to recruit new apprentices by advertising their vacancy, finding suitable applicants and supporting them with the interview and selection process. Once an apprentice is onboard, our Curriculum Tutors and Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches also step in to support the employer-apprentice relationship and ensure the apprentice is on track to succeed.
As the apprentice
In the first instance, we aim to give potential apprentices all the support they need to find a suitable apprenticeship. That can mean working with them prior to an application to improve their CV, hone their interview skills and advise them of any additional training that may help them secure an apprenticeship vacancy.
Once they start their apprenticeship, we continue to support them with their off-site training and with regular meetings with our Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches to ensure they are progressing and acquiring all the knowledge, skills and behaviours that will ensure they complete their apprenticeship successfully.
How will the Apprenticeship be assessed?
What is an end-point assessment and why it happens
An EPA is an assessment at the end of the apprenticeship. The EPA is the apprentice's opportunity to show an independent assessor how well they can carry out the occupation they have been trained for.
The overall grades available for this apprenticeship are:
- fail
- pass
- distinction
When the apprentice passes the EPA, they will be awarded their apprenticeship certificate. To move forward to the end point assessment, the apprentice must have completed and submitted their portfolio of evidence and passed a Leve; 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care qualification.
Assessment methods
Observation of leadership and post-observation questioning
The apprentice will be asked to lead an activity with organisational staff which demonstrates their competence in the key areas of the apprenticeship standard. This observation will last 60 minutes and be followed by post-observation questioning which clarifies the underpinning knowledge employed to plan and lead the activity.
Professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence
The apprentice will also have a separate professional discussion with an independent assessor. It will last 90 minutes during which the assessor will ask a series of questions to establish that the apprentice has acquired the requisite knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the occupational standard.