The Lead Practitioner in Adult Care will guide and inspire team members to make positive differences to someone’s life when they are faced with physical, practical, social, emotional, psychological or intellectual challenges.
They will have achieved a level of self-development to be recognised as a lead practitioner within the care team, contributing to, promoting and sustaining a values-based culture at an operational level.
A Lead Practitioner has a greater depth of knowledge and expertise of particular conditions being experienced by the user of services. They will have specialist skills and knowledge in their area of responsibility which will allow them to lead in areas such as care needs assessment, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, rehabilitation and enablement, telecare and assistive technology. They will be a coach and mentor to others and will have a role in assessing performance and quality of care delivery.
Lead Practitioners in Adult Care may work in residential or nursing homes, domiciliary care, day centres, a person’s own home or some clinical healthcare settings. As well as covering Lead Practitioners in Adult Care this standard also covers Lead Personal Assistants who can work at this senior level but they may only work directly for one individual who needs support and/or care services, usually within their own home.
- Care is caring consistently and enough about individuals to make a positive difference to their lives
- Compassion – is delivering care and support with kindness, consideration, dignity, empathy and respect
- Courage – is doing the right thing for people and speaking up if the individual they support is at risk
- Communication – good communication is central to successful caring relationships and effective team working
- Competence – is applying knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care and support
- Commitment – to improving the experience of people who need care and support ensuring it is person-centered.
Fees
This apprenticeship is 95% government-funded with a 5% employer co-investment. Please call or email for more information.
If you are an employer with a pay bill over £3 million each year, you will automatically be paying into the apprenticeship Levy. Please call or email for more information.
Further funding information can be found here.
Duration: 15-18 Months
Location: Workplace
Entry Requirements
It is expected that the learner will be working towards Functional Skills Level 2 or have prior accepted GCSE certificates. Alternatively, learners with long-standing evidence of work to a Level 3 standard may apply if they are supported by their employer and would then follow Functional Skills training alongside the apprenticeship.
It should also be noted that the learner will need to achieve a Level 2 standard in English and mathematics prior to their End Point Assessment. These are referred to as Functional Skills and during enrolment, learners will be required to complete both Maths and English Initial Assessments and diagnostic tests to assess their level of understanding. If learners are exempt due to prior achievements, certificates must be presented as evidence before enrolment if this is the case, failure to do so will result in learners having to complete Functional Skills.
To be eligible for the apprenticeship learners will need to work a minimum of 30 hours per week and have the support of their line manager and employer. Learners will complete a self-assessment to assess their knowledge, skills and behaviours to ensure they are eligible for the apprenticeship.
Induction
This unit will include an initial workplace assessment and one-to-one discussion with the learner and line manager and will cover:
Understanding of candidate’s duties and responsibilities
Understanding the candidate’s personal development.
Understanding of duty of care and safeguarding.
The role of a multi-disciplinary team and different working relationships within the health and social care sector.
Core values underpinning the role.
Duty of care and the need to treat individuals with dignity and respect.
Regulations, legislation, standards and importance of acting within agreed ways of working.
This will be delivered in class and include blended learning, follow-up, group discussion, webinar/online learning, group discussion and workplace discussion.
Units
1. Tasks and responsibilities
Knowledge
Statutory frameworks, standards, guidance and Codes of Practice which underpin practice in relation to the safe delivery of services
Theories underpinning own practice and competence relevant to the job role
Principles of assessment and outcome-based practice
Principles of risk management.
Skills
Apply professional judgement, standards and codes of practice relevant to the role
Develop and sustain professional relationships with others
Identify and access specialist help required to carry out the role
Lead the specialist assessment of social, physical, emotional and spiritual needs of individuals with cognitive, sensory and physical impairments
Mentor colleagues to encourage individuals to actively participate in the way their care and support is delivered
Contribute to the implementation of processes to implement and review support plans
Provide leadership and mentoring to others for whom they are responsible
Apply risk management policies
Contribute to the quality assurance of the service provided.
2. Dignity and human rights
Knowledge
How to contribute to, promote and maintain a culture which ensures dignity is at the centre of practice
Skills
Implement a culture that actively promotes dignity and respects diversity and inclusion
Model high levels of empathy, understanding and compassion.
3. Communication
Knowledge
Effective communication and solutions to overcoming barriers
Legal and ethical frameworks in relation to confidentiality and sharing information
Range of technologies to enhance communication.
Skills
Model effective communication skills
Identify and address barriers to communication using appropriate resources
Apply organisational processes to record, maintain, store and share information
Provide meaningful information to support people to make informed choices.
4. Safeguarding
Knowledge
Legislation, national and local solutions for the safeguarding of adults and children including reporting requirements.
Skills
Apply and support others to adhere to safeguarding procedures
Work in partnership with external agencies to respond to safeguarding concerns.
5. Health and wellbeing
Knowledge
Models of monitoring, reporting and responding to changes in health and wellbeing
Range of holistic solutions to promote and maintain health and wellbeing using person centred approaches
Importance of effective partnerships, inter-agency, joint and integrated working.
Skills
Apply person centred approaches to promote health and wellbeing
Collaborate with external partners to achieve best outcomes in health and wellbeing.
6. Professional development
Knowledge
Goals and aspirations that support own professional development and how to access available opportunities.
Skills
Evaluate own practice and access identified development opportunities
Evaluate the effectiveness of own leadership, mentoring and supervision skills and take steps to enhance performance
Value individuals to develop effective teams in order to achieve best outcomes
Contribute to the development of an effective learning culture
Lead robust, values-based recruitment and selection processes
Contribute to the induction process by developing the knowledge of individuals within their role
Lead and support others in professional development through personal development plans, supervision, reflective practice, research, evidence-based practice and access to learning and development opportunities.
Learners will also complete the Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care to support the apprenticeship.
Course Delivery
This will include a wide range of teaching and learning techniques and styles including one-to-one coaching, discussions and teaching, observations, practical assessments, mentoring, independent research and e-learning. The assigned PMA Tutor/Assessor will use online face-to-face platforms such as Zoom/MS Teams/FaceTime/Skype, as well as periodic workplace visits.
Learners will have access to Aptem, our e-portfolio system that supports in monitoring progression throughout the apprenticeship. It is the central system that keeps track of learner assignments, and evidence and holds resources that will support learners to complete the apprenticeship.
Line managers will be key drivers in learner development, importantly in agreeing the unique learning plan and keeping abreast of progress at every step.
A PMA Tutor will be assigned to work with the candidate throughout the duration of the course and will support them through their journey. The programme will be delivered through face-to-face learning with their Tutor, online via the ILM Illuminate portal and through Tutor observations. The Total Qualification Time is a minimum of 130 hours.
What is off-the-job training (OTJ)?
The learner will be able to evidence that they spend 6 hours per week on learning/training and that this is:
- Directly relevant to the apprenticeship standard or framework and is teaching new knowledge, skills and behaviours
- The learning is taking place within the apprentice’s normal working hours (paid hours excluding overtime)
Apprentices will be expected to keep a log of all learning activities while working towards the off-the-job requirements of 6 hours per week.
Off-the-job activities could include:
- Attending masterclass teaching and learning sessions
- Coaching
- Independent research
- In-house training
- Shadowing
- Industry visits
- Mentoring
- Supervision with employer
- Writing assignments
- Online learning
- Manufacturer training
- Roleplay
- Simulation exercises
- Team meetings that include training
- Completion of a reflective journal
Functional Skills
Functional Skills are nationally recognised qualifications in English and maths. They are part of a government initiative and designed to improve literacy and numeracy skills across the workforce. Due to this, Functional Skills are a mandatory part of Apprenticeship Standards. Anyone enrolling in an Apprenticeship must complete Functional Skills English and Functional Skills maths unless they have already achieved them previously at Level 2 or have GCSEs (or equivalent) in both subjects at Grade C or above. Certificates must be presented as evidence before enrolment if this is the case, failure to do so will result in learners having to complete Functional Skills.
In order to support you in completing Functional Skills, PMA will undertake an initial assessment and diagnostic assessment which will enable its specialist tutors to identify which areas to focus on with you and this will form the basis of a personalised learning plan.
It is important to bear in mind that Functional Skills do require apprentices to sit formal examinations. The team will support you with exam techniques alongside your learning plan and will arrange for the examinations to take place at your workplace.
If you are undertaking a Level 2 Apprenticeship, you are required to complete Functional Skills English and maths at Level 1. If however, you complete Functional Skills early, it is a government requirement for PMA to upskill you to Level 2 Functional Skills. If you are undertaking an Apprenticeship at Level 3 or higher, then you will automatically be enrolled in Level 2 Functional Skills.
End Point Assessment (EPA)
EPA is the name given to a series of tests that an apprentice must complete at the end of their apprenticeship in order to receive their certificate. The EPA confirms apprentices are capable of undertaking the job that they have been training to do. These tests are undertaken with an external organisation (known as an end point assessment organisation) to remove any bias from the examination process. The employer will choose the end point assessment organisation and PMA will support them to obtain information pertinent to this if needed.
When apprentices enrol on an apprenticeship, they study various units covering a wide range of relevant topics for their job enhancing their knowledge, skills and behaviours. This is often referred to as being ‘on programme’ and apprentices must complete all of the mandatory components of this including Functional Skills where appropriate.
Once this is completed, it is at this point the employer, after discussion with their apprentice and PMA, ‘signs off’ their apprentice as ready for EPA. This decision process is known as the ‘gateway’ to End Point Assessment.
The apprentice must be assessed by a minimum of 2 different assessment methods and the methods used will be the ones most relevant to the job.
| End point assessment methods | Duration | Grading options |
| Observation of Practice and Q&A | 75 minutes | Fail/Pass/Distinction |
| Professional discussion | 90 minutes | Fail/Pass/Distinction |
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