Level 3 Lead Adult Care Worker Apprenticeship

Delivered locally, at your place or ours

We deliver this apprenticeship in and around Teesside and the North East, either at your premises or at our Stockton-on-Tees centre. Whichever suits you better.

• Taught sessions delivered face to face by tutors with a clinical and care background
• Workplace visits from a named tutor for observation, assessment and support
• Progress reviews with you, the apprentice and the tutor together
• Aptem for coursework, evidence and off-the-job hours, with employer access

Being local matters in care. Your tutor can be on site when something needs sorting, rather than scheduling a call for next week.

What your apprentice will hold

• Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care, awarded by Highfield

The Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care goes through a Skills for Care approval process alongside its Ofqual regulation. Skills for Care approval is not a substitute for Ofqual regulation – it means the qualification meets sector criteria agreed with employers and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Assessment

This standard has a separate apprenticeship assessment in two parts: an observation of practice and a professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio. Both are usually completed within two days, typically inside three months of gateway.

Assessment is carried out by an organisation independent of us. You choose which one. We present the options, negotiate on price and handle the gateway.

Registration

This is not a registered role and the apprenticeship does not lead to professional registration.

• Aged 16 or over
• Employed in an adult care setting with the responsibility the standard requires
• Enhanced DBS check completed and the result provided before starting. Enhanced checks are £41 from 5 October 2026, the same price as enhanced with barred list.
• Meet the 16 Care Certificate standards during the programme

No formal academic entry requirements are set by the standard.

English and maths

The rules changed on 11 February 2025 and many providers still describe the old ones.

Apprentices aged 19 and over no longer need to hold or achieve English and maths qualifications to pass their apprenticeship. If you want them to study toward level 2, we will support it and the government funds it, but it is optional and it is your decision.

Apprentices aged 16 to 18 must still hold or achieve level 2 English and maths. The government funds this and we deliver it.

Where English or maths is essential to a qualification built into the standard, it still has to be completed either way.

Why employers choose us

Choosing a training provider is a risk decision. The question is whether your apprentice finishes, and whether they finish well.

• 89% retention, against a sector target of 65%
• 47.8% achieve a distinction, against a national average of 29.3%
• 83.6% pass their assessment first time
• Rated Good in our most recent full Ofsted inspection, February 2024
• Over 10,000 people have begun their clinical career with us since 2008

Our clients include NHS ambulance trusts, Falck, Subsea 7 and the British Army.

What we do, and what you do

You provide the job, the hours and a workplace where your apprentice can practise. We do everything else.

• A named tutor for your apprentice and for you, not a call centre
• Enrolment and paperwork, including the apprenticeship service account setup if you do not have one
• Progress reviews with you, the apprentice and the tutor together, so you always know where they are
• Assessment arrangements, including gateway and liaison with the assessment organisation
• Safeguarding and wellbeing support, including 24/7 access to our learner safeguarding app

Employer access to Aptem

You get your own login to Aptem, the system we use to manage apprenticeships. You can see progress, off-the-job hours and review records whenever you want, rather than waiting for a report.

Help choosing the right standard

Job titles will not tell you which standard a role sits under. “Personal assistant” and “community support worker” each appear in the official titles for three different standards at two different levels. We will map the actual role against the standards before you enrol, because finding out later is expensive.

Need to find an apprentice?

We can help. We will write and post your vacancy on the government’s apprenticeship service, promote it through our own channels, and pass on suitable applicants. You decide who to interview and who to appoint.

Posting a vacancy is fiddly the first time. If you would rather not, we will handle it.

For most employers, this costs nothing

If you do not pay the apprenticeship levy and your apprentice is aged 16 to 24 when training starts, the government funds 100% of the training and assessment, up to the maximum of £4,000 for this standard. You pay nothing toward training. The same applies if you do pay the levy but have insufficient funds in your account.

And you may be paid for taking one on

• £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment – for non-levy employers taking on a new employee aged 16 to 24, where they joined you within the 90 days before the apprenticeship starts. Paid in two instalments.
• £1,000 additional payment – for apprentices aged 16 to 18, or aged 19 to 24 with an education, health and care plan or experience of local authority care.
• £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant – paid directly to you by the Department for Work and Pensions where your apprentice is aged 18 to 24 and has been unemployed and receiving Universal Credit for six months or more.
• No employer National Insurance on eligible earnings for apprentices under 25.

Taken together, an eligible employer can receive up to £6,000 for training someone at no cost.

If your apprentice is 25 or over

Non-levy employers contribute 5% of the cost and the government funds the remaining 95%. Levy payers with insufficient funds contribute 25%.

If you pay the apprenticeship levy

You draw the full cost from your apprenticeship service account, up to the £4,000 maximum for this standard. Two things changed on 1 August 2026 that are worth knowing: the 10% government top-up on new contributions has stopped, and new funds now expire after 12 months rather than 24. Funds already in your account before that date keep the old 24-month expiry.

Levy transfer

If you do not pay the levy, another employer can transfer funds to cover your apprentice in full. Levy payers can transfer up to 50% of their funds each year, and any business with an apprenticeship service account can receive them. We can help you find and set this up. Funding rules change. These figures are correct as at October 2026 and we will tell you if anything affecting your apprentice changes.

The full 2026 rules, grants and what each of our nine apprenticeships costs are on one page.
Apprenticeship funding and grants 2026