Adult Care Worker

Adult Care Workers are the frontline staff who help adults with care and support needs to achieve their personal goals and live as independently and safely as possible, enabling them to have control and choice in their lives.

Job titles might include: Care Assistant, Care Worker, Support Worker, Personal Assistant, Relief Team Worker, Support Worker – Supported Living, Key Worker in Residential Settings, Key Worker in Domiciliary Services, Key Worker in Day Services, Home Care Support Worker, Substance Misuse Worker, Learning Disability Support Worker, Mental Health Support Worker, Mental Health Outreach Worker and Re-enablement Worker.

To work in care is to make a positive difference to someone’s life when they are faced with physical, practical, social, emotional or intellectual challenges. Adult Care Workers need to have the right values and behaviours developing competences and skills to provide high quality compassionate care and support. They are the frontline staff who help adults with care and support needs to achieve their personal goals and live as independently and safely as possible, enabling them to have control and choice in their lives, which is at the heart of person-centred care. Job roles are varied and determined by and relevant to the type of the service being provided and the person supported.

Gateway Requirements

The decision to take an apprentice through Gateway is made between the employer, training provider and apprentice, typically after 12 – 18 months on-programme. The apprentice must have completed all on-programme elements before they enter Gateway, including completion of the Level 2 Diploma in Care, complete the 15 standards as set out in the Care Certificate, achieve Level 1 Literacy and Numeracy, undertake a self-assessment in the last month of their apprenticeship, plus in the last three months of the apprenticeship collate testimonies from people who use services.

End-point Assessment (EPA)

EPA consists of two discrete assessment methods. These can be delivered in any order – via remote assessment – and are weighted equally in their contribution to the overall EPA grade.

Assessment Method	Duration	Grades
Situational Judgement Test	90 minutes	Pass	Merit	Distinction
Professional Discussion	Maximum of 45 minutes	Pass	Merit	Distinction

An apprentice will be required to complete and achieve a minimum of a Pass in both of the end-point assessment components in addition to achieving the pre-requisite components to allow the end point to be attempted.

Situational Judgement Test

The situational judgement test will present the apprentice with a range of real-life scenarios about which the apprentice will have to answer questions in a multiple-choice format (60 Questions), this assessment will normally be undertaken online.

Questions will draw from the stated knowledge and skills elements of the standard and focus on the higher order competencies. Material may be drawn from any part of the apprenticeship standard and may also cover questions about supporting people based on the 15 Standards of the Care Certificate.

Apprentices achieving between 25 and 39 correct answers may retake the assessment on one further occasion within three months. Apprentices achieving fewer than 25 correct answers will not be allowed to retake the assignment until they have completed a professional review of performance and acted on its findings. This professional review should be undertaken by the employer and training provider.

Additionally, an apprentice achieving a score of 40 or higher on the second attempt can only be awarded a Pass grade.

Professional Discussion

The Professional Discussion will be appropriately structured to draw out the best of the apprentice’s competence and will cover the KSBs assigned to this assessment method. It is an in-depth, two-way dialogue between the apprentice and the IEA, encouraging the apprentice to explore their own practice and experience.

Feedback

The IEA will not provide the apprentice (or their manager) with a preliminary grade, as it will be subject to VTCT Skillsfirst internal quality assurance processes. VTCT Skillsfirst will aim to confirm the apprentice’s final and overall grade approximately 10 working days after the last assessment.

Certification

Once moderation is complete and the apprentice has successfully completed all EPA methods, VTCT Skillsfirst will activate certification through the Apprenticeship assessment service. Certificates will be sent directly to employer.

You can download a copy of the information on this page here

A link to the Adult Care Worker standards page can be found here