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EPA Standard
Children, Young People and Families Manager
Level 5 
£6,000 24-30 months
1. What the role entails
Children, Young People and Families Managers make sure there is direction, alignment and commitment within their own practice, teams, organisation and across partnerships. They help children, young people and families aspire to do their best and achieve sustainable change. They will build teams, manage resources and lead new approaches to working practices that deliver better outcomes and put the child, young person or family at the centre of practice.
Children, Young People and Families Managers may work in a range of settings in local authorities, within health organisations, educational and early years settings or children’s centres, as well as a wide range of private voluntary and community organisations.
Entry: Apprentices must undertake the Disclosure and Barring Service process and provide the result.
Option 1: Children’s Residential Care Manager
Mandatory qualification: Level 5 Diploma in Leadership
and Management for Residential Childcare
Option 2: Children, Young People and Families Manager in the Community
Mandatory qualification: Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care
2. On-programme assessment
Before entering Gateway, the apprentice must complete the following on-programme assessment requirements:
- the mandatory qualification specified in the option chosen
- Level 2 English and maths
- a Portfolio of Evidence to support the Competence Interview
- regular performance management.
3. Gateway requirements
The decision to take an apprentice through Gateway is made between the employer, independent training provider (ITP) and apprentice. The apprentice must achieve all the on-programme elements before they enter Gateway, including holding a current DBS certificate.
4. End-point assessment
The EPA for Children, Young People and Families Manager contains two methods of assessment:
Situational Judgement Test (50% weighting)
Apprentices are presented with nine work-based scenarios within a children’s health and social care context. The Situational Judgement Test will be a written test, sat under controlled conditions and will last for 120 minutes. It’ll highlight the apprentice’s competence in the application of the knowledge criteria outlined in the standard.
Grading: the Independent End-Point Assessor (IEPA) grades the Situational Judgement Test as a Fail or Pass only.
Competence Interview informed by a Portfolio (50% weighting)
The Competence Interview is a structured discussion of 55-65 minutes between the apprentice and the IEPA, focusing on the work covered in the Portfolio. There will be probing questions and discussion about the professional practice undertaken within the course of the apprentice’s work, based on the application of core skills, knowledge and behaviours.
The Portfolio will not be assessed, but it will be used to inform the questioning for the competence interview.
Grading: the IEPA grades the Competence Interview as a Fail, Pass or Distinction.
5. Grade aggregation table
| Assessment method | Grading | Weighting</ | ||
| Situational Judgement test | Less than 45 | Pass | Pass | 50% |
| Competence Interview | Pass | Distinction | 50% | |
| Overall Grade Awarded | Fail | Pass | Distinction | |
6. Completion and certification
We’ll activate certification once the apprentice has successfully completed all EPAs, and the IEPA has verified this. Working with the apprenticeship certificate issuing authority, we’ll ensure the apprentice receives their certificate.
7. What next?
The learning doesn’t stop once the apprenticeship is complete. Some optional routes include degrees in children and young people community studies, social work or youth work and CPD professional qualification updates.
Why NCFE?
We’re an approved End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) specialising in EPA delivery across health, education, early years, digital, social care, finance and business apprenticeship standards. We offer flexible and reliable EPA solutions supported by sector expertise, guidance documents and proactive service and support.