EPA Standard
Lead Practitioner in Adult Care
Level 4 
£7,000 18 months
1. What the role entails
The Lead Practitioner in Adult Care will guide and inspire team members to make positive differences in someone’s life when they’re faced with physical, practical, social, emotional, psychological or intellectual challenges. They’ll 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’ll 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.
2. On-programme assessment
Before entering Gateway, the apprentice must complete the following on-programme assessment requirements:
- Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care
- Level 2 English and maths.
3. Gateway requirements
The employer, independent training provider (ITP) and apprentice make the decision to take the apprentice through Gateway. The apprentice must achieve all the required on-programme elements before they enter Gateway, including a Portfolio of Evidence that will underpin the Professional Discussion.
4. End-point assessment
The EPA for Lead Practitioner in Adult Care contains two methods of assessment:
Professional Discussion Underpinned by a Portfolio of Evidence
The Observation of Practice must include a demonstration of their skills, behaviour and leadership to external and internal stakeholders. The apprentice must lead the observed activity and will have prepared for this after the Gateway in agreement with the employer and NCFE. The Observation of Practice should last a total of 75 minutes. This should consist of a 60-minute direct observation, followed by 15 minutes of postobservation questioning. The Independent End-Point Assessor (IEPA) has the discretion to increase the total time of the Observation and Questioning by up to 10% to allow the apprentice to complete their last point.
Grading: the Observation is graded Fail or Pass.
Professional Discussion
The Professional Discussion is an in-depth, two-way discussion between the apprentice and the IEPA. The Professional Discussion is for the IEPA to ask the apprentice questions in relation to knowledge, skills and behaviours. The Professional Discussion must take 90 minutes with an extra 10% at the IEPA’s discretion to allow the apprentice to finish their last point. The room should be quiet and free from distraction.
Grading: the Professional Discussion is graded Fail, Pass or Distinction.
The EPA must be completed over a maximum total assessment time of two days but must be within the EPA period (three months after the apprentice has passed Gateway).
5. Grade aggregation table
| Observation of Practice | Professional Discussion | Grading |
| Fail | Fail | Fail |
| Pass | Fail | Fail |
| Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Fail | Distinction | Fail |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Pass | Distinction | 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?
Completing the Lead Practitioner in Adult Care EPA may lead to further opportunities such as the Level 5 Leader in Adult Care apprenticeship, management roles, foundation degree programmes, or qualifications in social work or teaching, learning and assessment.
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.