Two years of health and social care study from academic skills to complex needs, with centre-assessed entry.
Level, credits, hours, units and Ofqual number are taken from the Qualifi specification and the Ofqual register. Duration, study modes, fees and intake dates are set by London School of Planning and Management (LSPM), the approved centre.
Qualifi's Extended Diploma takes a learner from a Level 3 starting point to 240 credits across Levels 4 and 5 through eleven units. The list moves from foundations (Academic Study Skills, Communication for Health and Social Care, An Introduction to Healthcare Policy, Reflective Practice) through the sociological and ethical framing of care (Sociology Concepts in Health and Ill Health, Principles Underpinning Health and Social Care) to management and practice (Managing People, The Management of Quality, Partnership Working, Working with Service Users with Complex Needs) and a Research Project. Ofqual regulates it under 610/3288/8.
Unlike OTHM's Extended Diplomas, Qualifi does not label each unit with its level in the data it publishes on its website, and does not publish hours or unit credit values there. The specification document does. What the structure makes obvious is the direction of travel: the earlier units are about learning to study and to communicate in care; the later ones about managing quality, people and complexity. LSPM treats the first four as the Level 4 stage and the remainder as Level 5 for teaching purposes, and the specification confirms the split.
Compared with the OTHM management diploma in this sector, the Qualifi programme covers more ground at a more gradual pace, which is why we recommend it to learners entering care study for the first time or returning after a long gap.
Same awarding body, same sector, same Level 5 outcome. The Extended Diploma includes the Level 4 stage; the Diploma assumes you already hold it.
Choose this if your highest qualification is at Level 3 and you want one enrolment that ends at year-two equivalence.
Choose this if you already hold a Level 4 qualification in a related subject and only need the Level 5 stage.
5 of the Level 5 unit titles appear in both programmes. Whichever route you take, you finish in the same credit position: 240 credits across Levels 4 and 5. The Extended Diploma reaches it under one registration and one certificate; the Diploma assumes a separate Level 4 award came first.
11 mandatory.
| # | Unit title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Academic Study Skills | — |
| 02 | Communication for Health and Social Care | — |
| 03 | An Introduction to Healthcare Policy | — |
| 04 | Reflective Practice | — |
| 05 | Managing People in Health and Social Care | — |
| 06 | Sociology Concepts in Health and Ill Health | — |
| 07 | Principles Underpinning Health and Social Care | — |
| 08 | The Management of Quality in Health and Social Care | — |
| 09 | Research Project | — |
| 10 | Partnership working in Health and Social Care | — |
| 11 | Working with Service users with Complex Needs | — |
| Total credits | See specification | |
Unit titles and credit values from the Qualifi specification. Individual unit credits are not on the awarding body's web listing; the specification lists them.
How LSPM sequences them. Academic Study Skills is taught in the first weeks as an intensive block before any other unit opens, and Reflective Practice runs as a thread through the whole first stage rather than as a discrete block, with its assignment submitted at the end of the stage. In the second stage, Working with Service Users with Complex Needs is paired with Partnership Working, since complex needs are almost always multi-agency, and the Research Project closes the programme.
Qualifi's published criteria, quoted as data. London School of Planning and Management (LSPM) checks each applicant against them before registration.
Source: Qualifi specification. Qualifi leaves entry to the centre's assessment: normally 18 or over, with a Level 3 qualification for entry at the start and a Level 4 qualification for those joining at the Level 5 stage, IELTS 6 or equivalent for non-native English speakers, and two references. LSPM applies those thresholds as written and interviews every applicant, because the first unit assumes willingness rather than prior skill, and the interview is where that is judged.
Eleven assignments in a range of formats: a reflective journal for Reflective Practice, a policy analysis for the healthcare policy unit, an audit-style report for The Management of Quality, a multi-agency case study for complex needs, and a small-scale research project with ethics approval from LSPM for the final unit. Earlier assignments are shorter and more structured; the research project is the longest piece of work on the programme. See how LSPM teaches and assesses for the marking and verification process.
LSPM's tutors mark and give written feedback. Qualifi samples marked work before results are ratified. A referred submission can be reworked after feedback.
Qualifi Level 6 Diploma in Health and Social Care Management, or an equivalent Level 6 diploma from another awarding body.
Final-year top-up to a BA or BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care at universities that accept a 240-credit Qualifi Extended Diploma.
Senior support worker, team leader and care coordinator roles, where the quality and complex-needs units are directly applicable.
Qualifi's website does not mark them, so the table on this site does not either. The specification PDF does, and the natural reading is that the four foundation units (study skills, communication, policy, reflective practice) are the Level 4 core. Ask us for the specification and we will walk through the split with you.
Qualifi's entry criteria allow it, subject to the centre's assessment. In practice, a learner with a full Level 4 health and social care diploma is usually better placed on the OTHM Level 5 management diploma, and we will tell you which we think fits.
It is a small-scale project with a literature review, a method, ethics considerations and findings, shorter than a bachelor's dissertation but the same shape. Most learners study a question from their own workplace with permission.
Awarding bodies divide 240 credits differently. OTHM uses twelve 20-credit units; Qualifi uses eleven units of varying size, which is why the specification, not the count, is the place to read credit values.
Service users whose needs cross several categories at once: for example a learning disability alongside a mental health condition and a physical health problem, or an older adult with dementia and safeguarding concerns. The unit is about coordinating care rather than delivering any one part of it.
Tell us what you hold now and we will say whether you are likely to meet Qualifi's criteria; LSPM confirms eligibility and the next intake.