A Level 5 business diploma built around decisions and risk rather than functions, with three distinct entry routes.
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 approaches the second year of business study from a different angle to OTHM. Instead of one unit per management function, its six units follow a line of reasoning: the environment is changing, so managers must decide effectively, develop the business, understand the models by which organisations grow, manage customers, and manage risk. The programme carries 120 credits at Level 5 and is regulated by Ofqual under number 601/6049/4.
Two things are worth knowing before you compare it with anything else on this site. Qualifi states total qualification time, guided learning hours and the credit value of each unit in the specification document rather than on its web pages, so read the specification before enrolling; the table on this site shows a dash rather than an estimate.
The programme suits a learner with a clear sense that management is about judgement under uncertainty. It suits less well the person who wants a law unit, a marketing unit or a start-up plan, all of which the OTHM equivalent provides.
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 you already hold a Level 4 qualification in a related subject and only need the Level 5 stage.
Choose this if your highest qualification is at Level 3 and you want one enrolment that ends at year-two equivalence.
6 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.
6 mandatory.
| # | Unit title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Responding to the Changing Business Environment | — |
| 02 | Effective Decision Making | — |
| 03 | Business Development | — |
| 04 | Business Models and Growing Organisations | — |
| 05 | Customer Management | — |
| 06 | Risk Management and Organisations | — |
| 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. LSPM runs the six units in Qualifi's published order, because the sequence is an argument: the changing environment unit sets up the case for effective decision-making, and the risk unit at the end returns to the same organisation studied in the first. Learners choose one real organisation in week one and use it across all six assignments, which makes the final risk assessment far richer than a standalone exercise.
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 allows three routes and LSPM uses all of them: a Level 3 or Level 4 qualification, managerial experience without formal qualifications, or a first degree in a different discipline. The third route is the one that distinguishes this programme; a graduate in, say, nursing or engineering who now manages a team can enter directly. LSPM asks for evidence appropriate to the route rather than applying a single checklist.
Assignments are organisation-based reports rather than essays. A typical unit asks for an analysis of the learner's chosen organisation against the unit's concepts with recommendations, in the region of 3,000 words. Because the same organisation runs through the programme, later assignments build on earlier findings and tutors expect the analysis to deepen. 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 Business Management, or the Level 6 diploma of another awarding body that accepts a 120-credit Level 5 entry.
A top-up year on a business degree at a university that recognises Qualifi Level 5; we can show you the mapped unit list to send with an application.
For the graduate-entry route, a return to their original profession with formal management credit.
Because Qualifi publishes those figures in the specification PDF rather than on its web pages. We show a dash rather than copy a figure across by hand, so that every number on this site can be traced to a published source; ask us for the PDF and we will send it.
Not for this programme. Qualifi accepts a first degree in another discipline as an entry route to Level 5, and it is the route we recommend to career-changers with graduate study behind them.
Both are Ofqual-recognised awarding organisations and both qualifications appear on the register at the same level with the same credit value. Recognition by a particular university or employer is decided by them, not by the awarding body, so ask the institution you have in mind.
Yes, in the first fortnight, with your tutor's agreement. It can be your employer, a former employer, or a public organisation with enough published material. The choice matters because you will analyse it six times.
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.