The objective of the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Health and Social Care is to equip learners with the foundational knowledge, practical skills, and professional values required to support adults in a variety of health and social care settings.

This qualification provides learners with opportunities to engage with current sector challenges, legal and ethical considerations, and the evolving needs of service users across diverse communities. It supports the development of compassionate, person-centred care practices that promote dignity, independence and wellbeing.

Learners will explore key areas including communication and safeguarding, mental health awareness, physical disability support, dementia care, health promotion, and the principles of equality and inclusion. They will also gain insight into legislation, professional roles, and the organisational context of adult care services.

Successful completion of this qualification enables learners to pursue roles such as care assistants, support workers, or health advocates, and provides a pathway to further study, such as Level 4 health and social care qualifications.

OTHM Level 3 qualifications can be offered to learners from age 16. OTHM does not specify entry requirements for these qualifications. OTHM ensures that learners admitted to the programme have sufficient capability at the right level to undertake the learning and assessment criteria.

OTHM Centre must ensure learners are recruited with integrity onto appropriate qualifications that will meet their needs, enable and facilitate learning and achievement enable progression.

English requirements: If a learner is not from a majority English-speaking country, they must provide evidence of English language competency. For more information visit the English Language Expectations page on the OTHM website.

OTHM qualifications at Level 3 represent practical knowledge, skills, capabilities and competences that are assessed in academic terms as being equivalent to GCE AS/A Levels.

The OTHM Level 3 Diploma in Adult Health and Social Care qualification consists of three mandatory units and three optional units, 60 credits, 600 hours Total Qualification Time (TQT) and the recommended Guided Learning Hours (GLH) for this qualification is a minimum of 300 hours.

The qualification is designed to be delivered over six months for full-time study, but it is also flexible in its delivery to accommodate part-time and distance learning.

The qualification is delivered face-to-face, through lectures, tutorials, seminars, distance, online by approved centres only.

All units within this qualification are assessed and internally quality assured by the centre and externally verified by OTHM. The qualifications are criterion referenced, based on the achievement of all the specified learning outcomes.

To achieve a ‘pass’ for a unit, learners must provide evidence to demonstrate that they have fulfilled all the learning outcomes and meet the standards specified by all assessment criteria. Judgement that the learners have successfully fulfilled the assessment criteria is made by the assessor.

Specific assessment guidance and relevant marking criteria for each unit are made available in the Assignment Brief document. These are made available to centres immediately after registration of one or more learners.

The assessor should provide an audit trail showing how the judgement of the learners’ overall achievement has been arrived at.

As this qualification is approved and regulated by Ofqual (Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulation), many universities acknowledge the ability of learners after studying Level 3 Diploma in Adult Health and Social Care and consider for direct entry into a range of their Bachelor’s degree programmes. For more information visit the OTHM  University Progressions  webpage.