Level 3 Health and Social Care: Principles and Contexts (First Assessment 2024)

The qualifications enable learners to develop and demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding within the context of health and social care services.

The knowledge, understanding and skills a learner is required to achieve within these qualifications build on the content of the Health and Social Care: Core qualification. It is strongly recommended that a learner undertaking either of these qualifications has completed or is currently undertaking the Health and Social Care: Core qualification.

It is a requirement of Social Care Wales that an individual working within the health and social care sector will need the Health and Social Care: Core qualification and a relevant Practice qualification to work within specific job roles.

Please note that learners need to be in employment if undertaking level 2 and 3 Practice qualifications.

Completion of the Diploma and Extended Diploma qualification requires learners to undertake a minimum of 100 hours of sector engagement, of which 60 hours must be spent undertaking a work placement. 

Centres are encouraged to ensure that, where possible, learners experience a minimum of two settings during the sector engagement.

This specification provides a suitable foundation for the study of health and social care through a range of higher education courses, or apprenticeships. Learners may also progress to other qualifications within the health and social care, and childcare suite, for example the Level 2 and Level 3 Health and Social Care Practice qualifications.

In addition, the specification provides a coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study for learners who do not progress to further study in this subject.

This qualification has been developed by the Consortium in conjunction with stakeholders from the health and social care sectors. These included Social Care Wales, NHS Health Education and Improvement Wales, tutors, teachers and workplace assessors.