Level 5 Adult Care Resource Management Knowledge Answers Sample

For information and reference only – not to be submitted as your own work.

This extract shows how a strong answer to the knowledge questions in the Level 5 unit on business and resource management for leaders of adult social care can be structured. It draws on a generic registered domiciliary care provider in England, so no real employer is described. The closest live brief on our site is the related unit brief on business and resource management for adult care; it covers almost the same scope but is not identical to this unit. For the wider qualification, see the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care answers, and read the guide to approaching this unit before you plan your own answers. If you want subject support, our health and social care assignment help page explains how we work.

What this sample covers

The unit asks for roughly 2,500 words across four areas: resource planning, human resources, market provision and integration. This extract answers a selection of criteria in model form. It is not a full submission.

• 1.1 Impact of national and local strategies on financial, physical and human resources
• 1.5 Sustainability in resource management
• 1.7 Business continuity planning
• 2.3 Evaluating approaches to recruitment and retention
• 3.1 and 3.2 Commissioning, procurement, funding and current drivers
• 4.1 to 4.3 Integrated health and social care, its rationale and local and national initiatives

Criteria and marks map

Model-answer extract

1. Impact of national and local strategies on resources (1.1)

The Care Act 2014 places duties on local authorities to promote the wellbeing of adults, to shape a diverse market of providers and to integrate care with health services. The statutory guidance explains how those duties are meant to work in practice (Department of Health and Social Care, 2025). For a provider, the effect is felt in three places.

Financial resources. Most domiciliary income comes from local authority contracts, and fee rates are set through commissioning rounds. When a council reviews its priorities, the hourly rate and the volume of commissioned hours can both move. A manager therefore plans cash flow around contract terms rather than around demand alone. If the council moves towards shorter, outcome-focused visits, the service must re-price its rota and review its travel costs.

Physical resources. Local strategies that favour care at home increase the need for reliable vehicles, mobile devices, personal protective equipment and secure storage for records. A strategy that rewards enablement also raises the need for equipment such as moving and handling aids, which must be serviced and replaced on a schedule.

Human resources. Workforce supply is the tightest constraint. The sector depends on a large, mobile workforce, and Skills for Care reports annually on filled posts, pay, recruitment and demographics (Skills for Care, 2026). A strategy that expands home care without a matching recruitment plan simply moves the pressure onto existing staff. In this sample service, the registered manager links each commissioning change to a workforce forecast before agreeing to new packages.

2. Sustainability in resource management (1.5)

Sustainability, in adult social care, means running a service in a way that can continue to meet people’s needs over time without exhausting its money, people or environment. It has three strands. Financial sustainability asks whether income covers the real cost of safe care. Workforce sustainability asks whether the service can keep skilled staff. Environmental sustainability covers choices such as route planning to cut mileage and reducing waste in consumables.

A weak answer lists the three strands and stops. A stronger one says which strand is under most pressure for the chosen service. For a home care provider reliant on contracts, workforce sustainability usually comes first, because a financially sound service cannot deliver visits without carers.

3. Business continuity planning (1.7)

Business continuity planning prepares a service to keep delivering essential care when something disrupts normal operations. Typical disruptions include severe weather, a loss of the electronic care system, an outbreak of infection among staff, or sudden loss of a key supplier.

In the sample service the plan sets out the following.

1. A risk register ranking the disruptions most likely to affect people who cannot safely miss visits.
2. A priority list that sorts service users by risk, for example those who rely on time-critical medication.
3. Named roles: the registered manager activates the plan, the care coordinator re-plans rotas, and the on-call lead contacts commissioners.
4. Backup arrangements, such as paper copies of care plans and a tested list of staff with local knowledge.
5. A review after each incident and at least once a year.

The manager’s own accountability is to make sure the plan exists, is tested and is understood by staff. Writing it is not enough if nobody has rehearsed it.

4. Evaluating approaches to recruitment and retention (2.3)

Safe recruitment is a legal baseline. Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires providers to employ fit and proper persons and to run effective recruitment procedures (Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014). The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination in recruitment and employment, and the Working Time Regulations 1998 set limits on working hours and rest that shape rota design.

Beyond compliance, an evaluation should weigh the approaches against each other. The table below gives a judgement for four of them (illustrative assessment, not research findings).

On balance, no single measure holds up on its own. The most defensible conclusion is that values-based selection and a strong induction give the best return for a small service, while pay is a necessary condition set largely by commissioners. Flexible rotas matter too, since many carers leave because of unpredictable hours rather than the work itself.

5. Commissioning, procurement, funding and current drivers (3.1 and 3.2)

Local authorities commission adult social care, meaning they assess needs and decide what to buy. Procurement is the process of buying it, often through frameworks, tenders or approved provider lists. Funding comes from several sources: council budgets drawn from council tax and government grants, NHS funding for continuing healthcare and joint packages, and private payment by self-funders. Direct payments let some people buy their own support.

Current drivers include an ageing population, rising complexity of need, workforce shortages, the cost of care and policy pressure to move care closer to home. Two service gaps are worth naming specifically: a shortage of capacity in rural areas where travel time makes visits uneconomic, and limited provision for people with complex needs who fall between health and social care funding. Show the examiner that you can tie each gap back to the local population your service supports.

6. Integration: rationale, legislation and initiatives (4.1 to 4.3)

Integrated health and social care means organisations joining up planning, funding and delivery so that people experience one coordinated service instead of several disconnected ones. The rationale is practical. People with long-term conditions often need both, and poor handovers cause delayed discharges and avoidable admissions. The Care Act 2014 already requires local authorities to promote integration with health services, and the Health and Care Act 2022 strengthened the structure further.

A point students often get wrong concerns terminology. Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships were non-statutory arrangements that grew out of earlier plans. Integrated care systems became statutory bodies on 1 July 2022 under the Health and Care Act 2022, replacing the older partnership model (NHS England, no date; Charles, 2022). Each system has an integrated care board, which plans and funds most NHS services locally, and an integrated care partnership, which brings the NHS, councils and wider partners together to agree a strategy (Charles, 2022). The King’s Fund notes there are 42 systems across England (Charles, 2022).

At local level, primary care networks bring GP practices together, and the Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework links each care home with a primary care network, a named clinical lead and a weekly multidisciplinary review (NHS England, no date). Ageing Well work is typically described in local plans as a set of prevention and frailty services; check your own area’s strategy for the correct local name and cite it.

Further help

If you are mapping a similar answer for your own unit, see our NVQ assignment help page, or send your brief through our assignment submission form. For another Level 5 unit written in the same format, look at the Unit 10 decision-making answer.

About the expert

This sample was prepared with input from Martin Brown, who holds a Master’s in human resource management and writes on training and development, talent management and strategic management.

References

• Charles, A. (2022) Integrated care systems explained. London: The King’s Fund. Updated 19 August 2022. Available at: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/integrated-care-systems-explained
• Department of Health and Social Care (2025) Care and support statutory guidance. Updated 22 July 2025. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance/care-and-support-statutory-guidance
• Equality Act 2010, c. 15. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents
• Care Act 2014, c. 23. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/contents
• Health and Care Act 2022, c. 31. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/31/contents
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/2936, reg. 19. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/19
• NHS England (no date) Enhanced health in care homes. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/community-health-services/ehch/
• NHS England (no date) What are integrated care systems? Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/integratedcare/what-is-integrated-care/
• Skills for Care (2026) The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England 2026. Leeds: Skills for Care. Available at: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Adult-Social-Care-Workforce-Data/Workforce-intelligence/publications/national-information/The-state-of-the-adult-social-care-sector-and-workforce-in-England.aspx
• The Working Time Regulations 1998, SI 1998/1833. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1833/contents