Key takeaways
- What changed. A revised assessment plan for ST0563 was approved under the 2025 to 2026 assessment reforms and published by Skills England. It applies to new starts from 11 March 2027. Until then the current end-point assessment stays.
- What did not. The occupational standard, its knowledge, skills and behaviours, the Level 5 designation, the typical 18-month duration and the £7,000 maximum funding are all unchanged.
- Old model. Gateway, then up to six months of end-point assessment: a 5,000-word work-based project with a 75-minute professional discussion, plus a presentation on the learning journal. Grades fail, pass, merit, distinction.
- New model. Five assessment outcomes, at least one professional discussion, further methods chosen by the assessment organisation, assessment allowed at any appropriate point in the programme, provider marking permitted where the design allows. Descriptors for pass and distinction.
- Our advice. For most employers, start now. Same standard, same funding, a proven assessment, and six months of development you would otherwise lose.
If you run an L&D or HR function and have been thinking about putting a business partner through the Level 5 apprenticeship, you now have a date to plan around. Skills England updated the standard's page on 2 September 2026 with a revised assessment plan, and Training Qualifications UK, one of the assessment organisations for the standard, wrote to providers this week confirming first registrations under it on 11 March 2027. Nothing about what a good L&D business partner needs to know or do has changed. How they prove it has.
Standard
L&D Consultant Business Partner
ST0563, Level 5
Revised plan applies
New starts from 11 March 2027
Current EPA for starts to 10 March
Funding band
£7,000
Unchanged
Standard content
Unchanged
Same KSBs, same level
Who this apprenticeship is for
The Level 5 L&D Consultant Business Partner is the strategic L&D role: the person accountable for making sure learning contributes to performance at individual, team and organisation level, who aligns learning needs with what the business is trying to do, and who can put a costed recommendation with a projected return in front of a senior leader and defend it. Typical apprentices are L&D managers, business partners, senior L&D advisers and internal consultants, often already in post, who want the CIPD-aligned credential and the structured development to move from delivering training to shaping it. It is also the natural next step for someone who completed the Level 3 L&D Practitioner.
The standard was built by a trailblazer group including BT, Sainsbury's, Volvo, Specsavers, Severn Trent, YBS and Civil Service Learning, with CIPD backing, and has been in delivery since August 2018. Completers may be eligible for Associate CIPD membership.
The timeline
Now to 10 March 2027
Current end-point assessment
New starts are assessed on the existing plan: gateway, then work-based project with professional discussion, then learning journal presentation.
11 March 2027 onwards
Revised assessment plan
New starts are assessed under the reformed model. Assessment organisations and providers can begin registrations on that date.
Already on programme
Complete as you started
Apprentices who began before 11 March 2027 should expect to finish on the current plan unless their provider and assessment organisation confirm a transfer.
What changes: current EPA against the revised plan
| Current plan (starts to 10 March 2027) | Revised plan (starts from 11 March 2027) | |
|---|---|---|
| When assessment happens | After the employer confirms readiness at gateway. An assessment period of up to six months at the end of the programme. | "At any appropriate point during their apprenticeship programme." Assessment can be spread across the programme rather than concentrated at the end. Gateway becomes the "gateway to completion". |
| Methods | Two fixed methods. A work-based project written as a 5,000-word report, followed by a 75-minute professional discussion with 10 to 12 open questions. Then a presentation based on the learning journal kept throughout. | At least one professional discussion is mandatory. The assessment organisation adds further methods from a set list: demonstration, presentation, observation, additional professional discussion, question and answer, project, portfolio. Methods can be used more than once. |
| What is assessed | The full list of knowledge, skills and behaviours, assessed synoptically across the two methods against grading criteria in the plan. | Five assessment outcomes that group the knowledge and skills. Statements marked mandatory must appear in every version of the assessment. Behaviours are verified by the employer in the workplace. |
| Who assesses and marks | An independent assessor from the end-point assessment organisation. The provider prepares the apprentice but does not mark. | The assessment organisation designs the assessment and assures quality. Assessments "may be designed to allow a centre or training provider to mark", with the assessment organisation responsible for reliability and accuracy of any provider marking. |
| Grades | Each method fail, pass or distinction; combined into an overall fail, pass, merit or distinction. | Performance descriptors for pass and distinction across six categories: applied knowledge, applied skills, regulatory and procedural awareness, communication and collaboration, information use and decision making, responsibility and autonomy. |
| Terminology | End-point assessment (EPA), end-point assessment organisation (EPAO), gateway. | Apprenticeship assessment, assessment organisation, gateway to completion. |
| Standard, level, funding, duration | Unchanged in both. Level 5, typical 18 months, £7,000 maximum funding, same knowledge, skills and behaviours. | |
The revised plan sets the rules. It does not set the exam. Each assessment organisation now designs its own assessment within those rules, so "what will my apprentice actually have to do" is a question for your provider and their assessment organisation, and the honest answer from anyone in September 2026 is "we are designing it". Be wary of a provider who claims to know already.
The five assessment outcomes, in plain English
The revised plan replaces a long list of individually assessed criteria with five outcomes. Each maps back to specific knowledge and skills in the standard. For an employer, they are a useful description of what you should expect the apprentice to be able to do by the end.
- Organisational needs analysis and consultancy
Can they diagnose what the business actually needs, using data, performance indicators and stakeholder input, rather than order training because someone asked for it?
- Learning design, development and delivery
Can they initiate and support interventions that are inclusive, theoretically sound and engaging, using the right technology and channels, and monitor whether people are actually learning?
- Organisational learning culture and leadership engagement
Can they get leaders and teams to take responsibility for learning, so it becomes part of how the business works rather than an event the L&D team runs?
- Evaluation, impact measurement and continuous improvement
Can they collect qualitative and quantitative evidence, measure impact and return on investment or expectation, spot trends and improve the next intervention?
- Learning operations and resource management
Can they run the operational side: budgets, projects, suppliers, change management and the learning systems that make delivery happen?
If you have ever wanted a one-page job description for a genuine L&D business partner as opposed to a training coordinator with a new title, those five outcomes are it.
Start now or wait? Three situations
Situation one
You have someone ready now
An L&D manager or business partner already in post, keen, with a live project they could use. Starting this autumn puts them well into the programme before the new version opens, on an assessment that has run for eight years and that providers know how to prepare for.
Start nowSituation two
You are recruiting into the role
If the hire lands in Q1 2027, you may straddle the date. Either version is fine; the standard and funding are identical. Ask your provider which version a March start would be on and what the assessment organisation has confirmed, and do not delay the hire for the sake of the assessment format.
Hire first, then decideSituation three
You strongly prefer assessment spread through the programme
Some employers dislike a six-month assessment window at the end with a 5,000-word report in it. The revised model allows assessment during the programme and provider marking. If that matters more to you than starting six months earlier, waiting is reasonable, once your provider can show you the confirmed design.
Wait, with conditionsWhat you should not do is wait on the assumption that the new version will be easier. The performance descriptors for a pass at Level 5 still require applying knowledge in "broadly defined, complex contexts" and taking accountability for significant tasks. The rigour moves; it does not drop.
What this means for AI in L&D
The standard has always required L&D business partners to understand "emerging technologies that can support effective learning" and to use technology to facilitate collective and social learning. In 2018 that meant learning platforms. In 2027 it means AI, and assessment outcome two explicitly expects the apprentice to use "suitable technology and techniques to monitor progress, support engagement and facilitate learning". Outcome four expects data analysis to measure impact.
That is why we build AI into our L&D programme rather than treating it as a separate course. A business partner who can use AI to analyse a needs survey in an afternoon, draft a costed proposal in the language of the business, and build the evaluation dashboard that proves the intervention worked is doing exactly what the five outcomes describe. If your L&D team is not there yet, our AI for L&D teams page sets out the funded routes, and directors can start with AI training for L&D directors.
Five questions to ask any provider before you sign
- Which version of the assessment plan will my apprentice be on, given the planned start date?
- Who is your assessment organisation for this standard, and have they confirmed their design under the revised plan?
- What happens to an apprentice who starts in February 2027 and is still on programme in 2028? The answer should be "they complete on the current plan unless a transfer is agreed", not a shrug.
- Which qualifications are included? The standard mandates none. A CIPD Level 5 diploma alongside is a provider choice and worth asking for.
- How is AI taught inside the programme, not next to it?
Where TESS stands
We deliver this standard, and we will deliver both versions.
Our Level 5 L&D Consultant Business Partner programme runs over 16 months, includes the CIPD Level 5 diploma, is fully levy-funded up to the £7,000 band, and is built around a real consultancy project in your organisation. New starts before 11 March 2027 complete on the current end-point assessment, which our coaches have prepared learners for since it was introduced.
- We are working with our assessment organisation on the design under the revised plan and will publish our updated delivery model before new starts open on it. We will not describe an assessment that has not been confirmed.
- The CIPD Level 5 diploma stays in the programme under both versions.
- AI is taught inside the programme: needs analysis, proposal writing, evaluation and reporting, in the tools your team already has.
Tell us who you have in mind and when you want them to start. We will tell you which version of the assessment they would be on, what the programme looks like month by month, and whether the timing suggests starting now or holding. 25 minutes, no obligation.
Book a conversation →The wider picture
This is one standard among many being moved onto the reformed assessment model in phases through 2026 and 2027. The government's own guidance describes the aim as a "more flexible, streamlined and proportionate system" in response to feedback that end-point assessment had become "overly disproportionate and burdensome". For employers the practical effect is that assessment stops being a separate event bolted onto the end and becomes part of the programme, with the employer verifying behaviours in the workplace and the provider taking a larger role. We wrote about the parallel change on the inspection side in how to judge a provider now that Ofsted single grades have gone. Same direction of travel: less theatre at the end, more evidence throughout.
Frequently asked questions.
What has changed for the Level 5 L&D Consultant Business Partner apprenticeship?
Skills England has approved a revised assessment plan for the standard (ST0563) under the 2025 to 2026 apprenticeship assessment reforms. It replaces the current end-point assessment for new starts from 11 March 2027. The occupational standard itself, the knowledge, skills and behaviours, the Level 5 designation and the maximum funding of £7,000 are all unchanged. Only the way apprentices are assessed changes.
What is the current end-point assessment for this apprenticeship?
Under the current plan, after the employer confirms the apprentice is ready (the gateway), the apprentice enters an assessment period of up to six months with two methods: a work-based project written up as a 5,000-word report followed by a 75-minute professional discussion with an independent assessor, and a presentation based on the learning journal kept throughout the programme. Each method is graded fail, pass or distinction and combined into an overall grade of fail, pass, merit or distinction.
What does the revised assessment plan look like?
The revised plan groups the knowledge and skills into five assessment outcomes: organisational needs analysis and consultancy; learning design, development and delivery; organisational learning culture and leadership engagement; evaluation, impact measurement and continuous improvement; and learning operations and resource management. Assessment organisations must include at least one professional discussion and may add methods from a list including presentation, project, portfolio, observation, demonstration and question and answer. Assessment may take place at any appropriate point during the apprenticeship rather than only at the end, and assessments may be designed so that the training provider marks them. Performance descriptors are set for pass and distinction.
Should we start an L&D Business Partner apprentice now or wait until March 2027?
For most employers, start now. The standard and the funding are the same either way, the current assessment is well understood and has been running since 2018, and an apprentice who starts this autumn will be well into their programme before the new version opens. Waiting six months costs you six months of development for no change in what the apprentice learns. The exception is an employer who specifically prefers assessment spread across the programme rather than concentrated at the end; for them the revised version may be worth the wait, provided their provider and assessment organisation have confirmed their design.
Can an apprentice who has already started move to the new assessment plan?
Not automatically. Government guidance says consideration should be given to whether existing apprentices can be transferred from the previous version to the new one, but this is decided per standard and depends on the provider and assessment organisation. Apprentices who start before 11 March 2027 should expect to complete on the current end-point assessment unless told otherwise.
Does TESS Group deliver this apprenticeship?
Yes. Our Level 5 L&D Consultant Business Partner programme runs over 16 months, includes the CIPD Level 5 diploma and is fully levy-funded up to the £7,000 band. New starts before 11 March 2027 complete on the current end-point assessment. We are working with our assessment organisation on the design for the revised plan and will publish the updated delivery model before new starts open on it.
Sources: Skills England, Learning and development consultant business partner, ST0563 (standard page, version log and revised assessment plan, date updated 2 September 2026); the current end-point assessment plan (v1.1); Department for Work and Pensions, Changes to apprenticeship assessment: 2025 to 2026; Training Qualifications UK provider notification, 9 September 2026. Quotations from the revised plan are from the assessment tab of the Skills England page. Details of any assessment organisation's specific design under the revised plan were not published at the time of writing. TESS Group delivers this standard and has a commercial interest in employers choosing an apprenticeship route.