Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management

Course Overview

The Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management at the London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a 15 to 18 month Level 5 qualification for HR officers, advisers and L&D practitioners moving into senior generalist or specialist roles. Sitting in the Business & Commerce department, the diploma is built around CIPD Associate-level expectations and the working UK employment law landscape.

You will work with anonymised employee-relations cases, draft a workforce plan against a real London business brief, and produce an HR-strategy dossier defended in viva. Online, on-campus and distance routes are available from 2026.

Key Features

• Level 5 UK Higher Diploma with content mapped to CIPD Associate-level competencies.
• Three flexible study modes with twilight teaching for serving HR professionals.
• Employment-law module updated each cohort to track UK case law and statutory change.
• ER simulation — students chair a mock disciplinary hearing under hostile conditions.
• Workforce-planning brief from a real London SME each cohort.
• Capstone reviewed by a CIPD-affiliated practitioner from a UK in-house team.

What You Will Learn

The diploma is built around the working week of a senior HR practitioner: hire, develop, retain, advise, defend and report. You will graduate able to draft a workforce plan, run a fair disciplinary, write a remuneration paper and answer a director's awkward question about engagement scores.

• UK employment law and tribunal landscape
• Resourcing, recruitment and selection
• Employee relations, discipline and grievance
• Reward, recognition and pay structures
• Learning & development and CIPD L&D crossover
• Workforce planning and people analytics
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• Employee voice, engagement and culture
• HR strategy, business partnering and board reporting

Who This Course Is For

• HR officers and advisers moving into senior generalist or specialist roles.
• L&D and reward specialists deepening generalist HR knowledge.
• Line managers transitioning into HR business-partner roles.
• Career switchers from operations or recruitment moving into in-house HR.

Career Pathways

Graduates work across UK in-house HR teams, consultancies, public-sector HR and the third sector, with consistent demand from City employers and London-headquartered international businesses. Typical destinations include:

• HR Officer progressing to HR Business Partner
• Employee Relations Specialist
• L&D Manager (junior to mid)
• Reward Analyst
• HR Operations Manager
• Talent Acquisition Manager

The Higher Diploma articulates into a BSc top-up in Business Management with HR specialism, or a Level 7 CIPD route. Qualifications do not guarantee HR Business Partner appointment, but the workforce-plan brief and ER simulation chairing record are exactly the evidence UK HR hiring panels review.

Industry Context

UK employment law has reshaped sharply since 2022: the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, the rolling Employment Rights Bill reforms, the Carer's Leave Act 2023 and the post-pandemic flexible-working default have made HR business partnering more legally weighted than at any point in the past decade. CIPD's annual people-profession survey shows employee-relations capacity stretched thin across UK SMEs. The Higher Diploma is sequenced against that demand, so every module produces evidence a UK Head of HR or Employment Tribunal-litigating solicitor will recognise.

Assessment Approach

Assessment is portfolio-led. Students submit a written workforce plan, a recorded mock disciplinary chairing, a reward policy paper, an L&D needs analysis and the capstone HR-strategy dossier defended in viva. Two short timed examinations cover employment-law and CIPD ethics where CIPD Associate-level standards expect explicit recall.

Entry Requirements

• An Advanced Diploma (Level 5), HND, Foundation Degree, or equivalent prior study in HR, business or a related field.
• Three years' relevant HR work experience considered in lieu of academic prerequisites (mature applicants).
• English language: IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
• A personal statement and one academic or professional reference, ideally from an HR or line manager.

Why Study at LSCT

The London School of Commerce and Technology (LSCT) is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. We teach in small cohorts so every student is visible to their tutor, run a single intake schedule that students can rely on, and partner with UK professional bodies so qualifications carry weight with employers. London puts Whitehall, the City, Silicon Roundabout, the Royal Courts of Justice, the West End and the NHS estate within a short tube ride of every classroom — and our students use that proximity in their projects, placements and graduate job hunts. HR students sit live tribunal-case studies with serving employment lawyers a tube ride from class.

Cohort and Tutor Support

The Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management cohort is deliberately small, mixing serving HR officers and advisers with line managers transitioning into HR business-partner roles and international applicants moving toward UK practice. Personal academic tutors are assigned at enrolment and twilight teaching slots accommodate evening and weekend study around weekday HR caseload. The cohort runs a fortnightly anonymised case-study clinic, where students discuss live employee-relations questions under supervisor guidance.

Apply for the Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management

Close the gap to a Bachelor's degree with the Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management. Click Enrol Now to apply; admissions confirm your credit-transfer route within one working day, including recognition of CIPD Foundation Certificate study and employer-sponsored cohort discounts where applicable.