The Care Certificate is the minimum training, supervision and assessment that those staff new to care (health and adult social care) should receive as part of induction.

The Care Certificate is intended to be used at the start of a career in health and social care. It ensures that people joining the sector can receive appropriate training, support and workplace assessment before they start to deliver care out of the line of sight of more experienced workers.

It provides a foundation for those working in healthcare support and social care worker roles in England, ensuring that the new worker is able to provide a compassionate and caring service.

There are fifteen standards that must be completed, involving knowledge learning, practical skills development and workplace assessments. Completion of all standards is required to attain the Care Certificate.

Related Resource: Care Certificate Standards

The Care Certificate consists of the following 15 Standards:

1. Understand Your Role

2. Your Personal Development

3. Duty of Care

4. Equality and Diversity

5. Work in a Person Centred Way

6. Communication

7. Privacy and Dignity

8. Fluids and Nutrition

9. Awareness of Mental health, Dementia and Learning Disabilities

10. Safeguarding Adults

11. Safeguarding Children

12. Basic Life Support

13. Health and Safety

14. Handling Information

15. Infection Prevention and Control

Related Resources: Care Certificate Standards, Care Certificate Framework, Self-assessment tool, Mapping document

Following the report of the Francis Inquiry in 2013 which identified serious failures in healthcare provision, Camilla Cavendish was asked by the Secretary of State to review and make recommendations on the recruitment, learning and development, management and support of healthcare assistants and social care support workers, to help ensure that this workforce provided compassionate care.

The resulting report, The Cavendish Review: An Independent Review into Healthcare Assistants and Support Workers in the NHS and Social Care Settings (July 2013) found that preparation of healthcare assistants and social care support workers for their roles providing care was inconsistent. The report recommended development of a Certificate of Fundamental Care – the “Care Certificate”.

Related resources: The Cavendish review: an independent review into healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS and social care settings, The Francis Enquiry

The Care Certificate is part of a structured induction but does not replace all of the learning required for staff induction. As well as the Care Certificate standards new staff will be expected to have information, knowledge and competencies specific to the environment in which care will be provided. 

For example, new staff may receive induction on how to report accidents, and what to do in case of fire which will be specific to the location in which they work. The Care Certificate programme will not focus on the skills and knowledge needed to work safely and effectively in a particular location. The content of this remains the employer’s responsibility.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Standards, Care Certificate Framework

No, to be awarded the Care Certificate the person must acquire knowledge and demonstrate competence in all 15 standards.

Assessment of knowledge and understanding is prefixed with verbs such as “describe”, “explain”, “define”, “list” or “identify” and can be based upon written or verbal evidence such as a workbook, written questions, case studies or sound files.

Evidence of performance prefixed with words such as “demonstrate”, “take steps to”, “use” or “show” must be undertaken in the workplace during learners’ real work activity and observed by the assessor (unless the use of simulation is specifically allowed). Learners can practice and develop their skills in a classroom or similar setting but most of the assessment evidence must be collected during real work activity.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Standards, Care Certificate Framework

No. For those individuals joining with no past training and experience, each employer is likely to run a series of training sessions for their new workers. It is possible that these courses – sometimes referred to as “mandatory training” may cover some content of the Care Certificate.

Since the introduction of the Care Certificate, many employers continue to deliver their mandatory sessions and complement them with additional training, supervision and workplace assessment.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Standards, Care Certificate Framework

Providers regulated by the CQC are expected to ensure that the standards of the Care Certificate are covered in their induction of new staff. Below is an extract from the CQC statement on the Care Certificate:

“CQC expects providers to induct, support and train their staff appropriately. In our guidance for providers on how to meet the regulations, we are explicit about our expectation that those who employ healthcare support workers and adult social care workers should be able to demonstrate that staff have, or are working towards, the skills set out in the Care Certificate, as the benchmark for staff induction.”

Related resource: CQC statement on the Care Certificate

• The Standards – overview of what is covered by the 15 Standards
• Care Certificate Framework (Assessor) – highlighting what needs to be assessed and how
• Guidance Document – complementing the framework, this guidance explains more about training, support and workplace assessment
• Care Certificate Overview videos – brief introductory videos explaining what the Care Certificate is for 1) new workers and 2) employers
• The Care Certificate Workbook –covering the knowledge learning parts of the 15 induction standards
• Care Certificate Presentations – downloads covering knowledge learning part of the induction standard, excluding Standards 10, 11, 12 and 13
• Self-Assessment Tool – practical resource to support recruitment processes to help identify what past learning may exist
• Mapping Document – practical resource to support recruitment processes showing the overlap between earlier induction programmes and Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Health and Social Care
• Certificate Template – for use by employers to complete once the new worker has completed their Care Certificate induction.
• Questions and Answers – this regularly updated questions reflects key points for employers, workers and learning providers
• The Care Certificate and Learning Providers – this statement was issued to protect employers around miscommunications about what the Care Certificate was and how it can be delivered
• Observation Record Template – practical resource to enable assessors to record observations as the new worker progresses through the induction

xt here...

New Workers, New to Care

The Care Certificate is aimed at the following types of workers joining a health or adult social care organisation without any past training or sector experience.

Healthcare

Healthcare Support Workers / Health Care Assistants / Assistant Practitioners / any individual giving support to clinical roles in the NHS where there is any direct contact with patients.

Adult social care

Care Assistant / Care Worker / Homecare Worker / Care Support Workers. These workers will be giving direct care in in residential, nursing homes and hospices, home care workers, domiciliary care staff.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Standards, Care Certificate Framework

The Care Certificate is aimed at those new to health and adult social care, with no previous experience. For staff employed before 1 April 2015, they will already have completed the previous training required for induction.

Employers are responsible for judging whether the jobs of individual staff require them to complete extra work to achieve the standards within the Care Certificate. If individuals have the competencies and knowledge required for the Care Certificate the employer can choose to credit them with having obtained the Care Certificate.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Mapping Document, Care Certificate Self-Assessment, Care Certificate “Certificate”

For those joining a health and adult social care organisation with previous experience, it is the new employer’s responsibility to check that the new worker can evidence past learning and identify any outstanding training and assessment needs. In some cases this may mean that the employer will require the individual to complete the Care Certificate.

Related Resources: Care Certificate Mapping Document, Care Certificate Self-Assessment

During the piloting of the Care Certificate in 2014, the indication was that for a full-time member of staff, the average amount of time taken to complete the Care Certificate was 12 weeks.

It is likely that employers will find that the time taken to complete the certificate will vary depending upon a range of factors, including; the hours worked by the learner, teaching methods chosen, previous educational achievement, resources and opportunities for assessment, and the availability of assessors.