What the Care Certificate is
The Care Certificate is the agreed set of standards that new health and adult social care workers are expected to meet during induction.
It was developed by Skills for Care, Health Education England and Skills for Health, and introduced in 2015. It's aimed at support workers, healthcare assistants and anyone new to a care role.
It's not a qualification. It's assessed in the workplace, through a mix of knowledge checks and observed practice, and is usually completed within the first twelve weeks.
The 16 standards
The March 2025 update brought the total to 16, with a new standard on learning disability and autism. Read the current Care Certificate standards at Skills for Care.
- Understand your role
- Your personal development
- Duty of care
- Equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights
- Work in a person-centred way
- Communication
- Privacy and dignity
- Fluids and nutrition
- Awareness of mental health and dementia
- Adult safeguarding
- Safeguarding children
- Basic life support
- Health and safety
- Handling information
- Infection prevention and control
- Awareness of learning disability and autism
Where CPD comes in
- Induction
The Care Certificate
The Care Certificate is the floor.
- Keep learning
Continuing professional development
Everything after it is CPD: annual refreshers on the essentials, specialist training for the people you support, and the learning that turns a good support worker into a senior.
Two things worth knowing. Since 2022, CQC-registered providers must make sure staff receive training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role, and the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is the government's preferred way to meet that.
And the Care Certificate doesn't renew: what keeps skills current afterwards is CPD.
A note for children's homes
The Care Certificate is written for adult social care. Children's homes run their own induction under the Children's Homes Regulations, and care staff work towards the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare.
CPD matters just as much there; only the starting point is different.
Making it count
- Record each standard with the date and who assessed it
- Keep the certificate somewhere it can be found and checked
- Plan the first year of CPD alongside the induction, so learning does not stall at twelve weeks