The Care Certificate is a set of standards used across health and social care to support the induction and development of workers in care roles.
It sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that many care workers are expected to understand and demonstrate in their daily work. This can include care assistants, support workers, healthcare assistants, nursing assistants, domiciliary care workers and other people working in direct care roles.
The Care Certificate is often used when someone is new to care, starting their first role in a care home, nursing home, home care service or wider health and social care setting. It gives new staff a foundation in safe, compassionate and person-centred care.
The Care Certificate is not only about completing training. It also involves demonstrating that learning can be applied in practice. This means workers need to show they can use their knowledge safely and appropriately in their role.
Why does the Care Certificate matter?
The Care Certificate matters because care workers support people who may rely on them for essential parts of daily life.
This can include personal care, meals, mobility, communication, medication support, emotional reassurance and help with daily routines. In many care settings, staff may also support people who are older, frail, living with dementia, disabled, unwell or at increased risk of harm.
The Care Certificate helps ensure that workers understand the basics of safe and respectful care before they take on more responsibility. It supports consistency across health and social care by giving workers a shared foundation.
For care providers, the Care Certificate can support induction, supervision and workforce development. For care workers, it can help build confidence and provide a clearer understanding of what good care looks like.
Who is the Care Certificate for?
The Care Certificate is mainly designed for people in non-regulated health and social care roles.
This may include:
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Care assistants
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Support workers
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Healthcare assistants
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Nursing assistants
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Domiciliary care workers
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Residential care workers
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Day care assistants
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Reablement workers
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Personal assistants
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Senior care workers where appropriate
It is particularly relevant for people who are new to health and social care, or people moving into a direct care role for the first time.
Regulated professionals, such as registered nurses, doctors, social workers and occupational therapists, usually gain similar knowledge and skills through their professional training. However, care providers may still use Care Certificate standards to support induction or refresh key areas of practice where appropriate.
Is the Care Certificate mandatory?
The Care Certificate is widely used across health and social care, particularly as part of induction for new care staff.
Whether it is required in a specific workplace will depend on the provider, role and setting. However, health and social care providers are expected to ensure staff have the training, skills and competence required to carry out their roles safely.
For many care homes, nursing homes and home care providers, the Care Certificate is a practical way to structure induction and evidence that new staff are being supported to develop the right knowledge and behaviours.
It should be seen as part of a wider training and competence process, not as a standalone tick-box exercise.
What are the Care Certificate standards?
The Care Certificate was updated in 2025 and now includes 16 standards.
These standards cover core areas of safe, person-centred care. They are designed to help workers understand their responsibilities, communicate effectively, protect people from harm and provide care that respects dignity, choice and individual needs.
The 16 Care Certificate standards are:
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Understand your role
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Your personal development
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Duty of care
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Equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights
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Work in a person-centred way
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Communication
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Privacy and dignity
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Fluids and nutrition
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Awareness of mental health and dementia
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Adult safeguarding
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Safeguarding children
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Basic life support
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Health and safety
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Handling information
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Infection prevention and control
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Awareness of learning disability and autism
Each standard helps build a foundation for safe practice. Together, they cover many of the areas care workers need to understand before they work more independently.
Understand your role
This standard helps care workers understand what is expected of them.
It includes knowing their duties, responsibilities, limits and ways of working. New staff need to understand what they are allowed to do, what they should not do and when to ask for help.
In care settings, role clarity is important. A care worker may be supporting someone with personal care, mobility, meals, activities or emotional wellbeing. They need to understand how their role fits within the wider team and how to raise concerns if something does not feel right.
Your personal development
Care work requires ongoing learning. This standard helps workers understand their own development needs and how to improve their practice over time.
Personal development may involve training, supervision, feedback, reflective practice and setting goals with a manager.
For care workers, development is not only about gaining certificates. It is about becoming more confident, capable and responsive to the needs of the people they support.
Duty of care
Duty of care means workers must act in a way that protects the wellbeing, safety and rights of the people they support.
This includes following procedures, reporting concerns, working safely and understanding how to respond when there is a complaint, incident or mistake.
In care homes, nursing homes and community care settings, duty of care is central to professional practice. Staff need to understand that their actions, and inaction, can have a direct impact on someone’s wellbeing.
Equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights
Care workers support people with different backgrounds, beliefs, identities, needs and life experiences.
This standard helps workers understand the importance of treating people fairly and respectfully. It also supports inclusive care, where people are not judged, excluded or treated differently because of who they are.
In practice, this means recognising individual preferences, respecting culture and identity, challenging discrimination and supporting each person’s rights.
Work in a person-centred way
Person-centred care means seeing the individual, not just their care needs.
This standard helps workers understand how to provide care that reflects the person’s choices, history, preferences, abilities and goals.
For example, two people may need support with the same task but prefer that support to be delivered in very different ways. Person-centred care means listening to the person and adapting care to what matters to them.
Communication
Good communication is essential in health and social care.
Care workers need to communicate clearly with residents, service users, families, colleagues, nurses, managers and external professionals. They also need to adapt their communication for people with dementia, learning disabilities, sensory needs, speech difficulties or anxiety.
Communication is not only about speaking. It includes listening, observing body language, recording information accurately and knowing when to share concerns.
Privacy and dignity
Care workers often support people with personal and sensitive aspects of daily life.
This may include washing, dressing, continence care, meals, medication or emotional support. Privacy and dignity training helps staff understand how to provide support respectfully.
This can include closing doors, using respectful language, explaining what is happening, gaining consent, protecting confidential information and supporting people to make choices wherever possible.
Fluids and nutrition
Food and drink are central to health, comfort and wellbeing.
This standard helps workers understand the importance of hydration, nutrition and supporting people with meals in a safe and respectful way.
Care workers may need to recognise changes in appetite, weight, swallowing, fluid intake or energy levels. They should also understand how to report concerns and follow care plans relating to nutrition and hydration.
Awareness of mental health and dementia
Many people receiving care may live with mental health needs, dementia or both.
This standard helps workers understand how these conditions can affect behaviour, communication, emotions, memory and daily life.
Care workers do not need to diagnose conditions, but they should be able to respond with patience, understanding and respect. They should also know when to raise concerns if someone’s mood, behaviour or presentation changes.
Adult safeguarding
Adult safeguarding training helps care workers recognise and respond to abuse, neglect and harm.
In care settings, safeguarding concerns can include physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, neglect, discriminatory abuse, self-neglect, organisational abuse or domestic abuse.
Workers need to understand the signs of possible harm, how to report concerns and why safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
Safeguarding children
Some health and social care workers may come into contact with children, young people or families as part of their role.
This standard helps workers understand how to recognise and respond to concerns about a child’s safety or wellbeing.
Even where a worker mainly supports adults, safeguarding children awareness can still be relevant. For example, they may visit a person’s home where children are present or become aware of concerns involving a family member.
Basic life support
Basic life support training helps workers understand how to respond in an emergency.
This may include recognising when someone is seriously unwell, calling for help and taking appropriate immediate action.
The level of basic life support training required may depend on the role and setting. Some training may need practical assessment so staff can demonstrate competence, not just knowledge.
Health and safety
Health and safety training helps care workers understand how to reduce risks in the workplace.
In care settings, this may include slips and trips, moving and handling, fire safety, hazardous substances, equipment use, accidents, incident reporting and emergency procedures.
Health and safety is not separate from good care. It affects residents, service users, staff, visitors and the wider care environment.
Handling information
Care workers often handle sensitive information about people’s health, care, family circumstances and personal lives.
This standard helps workers understand confidentiality, record keeping and the importance of sharing information appropriately.
Accurate records are important because they help the wider team understand what support has been provided, what has changed and whether action is needed.
Infection prevention and control
Infection prevention and control helps reduce the spread of infections in care settings.
This standard may include hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, cleaning, waste disposal, laundry handling and recognising when someone may have symptoms of infection.
In care homes, nursing homes and home care settings, IPC is part of everyday practice. Small actions, done consistently, can make a significant difference.
Awareness of learning disability and autism
This standard helps workers understand how to support people with a learning disability and autistic people.
It can help staff recognise communication needs, avoid assumptions, make reasonable adjustments and interact in a way that is respectful and appropriate.
This standard is especially important because people with a learning disability or autistic people may experience barriers to safe and effective care if staff do not understand their needs.
How is the Care Certificate assessed?
The Care Certificate should include both knowledge and workplace assessment.
This means a worker may complete learning to understand the standards, but they also need to demonstrate that they can apply that learning in practice.
Assessment may include observation, professional discussion, questions, reflective accounts, supervision and evidence from day-to-day work.
For example, it is not enough for a worker to know what dignity means. They should be able to demonstrate dignity in the way they speak to people, provide personal care, protect privacy and support choice.
How long does the Care Certificate take?
The time needed to complete the Care Certificate can vary.
It depends on the worker’s role, previous experience, work setting, induction process and how quickly competence can be demonstrated.
Some workers may complete the knowledge elements quickly, while workplace assessment may take longer. This is because the assessor needs to be confident that the worker can apply the standards safely and consistently in practice.
The Care Certificate should not be rushed simply to complete paperwork. It should support real learning and confidence.
Is the Care Certificate a qualification?
The Care Certificate itself is a set of standards rather than a traditional qualification.
However, it can support progression into further learning, qualifications and career development in health and social care.
For people new to care, it provides a strong starting point. It can help workers understand the sector, build confidence and identify areas where they may want to develop further.
Care workers may later progress into qualifications, specialist training, senior care roles, nursing pathways, management or other areas of health and social care.
Can the Care Certificate be completed online?
Some parts of the Care Certificate can be supported through online learning, particularly knowledge-based areas such as safeguarding, infection prevention and control, duty of care, communication and health and safety.
Online training can be helpful because it gives workers flexible access to core learning. It can also help employers provide consistent induction content across teams.
However, the Care Certificate cannot be completed properly through online learning alone. Workers also need workplace assessment to show they can apply the standards in practice.
For care providers, online courses can form part of the induction and development process, alongside supervision, observation and practical assessment.
Why care providers should support Care Certificate learning
Supporting staff through the Care Certificate can help care providers build a safer and more confident workforce.
It gives new workers a structured introduction to the expectations of health and social care. It can also help managers identify where staff need extra guidance, support or training.
For care homes, nursing homes and home care providers, the Care Certificate can support better induction, stronger supervision and more consistent care standards.
It also helps reinforce that care work is skilled work. Staff need knowledge, judgement, compassion and professionalism to support people safely and well.
Online training to support Care Certificate learning
MHA Professional Services provides online health and social care training for care workers, nursing home staff, care home teams and wider health and social care organisations.
Our online courses can help staff build knowledge in important areas linked to the Care Certificate, including safeguarding, duty of care, communication, health and safety, infection prevention and control, person-centred practice and other core care topics.
For providers, online training offers a flexible way to support induction, refresher learning and staff development. For individual care workers, it can help build confidence before or during a role in health and social care.
Book online health and social care training
The Care Certificate gives care workers an important foundation in safe, compassionate and person-centred care.
Whether you are new to care, supporting staff induction or developing a wider care team, the right training can help build confidence and improve quality of care.
MHA Professional Services offers flexible online training for health and social care workers and organisations.
Explore MHA Professional Services’ online health and social care training courses today and book training to support your role, team or organisation.