The Care Certificate Implementation Toolkit

This online toolkit has been developed to assist those responsible for delivering the Care Certificate to new employees as part of their induction, and for upskilling current employees. It has been created for a wide range of health and care staff, from small independent care homes to large organisations with experienced learning and development teams. It will enable you to feel confident about what the Care Certificate was designed to do, and will help you to decide the best ways to implement it within your organisation. You will find help with:

  • The Care Certificate: why it was introduced, how it is structured and common questions and answers
  • Taking steps to implement the Care Certificate successfully within your organisation

Click on the links below to skip to each section:

  1. Identifying who needs to meet the Care Certificate standards
  2. Planning the programme of teaching, learning and assessment
  3. Assessing to the standards
  4. Ensuring assessors reach consistent assessment decisions
  5. Training and supporting all staff involved in the Care Certificate
  6. Awarding the Care Certificate
  7. Further resources

St Christophers & Skills Platform Logo

You will find top tips linked to practice, quotes from practitioners and links to resources to help you get started. You will also find guidance and examples of good practice based on the Care Certificate programme designed and run by St Christopher’s Hospice. St Christopher’s were involved in the original pilots and were the first organisation to have their programme certificated by an Awarding Organisation.

Kay Fawcett

Foreword: Kay Fawcett OBE

In 2013 I was privileged to be involved with work completed by Camilla Cavendish, commissioned after the Francis report, in which she reviewed the roles of health and social care staff across the country. This work exposed the huge disparity in the experience and preparation of care staff as they provided care to people, often at a very vulnerable time of their lives.

Cavendish recommended that there should be agreed standards to set care staff on the road to a career in care. These standards needed to be based on fundamental care provided in health and social care settings. There was a requirement to provide not only the theory associated with this care but to ensure that these workers were assessed in practice to ensure that they had the skills and knowledge before they delivered care. This became the template for the development of the Care Certificate.

During 2014 I was asked to lead a small group of talented health and social care experts in developing the Care Certificate. This group included representatives from Skills for Health and Skills for Care and utilised the skills and knowledge of a far larger network, focusing on existing good practice. The final product is a testament to the work completed by these people, providing standards designed to be used by both health and social care organisations as part of the induction of their staff.

The development of the Care Certificate provides an opportunity to clarify the importance of effective induction and preparation of health and social care support staff. This toolkit, developed with support from St Christopher’s Hospice, sets out simple steps to ensure that this preparation is completed rigorously for the benefit of the learner and those that will receive care in the future.

Kay Fawcett OBE


The Care Certificate

The Care Certificate

Following the Francis Inquiry (2013), Camilla Cavendish was commissioned by the Secretary of State to complete an independent review into healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS and social care settings. The Cavendish Review (2013), found failings in the preparation of new health or social care support workers for their roles and in their ongoing training and development. The review recommended the introduction of nationally recognised induction training for all care workers to ensure they provide compassionate and high-quality care.

Health Education England (HEE, 2014) describe the main purpose of the Care Certificate as follows:

“The Care Certificate is the start of the career journey for these staff groups [Healthcare Support Worker (HCSW) or Adult Social Care Worker (ASCW)] and is only one element of the training and education that will make them ready to practice within their specific workplace … The Care Certificate is a key component of the overall induction which an employer must provide, legally and in order to meet the essential standards set out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).”

The Care Certificate Framework (Assessor), Health Education England, Skills for Care and Skills for Health (2014).

How the Care Certificate is structured

There are fifteen standards within the Care Certificate that all care workers must meet, as follows:

  • Understand your role
  • Your personal development
  • Duty of care
  • Equality and diversity
  • Work in a person-centred way
  • Communication
  • Privacy and dignity
  • Fluids and nutrition
  • Awareness of mental health, dementia and learning disability
  • Safeguarding adults
  • Safeguarding Children
  • Basic Life Support
  • Health and Safety
  • Handling information
  • Infection prevention and control

How the standards work

Each standard within the Care Certificate contains assessment criteria that specify the knowledge, understanding and skills needed by employees. Some assessment criteria are about knowledge whilst others are performance-based and can only be assessed in the workplace. The following extract from Standard 7: Privacy and Dignity illustrates the difference between knowledge-based and performance based criteria:

Standard 7: Privacy and Dignity

7.1 Understand the principles that underpin privacy and dignity in care

Learners will: 7.1a Describe what is meant by privacy and dignity

Assessment: The assessment can be undertaken on a 1:1 with the HCSW/ ASCW or as group work. Evidence to meet these criteria can be provided through:

  • 1:1 discussion
  • as part of a group exercise or
  • written e.g. in a workbook/ portfolio

7.2 Maintain the privacy and dignity of the individual(s) in your care

Learners will: 7.2a Demonstrate that their actions maintain the privacy of the individual. This could include:

  • Using appropriate volume to discuss the care and support of an individual.
  • Discussing the individual's care and support in a place where others cannot overhear

Assessment:

  • The assessment must be observed in the workplace as part of the HCSW/ ASCW normal work duties.
  • You will record your assessment decision on the documentation used in your workplace e.g. in a workbook/ portfolio.

As the employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that employees meet the standards and that you have evidence to prove this. The standards within the Care Certificate provide a framework for enabling you to structure a comprehensive induction and for providing the training to ensure the standards are met.

Common Questions & Answers

Q: Who is responsible for the Care Certificate?

A: The employer.

Q: Is the Care Certificate a qualification?

A: No. It contains standards of knowledge and performance that need to be covered during individual’s induction. The induction is the employer’s responsibility.

Q: is the Care Certificate mandatory?

A: No, but the employer’s induction is, and it is expected that the induction will cover contents of the Care Certificate.

Q: So we don’t have to offer the Certificate then?

A: The Certificate itself is a kite-mark of a robust programme of teaching, learning and assessment. The learning embodied within the standards of the Care Certificate is what you need to provide at induction. Whether or not you choose to award the Care Certificate is up to you, but when the CQC inspect you, they will be looking for evidence that you have delivered the learning and confirmation that all staff have met the standards.

Q: What do employers have to do?

A: You should provide a formal induction where you teach the knowledge required by the new member of staff and provide them with structured experience in the workplace to enable them to meet the standards within the Care Certificate. This is so that they can deliver the basic standards of care required by their role, and you can provide evidence of their competence for inspection purposes.

Q: What happens if employees don’t meet the standards in the Care Certificate?

A: Staff should not work unsupervised until they meet the relevant standards. It is possible for employees to be signed off against individual standards and to work unsupervised in the relevant area, but this approach is not recommended as the standards are best used as a reliable indicator of competence when taken together. The employer is responsible for ensuring the competence of staff and will have to decide if meeting the standards forms part of their probationary requirements (if these are part of the contract of employment).

Q: We already run an induction programme for new staff. What else do we need to include?

A: The Care Certificate standards complement but do not replace any induction you may carry out that is specific to your organisation and workplace.

Q: What about healthcare apprentices?

A: It is the employer’s and the training provider’s responsibility to ensure that the apprentice is ready for end-point assessment. This means ensuring that all gateway requirements have been met, including the standards within the Care Certificate. Towards the end of the apprenticeship, employers and providers will ‘sign-off’ the apprentice as ready for the end-point assessment – this sign-off is the ‘gateway’. Signing-off an apprentice indicates that the employer and provider believe their knowledge, skills and behaviours are the levels required to attain an apprenticeship. For example, the Apprenticeship Assessment Organisation (AAO) may ask for a declaration that the standards have been met before the apprentice can undertake the end-point assessment. Please note: Not all health sector related apprentices have to meet the standards within the Care Certificate, for example, healthcare science apprenticeships has no such requirement.

For more information on apprenticeship standards, visit the Healthcare Apprenticeships Standards Online website.

Top Tips

All new employees should undergo training linked to the Care Certificate within the first twelve weeks of taking up their posts. They don’t have to complete the Care Certificate within this time, but they must receive training and support to meet the standards it contains.

“Smaller organisations don’t need to work alone. Look at what’s available in the local community where there may be opportunities to create partnerships and work with organisations similar to yours. Check if there is an NSA Health Excellence Centre in your area and contact them for helpful advice” – Christina Pond, Skills for Health

“If you are wondering how you can incorporate the Care Certificate within your organisation, don’t feel isolated. We networked with other organisations and shared any problems.” - Charlie Bobin, NHS Blood & Transplant

“You need to allocate responsibility for the Care Certificate to a named individual and make it their responsibility to ensure relevant steps are undertaken and processes adhered to. “– Brian Burke, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Further resources

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Step 1: Identify who needs the Care Certificate

The Care Certificate is aimed at employees who are new to Healthcare Support Work or Adult Social Care Work. Other roles where the Care Certificate may apply include Health Care Assistants, Assistant Practitioners, Care Support Workers and those giving support to clinical roles within the NHS that involve direct contact with patients. Care Support Workers include:

  • Health Care Assistants
  • Assistant Practitioners
  • Those giving support to clinical roles with direct patient contract
  • Adult Social Care workers in residential, nursing homes and hospices
  • Home care workers
  • Domiciliary care staff

Other social care roles where all or part of the standards for the Care Certificate may apply include:

  • Caring volunteers
  • Porters
  • Cooks
  • Drivers with direct contact with patients/ service users.

Top tips

The Care Certificate is aimed at new staff, but also offers opportunities for existing staff to refresh or improve their knowledge and skills. Use the standards and assessment criteria as a tool for assessing training needs.

Your organisation may have particular needs that the Care Certificate will not cover in enough detail, which means your staff may need further training. In this case, you will need to fit the Care Certificate around any existing induction you may carry out and/or provide additional training as necessary.

“You need to check whether or not you already carry out the training that underpins the Care Certificate. Do this by identifying what you do and map it against the Care Certificate standards. Then you’re in a position to fill in the gaps “– Brian Burke, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Checklist

You will find the following checklist useful to help you decide whether or not you want all staff to undertake the Care Certificate. If you answer no to one or more questions, this could be an indication that all staff would benefit from its introduction.

Care Certificate Checklist

Further resources

Care Certificate standards self-assessment tool: information for employers and staff – Guidance on how to self-assess against the standards in the Care Certificate.

The Care Certificate Mapping – The Skills for Health Guide to mapping The Care Certificate to other standards and training.

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Step 2: Plan the programme

You need a structured programme of teaching, learning and assessment to enable your learners to meet the standards within the Care Certificate. A useful starting point is to make links between the knowledge elements (theory) and skills within the standards to the practical work tasks that the learner carries out so that they can practice what they are learning and apply it to their day-to-day work.

Example: St Christopher’s Hospice

St Christopher’s Hospice deliver the Care Certificate in-house. This illustration shows their delivery and assessment model.

St Chrisopher's Hospice process

Delivering the knowledge requirements

You can plan to deliver the knowledge requirements for the Care Certificate using one or more of the methods below:

  • Blended Learning - combines face-to-face learning with eLearning.
  • Classroom Learning – is where learners attend face-to-face sessions away from the workplace led by a trainer or teacher. This method allows the trainer to plan sessions and to use a range of methods and resources according to learners’ needs.
  • One-To-One Learning – allows the trainer or coach to create and implement a tailored learning plan to meet the individual learner’s needs
  • eLearning – an online method of delivering the knowledge required for the Care Certificate. It allows learners to learn at a time and place of their choice whilst also allowing for flexibility around work commitments.

Making sure learners gain the skills they need

Here are some methods you could use to ensure learners gain the skills and behaviours they need to meet the standards within the Care Certificate:

  • Mentoring – is where learners learn from more experienced staff members who also support them with their learning
  • On the job coaching – is where learners receive targeted help and feedback with putting skills and tasks into practice whilst carrying out their work. The coach or mentor could be the same person.
  • Work-shadowing – is where learners observe more experienced staff members carrying out their duties. They might also carry out particular tasks whilst under supervision.
  • Reflective practice – is where you ask learners to reflect on what they have learned. For example, you might ask them to observe another member of staff, say what they have learned, ask them what this means for their future practice, and to keep a record of this during their training.

Adopting a holistic approach

The standards within the Care Certificate are broken down into fifteen, individual areas that contain both knowledge and performance criteria – things learners must know and be able to do. In contrast, the day-to-day tasks carried out by carers at work normally cover several standards.

For example, carers communicate with patients (standard 6) whilst providing food and nutrition (standard 8). At the same time, they apply policies and procedures as they work (standards 3 and 4) and complete records (standard 14).

Grouping tasks together in this way is known as a ‘holistic approach’ to teaching, training and assessment. The benefits of adopting a holistic approach are that the learner can relate their learning directly to the tasks they carry out at work and they are more likely to remain motivated when learning.

Example of the holistic approach to delivering the Care Certificate

The team at St Christopher’s adopted a holistic approach to delivery and assessment at the planning stage using the following steps:

  1. They started with the tasks the learner carries out in the workplace and linked these to appropriate performance-based assessment criteria. These became the basis for the observations carried out at assessment.
  2. Second, they sorted the standards and assessment criteria into those that were knowledge and performance-based.
  3. Next, they grouped together any assessment criteria that covered the same tasks or any that contained similar areas of knowledge.
  4. These were given a title and the topics were used as the basis for their scheme of work and for session planning. Example topics used on Day 1 of their three-day classroom-based programme of training include:

holistic approach st Christophers

Notice how topics do not follow the standards in order. Topics may also cover several assessment criteria from several standards at once.

You can see an example of holistic assessment on pages 18 – 21.

Top tips

  1. The standards in the Care Certificate are for assessment purposes. They are not the curriculum nor do they describe any specialist or specific areas of knowledge and/or practice that may need to be taught (for example, if you are caring for children or specialise in palliative care). You will need to include any specific teaching relevant to your area at the planning stage.
  2. Plan your assessment strategy when you plan your curriculum of teaching and learning to ensure all the standards are covered and learners know exactly what is expected of them from the start.
  3. Delivering and assessing standard-by-standard involves unnecessary repetition and unwieldy documentation so is best avoided.
  4. Don’t buy an eLearning package and expect learners to get through the Care Certificate by themselves. eLearning can only assess knowledge not competence. Most packages have inbuilt support that tells the learner how well they are doing, however, someone within your organisation needs to take responsibility for reviewing progress against the standards of the Care Certificate with the learner as they go. This could be an assessor, a work colleague, a trainer, or an experienced member of staff.
  5. Be wary of commercial training providers offering to deliver the Care Certificate to your staff within a short period such as a week or a fortnight: new entrants need time to transfer knowledge to their workplace setting and acquire the necessary skills and behaviours before they can meet the standards. The recommended induction period is 12 weeks, however, it can take longer depending on each individual’s needs and the hours they work. For example, part-time staff will take significantly longer to meet the standards than those working full-time.
  6. Remember, the Care Certificate forms part of other programmes of Adult Care and Health Care, including apprenticeships. If this applies to you, you should be negotiating who delivers what, including payment, with your training provider.

“Remember - the Care Certificate requires real work and practice: learners need practical experience which cannot be taught in a classroom” – Candace Miller, Skills for Health

“We’ve adapted our Care Certificate training to the learner’s work because we felt it vital that the training is relatable and transferable to their job role” – Christine Pearcy, Basildon & Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Further considerations

You will also need to take the following points into consideration when planning your delivery of the Care Certificate:

1. Re-visiting your recruitment processes

The standards within the Care Certificate require basic levels of literacy and numeracy to be met, so you may consider introducing diagnostic testing for potential employees to gauge how much support they will need.

2. Recognising prior learning

If you have a potential employee who already possesses a relevant qualification or who has achieved one or more relevant units as part of another qualification, or who has experience within the sector, then they may already possess the knowledge and skills to meet the standards within the Care Certificate. If you have a learner who claims they already have relevant knowledge or experience and can prove it to you, for example, by you observing them in action, then you might decide they do not need to undertake the Care Certificate.

This process is known as Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and it allows you to take account of existing learning, experience and/or achievements that the person brings with them. Whether you decide they need to meet the requirements of the Care Certificate or not, It’s important to look for evidence of their knowledge and performance as you will need to provide this to the CQC for inspection purposes. Remember too, you need to take account of anything potential employees bring with them at the recruitment and initial assessment stages, before their induction period.

3. Deciding which parts of the Care Certificate you can deliver in-house and any you want to outsource.

Delivering in-house means allocating experienced staff to supervise, train and assess to the standards. This will involve:

  • Deciding who will teach the knowledge and skills related to the standards
  • Deciding who will supervise new employees during their induction period
  • Deciding who will assess to the standards
  • Providing training and remission for those involved in delivery and assessment
  • Re-writing job descriptions as necessary.

Outsourcing means paying individuals or organisations with appropriate expertise to supply resources and/or services, for example:

  • E-learning packages
  • Training sessions
  • Assessment against the standards
  • Standardisation of assessment

Staff training such as assessor or trainer training.

Further resources

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The Care Certicate - Assess Against The Standards

Step 3. Assess against the standards

The assessment process

When learners have acquired the necessary knowledge and skills, and are putting these into practice within their jobs, the next step is to assess their performance against the standards in the Care Certificate.

The standards within the Care Certificate combine:

  • Knowledge – requiring learners to show their knowledge and understanding
  • Skills and performance - requiring learners to demonstrate application of this knowledge and the necessary skills within their working environment
  • Behaviours – requiring learners to adopt appropriate attitudes and values when supporting those in their care.

This means that learners need to be assessed on how they combine their knowledge, skills and behaviours within the Care Certificate standards whilst working with patients and clients. In the same way as delivering teaching and learning, this means adopting a holistic approach to assessment, grouping standards together according to the work task carried out by the learner and the assessment methods used by the assessor.

Assessing skills and performance

How and when you assess the learners’ skills depends on whether or not they are performing to the standards on a regular basis and are ready to be assessed. Here are the main methods the assessor should use:

  • Observation of performance is where the assessor observes the learner carrying out their day-to day work and assesses their performance against the standards.
  • Observation by someone other than the assessor is where a person other than the assessor provides a written or oral account of the learner’s competence in cases where patient dignity and confidentiality mean the assessor cannot observe first-hand. This supporting statement is also known as a ‘Witness Testimony’ and could be provided by an experienced work colleague, a manager or a patient if appropriate.

Assessing knowledge

Here are some of the methods you can use to assess learners’ knowledge:

  • Written work such as answers to written questions or using workbooks containing ‘What would you do if … ?’ questions based on real-life case studies.
  • Oral questioning and discussion is where the assessor uses structured questioning to enable the learner to demonstrate what they know against particular standards.

The methods you choose depend on your circumstances. For example, you can ask learners to use workbooks with support from trainers or colleagues whilst they learn, then assess their written work against the standards when they have finished. Alternatively, you might choose to buy an e-learning package linked to the Care Certificate and use learners’ online work as evidence of their knowledge. Either way, the assessor would normally question the learner and discuss with them to check their understanding.

Example

The following example from St Christopher’s shows how the standards can be linked when assessing, followed by an assessor observation. Here are some points to note when reading the observation:

  • The assessor describes what they see the learner doing and gives detailed examples of how the standards were met (rather than ticking boxes or repeating the assessment criteria verbatim)
  • Having seen the learner in action, they then make the links to the standards
  • The observation has been quality checked by the Internal Quality Assurer (IQA) to ensure validity and consistency.

Standards that link – Observing an episode of patient care

The carer must be able to demonstrate:

Assessor Testimony Example 1

Assessor Testimony 2

Recording progress

Learners must take responsibility for providing evidence of their knowledge. You can ask learners to be responsible for recording their own progress towards achieving the Care Certificate, however, you will need to support them throughout their learning process by meeting with them regularly and reviewing their progress so that they are confident when it comes to being assessed.

Top tips

  1. Make sure your trainers and assessors don’t over-support the learner to meet the standards at assessment and do the work for them. For example, if the assessor is also a close colleague they may genuinely think they are helping the learner. It’s important to separate the learning process from that of assessment against the standards or you risk compromising the basic standards of care within your organisation.
  2. Aim for a holistic approach to assessment: this means planning in advance to cover as many standards and assessment criteria as possible linked to the work tasks being observed each time the assessor assesses. Don’t assess each standard in isolation.

Further resources

  1. Workbooks linked to the Care Certificate - These are free workbooks that cover the knowledge aspects of the Care Certificate. They allow the learner to take a self-guided route through the standards with the support of their team. The completed workbooks can be presented as evidence for assessment.
  2. The Care Certificate Framework: Guidance Document – An introduction to the Care Certificate Framework.
  3. The Care Certificate Framework: Assessor Document – Detailed guidance for assessors of the Care Certificate.
  4. The following templates can be adapted for use as recording documentation within your organisation:

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Ensure assessors reach consistent assessment decisions

Step 4. Ensure assessors reach consistent assessment decisions

It is important to ensure all assessors of the Care Certificate reach their assessment decisions consistently to ensure fairness and to maintain the standards within the Care Certificate. This process is known as standardisation of assessment and it means having processes and procedures in place to enable assessors to reach their decisions in the same way, using similar procedures and accepting similar standards of evidence of performance from those they are assessing.

The person responsible for the quality of assessment is known as the internal quality assurer or internal verifier and is someone with experience of vocational assessment. They are responsible for observing assessors in action and holding regular standardisation meetings.

There are benefits to linking standardisation of assessment to overall quality improvement because assessors are well placed to gauge how well learners are performing within their jobs. For example, they will pick up on any poor practice during observations if learners are not meeting the standards. Equally, they will see the benefits of any training you might buy-in or deliver when they assess learners’ performance in the workplace.

How does QA of assessment work in practice?

Here are some of the areas the internal quality assurer is responsible for, the reasons why they take responsibility, and what they do in practice:

QA of assessment

Top tips

1. Consider holding standardisation meetings with other organisations offering the Care Certificate and using these as a way of improving the quality of assessment overall.

2. If you decide to outsource standardisation of assessment of The Care Certificate, you will need to know the outcomes of the standardisation process as these may have wider implications for other parts of the programme. For example, if learners fail to meet the standards it may be that they lack the necessary knowledge or skills, which will have implications for any teaching and learning you carry out.

‘It is important to remember the reasons why the Care Certificate was first introduced. If you have inadequate assessment and standardisation, you will allow learners with inadequate skills in caring for individuals to achieve the standards.’ - Janine Wilson, Skills for Health

Resources

Read, H (2012), The best quality assurer’s guide, Bideford, Devon, UK.

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Train and support staff

Step 5. Train and support staff

Training for in-house staff

Here are some of the areas where in-house staff with responsibility for supporting learners may need training:

  • Capturing observations: where support staff are acting as witnesses for the learner, they may need help to write or record observations when the assessor cannot be present.
  • Carrying out progress reviews and giving feedback to the learner on their performance
  • Work-based coaching and mentoring helping learners to carry out tasks and acquire basic skills.

Assessor competence

You need competent assessors within your organisation or access to someone who can perform the role for you. The assessor can be anybody who is ‘occupationally competent’. This means they need to be able to perform the tasks competently themselves and possess the necessary knowledge and understanding of the standard they are assessing learners against.

If your proposed assessor has not assessed the Care Certificate before or lacks confidence in reaching robust assessment decisions, then you may wish to consider further training. Those assessing the Care Certificate are not required to hold an assessor qualification, but there is an expectation that they will have undertaken some preparation to assist them with the process of assessment. The Care Certificate guidance for assessors says:

“There is no requirement for assessors of the Care Certificate to hold any assessor qualification; the employer must be confident that the person with this responsibility is competent to assess. We would suggest that where the assessor doesn’t hold a relevant qualification that they should be familiar with and work to the standard set out in the National Occupational Standard LSILADD09 ‘Assess learner achievement’.” The Care Certificate Framework: Assessor Document (page 3).

Recognised training ensures that consistent standards of assessment are applied across your organisation. Larger organisations often have more than one assessor for different standards, for example, a safeguarding specialist to assess the safeguarding standard, but don’t adopt a ‘one standard at a time’ approach to assessment overall or you will waste time and resources.

Here are some of the areas where assessors may need training and support:

  • assessment planning with learners: for example, arranging for observations and oral questioning to fit with learners’ day-to-day tasks and responsibilities.
  • a working knowledge of the standards and assessment criteria within the Care Certificate
  • the processes and documentation they must use
  • how to contribute to the standardisation process, including attendance at meetings.
  • providing feedback to the learner especially when the learner is not meeting the standards or making progress.

Top tips

  1. Partner with other organisations to share assessors, internal quality assurers, trainers and resources if you lack any of these or the resources to train them.
  1. Make sure you align learners’ shifts with those of their trainers and assessors so that there is time for on-job coaching, progress reviews and assessment to take place.
  1. Allow at least three hours’ structured supervision time per week per learner as part of a structured programme of teaching, learning and assessment. Learners needing more support to meet the standards will need more time.
  1. Allow remission time for delivery staff and learners as follows:

for trainers to prepare and deliver any formal training and/or time for learners to attend

for assessors to assess learners against the standards and to give feedback on what they have achieved.

  1. You can outsource assessment, but it is your responsibility as the employer to verify that standards have been met and to award the Care Certificate.

Further resources

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Step 6. Award the Care Certificate

Step 6. Award the Care Certificate

When final assessments have taken place, you will want to hold a final review session with the learner to confirm their achievements against the standards, review progress overall, and identify their further development needs and career aspirations. Once you are happy that the individual learner has demonstrated their knowledge and skills and has met all the Care Certificate standards, you can print off and sign their certificate. The certificate can be found here.

Top tips

  1. It is worth remembering that as the employer, your Registered Manager is ultimately responsible for signing off the Care Certificate.
  2. Keep all learner records as you will need these for future reference:

“Make sure you keep detailed records of the training and individual progress reviews you carry out with learners as these may be required at a later date as evidence of learning or for CQC inspections “- Janine Wilson, Skills for Health.

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Further resources

Further resources

Certificate template – Word and PDF versions of the certificate with space for you to add your own logo.

Written by

David Evans and Hilary Read.

Acknowledgements

Grateful thanks go to the following people for their contributions to the toolkit:

  • Lucy Blinko, Skills for Health
  • Charlie Bobin, NHS Blood & Transplant
  • Brian Burke, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sally Garbett, St Christopher’s Hospice
  • Candace Miller, NSA Health
  • Christine Pearcy, Basildon & Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Christina Pond, Skills for Health
  • Angelo Varetto, Skills for Health
  • Janine Wilson, Skills for Health

Further links

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The Skills Platform specialises in helping you to find Health and charity training, listing only accredited and quality providers for you to work with. You can find local and national providers offering anything from face to face training to eLearning and downloadable resources. https://www.skillsplatform.org/