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Training for Care Providers: Mandatory, Specialist, and Leadership Courses Aligned to CQC Standards
Care Sync Experts delivers bespoke training programmes for domiciliary care agencies, supported living services, care homes, and specialist care providers across England.
Care Sync Experts delivers bespoke training programmes for domiciliary care agencies, supported living services, care homes, and specialist care providers across England. We do not sell generic e-learning courses. We design and deliver training that is tailored to your service type, your team's experience levels, and the specific regulatory requirements that apply to your registered activities.
Whether you are setting up a new care agency and need to build your training framework from scratch, or you are an established provider preparing for a CQC inspection, our training service gives your team the knowledge and confidence to deliver outstanding care.
What Training Do Care Workers Need?
Statutory Training
Skills for Care published its statutory and mandatory training guide for adult social care employers in August 2024, which replaced the previous "core and mandatory" terminology. This guide sets out the training all adult social care workers are expected to complete.
Mandatory Training
There is no single fixed list of mandatory training courses that applies to every care organisation because the exact requirements depend on your service type, the people you support, the activities your staff perform, and the risks present in your operating environment. However, all care organisations have a legal responsibility to provide training in the following core areas.
Specialist Training
Care worker training falls into three categories: statutory training required by law, mandatory training required by your organisation to meet CQC standards and best practice, and specialist training tailored to the specific needs of your service users.
Care Certificate Standards Explained
All 15 Care Certificate standards explained with practical guidance for domiciliary care and supported living providers. Covers induction requirements, assessment methods, and CQC expectations.
Statutory and Mandatory Training Areas
Health & Safety
Health and safety awareness covers workplace risk assessments, hazardous substances (COSHH), personal protective equipment (PPE), and accident reporting under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Fire Safety
Fire safety training covers fire prevention, evacuation procedures, fire extinguisher use, and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs) under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Safeguarding Adults
Safeguarding adults training equips your team to recognise, respond to, and report abuse and neglect in line with Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 and local safeguarding partnership procedures.
Safeguarding Children
Safeguarding adults training equips your team to recognise, respond to, and report abuse and neglect in line with Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 and local safeguarding partnership procedures.
Moving & Handling
Moving and handling training covers safe techniques for assisting people with mobility, including the use of hoists, slings, slide sheets, and stand aids, in line with the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.
Infection Prevention & Control
Infection prevention and control training covers hand hygiene, PPE use, the chain of infection, outbreak management, and cleaning protocols.
Basic Life Support
Basic life support covers adult CPR, recovery position, choking response, and when to call emergency services.
Medication Awareness
Medication awareness training covers safe storage, administration, recording on MAR charts, PRN protocols, controlled drugs, medication errors, and covert administration under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Food Safety & Hygiene
Food safety and hygiene training is required for staff involved in preparing food or assisting at mealtimes, covering food handling, storage temperatures, allergen awareness, and nutritional needs.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Equality, diversity, and inclusion training covers the Equality Act 2010, protected characteristics, reasonable adjustments, and culturally sensitive care delivery.
Mental Capacity and DOLS
Mental capacity and deprivation of liberty training covers the five principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, capacity assessments, best interest decisions, and DoLS authorisation processes.
Data Protection
Data protection and information governance training covers the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, including handling personal data, record keeping, confidentiality, and breach reporting.
Learning Disability & Autism
Learning disability and autism awareness training was added to the Care Certificate standards in the March 2025 update and is now expected for all care workers under the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training framework.
Duty of Candour
Duty of candour training covers Regulation 20 requirements for openness and transparency when things go wrong, including the notification and apology process.
Our training service covers all of these statutory and mandatory areas, tailored to your service type and delivered in a way that builds genuine understanding rather than tick-box compliance
The Care Certificate:
16 Standards for New Care Workers
Updated March 2025The Care Certificate was developed jointly by Skills for Care, NHS England, and Skills for Health to define the minimum knowledge, skills, and behaviours expected of new health and social care workers. CQC expects providers to demonstrate that new staff have achieved, or are working towards, the Care Certificate as part of their induction.
All Living Plus Carers Complete These 16 Standards
- 1Understand your role
- 2Your personal development
- 3Duty of care
- 4Equality and diversity
- 5Work in a person-centred way
- 6Communication
- 7Privacy and dignity
- 8Fluids and nutrition
- 9Awareness of mental health and dementia
- 10Safeguarding adults
- 11Safeguarding children
- 12Basic life support
- 13Health and safety
- 14Handling information
- 15Infection prevention and control
- Latest16Awareness of learning disability and autism
New workers must complete the Care Certificate within 12 weeks of starting the process. CQC inspectors check Care Certificate completion records as evidence that your induction programme meets the expected standard.
We deliver Care Certificate training as part of our new staff induction programme. We can deliver the full 16 standards or supplement your existing induction with the standards your team has not yet covered.
Our Training Service: What We Deliver
We structure our training around five areas that cover the complete learning and development journey for care providers.
We build and deliver induction programmes that meet the Care Certificate standards and give new starters a clear understanding of your policies, the people they will support, and their own responsibilities from day one. This includes shadowing structures, competency sign-off, and the induction records CQC inspectors expect to see.
We deliver the full range of statutory and mandatory courses your registered activities require, from health and safety and safeguarding through to moving and handling, medication awareness, and infection prevention and control, with refresher scheduling built around your rota.
Practical workshops that translate CQC quality statements and inspection expectations into what your team actually needs to do day to day. Ideal for services preparing for a first inspection or working through an improvement plan after a rating of Requires Improvement.
Development for registered managers, deputies, and senior carers covering supervision and appraisal, performance management, governance and audit, safeguarding leadership, and the personal accountability the CQC places on the registered manager role.
Training tailored to the people you support, including dementia care, learning disability and autism, positive behaviour support, end of life care, and other condition-specific competencies relevant to your service users.
Duty of Candour in Health and Social Care
Duty of candour is a legal requirement under Regulation 20. Our guide explains what counts as a notifiable safety incident, the steps you must follow, and what happens if you fail to comply
How We Deliver Training
We deliver training through the method that works best for your team and your service.
Face-to-Face Training
Face-to-face training is delivered at your location by experienced trainers who understand the care sector. Practical skills like moving and handling, basic life support, and medication administration are always delivered face to face because competency can only be assessed through observed practice.
Online Live Sessions
Online live sessions are delivered through video conferencing for topics that do not require hands-on practice. This is ideal for teams spread across multiple locations or for services with shift patterns that make group sessions difficult to arrange.
Blended Learning
Blended learning combines face-to-face practical sessions with online theory modules. This reduces the time your staff spend away from service delivery while ensuring practical competencies are assessed in person.
We schedule training sessions around your operational needs. We understand that care services run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and your training programme needs to work around that reality.
Training and CQC inspections: what inspectors check
Under the Single Assessment Framework, CQC assesses training as part of the "well-led" key question and across several quality statements. Inspectors look for evidence that your staff have the knowledge, skills, and competence to deliver safe, effective care.
Specifically, CQC inspectors check for:
- A current training matrix showing completed courses and refresher dates for each staff member
- Evidence that new staff have completed or are working towards the Care Certificate within 12 weeks
- Supervision and appraisal records that link training to practice and identify further development needs
- Evidence that specialist training is matched to the needs of the people you support
- Records showing training has been refreshed at appropriate intervals (typically annually or every 2–3 years)
We build training matrices as part of our training service and provide them in a format that is easy to maintain and update. The matrix includes conditional formatting that highlights upcoming expiry dates so you can schedule refresher training before gaps appear.
Building Your Training Matrix
A training matrix is the document that maps every staff member against every required training topic, showing completion dates, certificate expiry dates, and refresher dates. CQC inspectors routinely review training matrices during inspections, and a well-maintained matrix demonstrates that you take staff development seriously.
Your training matrix should include all statutory and mandatory training topics, Care Certificate completion status for new workers, specialist training relevant to your service users, leadership and management training for senior staff, and refresher dates that trigger retraining before certificates expire.
If you are starting a new care agency, the training matrix is one of the documents CQC expects to see during registration and inspection. Our domiciliary care startup package and supported living startup package both include a training matrix as standard.
Why choose Care Sync Experts for your training
We are not an e-learning platform. We are a care sector consultancy that understands how training connects to CQC compliance, quality improvement, and the day-to-day reality of delivering care. Here is what sets our training apart.
Training tailored to your service
We do not deliver the same generic course to every client. We assess your service type, your team's experience, your service users' needs, and your CQC registration requirements, and we design a training programme that addresses your specific situation.
Trainers who understand care
Our training is delivered by professionals who have worked in health and social care, understand CQC inspections from the inside, and can connect regulatory requirements to practical care delivery.
Integrated with your wider support
If you are also using our CQC registration service, our policy development service, or one of our startup packages, your training programme is aligned with the rest of your compliance framework. Your policies reference the training your staff receive, your training matrix reflects your statement of purpose, and your governance documents connect to your quality improvement cycle.
Support beyond the training session
Training is not a one-off event. We provide ongoing support including training matrix management, refresher scheduling, and guidance on emerging training requirements as regulations and best practice evolve.
Over 1,200 care providers have used our services. Our experience across domiciliary care, supported living, care homes, and specialist services means we understand the training requirements for every type of registered activity.
Safeguarding Adults in Social Care
A comprehensive guide to adult safeguarding under the Care Act 2014. Covers the six safeguarding principles, types of abuse, reporting procedures, and what CQC inspectors look for.
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