What are the mandatory training requirements for care homes?

Staff working in care homes provide important care and treatment to people who may be vulnerable. The carers’ skills and knowledge  will have a direct impact on the quality of care within the setting.

High quality training for care staff is an essential investment in the quality of the services that they provide. It ensures that the staff have the competencies needed to deliver excellent care and maintain the standards required of care providers. 

Meeting these standards will make your care setting more attractive, so investing in training for care home staff is not only a legal duty but also a wise commercial decision.

What is the mandatory training for care homes?

All health and social care workers must complete statutory and mandatory training, This includes both induction training when they are first hired and refresher training at regular intervals. This requirement applies to full time, part time and locum care home staff in job roles including:

• Nursing home nurses
• Residential care staff
• Support workers
• Care assistants
• Volunteer staff 

The requirements for mandatory training for carers can vary, depending on a number of factors. These include the size of the care setting, the services that it provides and the results of any risk assessments that have been carried out. 

Regulation 18 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 states that “providers must provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service at all times”.

This means that the care setting has an obligation to ensure that their staff receive the training and support that they need to be able to deliver care safely. They should also be enabled to study for additional qualifications that are relevant to their role.

As a general rule, mandatory care training programmes need to cover areas such as:

• Emergency First Aid at Work
• Health and Safety awareness 
• Food safety and hygiene
• Moving and handling of people
• Safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children
• Infection control
• Equality, diversity and human rights

Please see our full range of care home training courses for more options for mandatory training courses for carers.

Online care training courses provide a convenient and cost effective way to deliver mandatory care training. Online study removes the need to travel to a training centre so that the training can be completed at a convenient time and place.

Caredemy health and social care courses provide 12 months’ access to high quality online materials, and the straightforward Learner dashboard makes it simple for staff to keep track of their progress. The dashboard can also be used by employers to monitor their employees’ progress through the course and keep track of their certification, which is very useful at inspection time. 

All Caredemy training courses are written by industry experts to be fully CQC compliant and come with a 14 day Money Back guarantee.

To book a Caredemy health and social care training course simply visit our website. Alternatively you can plan your training programme by contacting our Student Support Team on 0203 488 7599 or by email at help@caredemy.co.uk.