All new healthcare assistants and social care support workers will need to get a Care Certificate in their first 12 weeks of employment.

All new healthcare assistants and social care support workers will need to get a Care Certificate in their first 12 weeks of employment. The Care Certificate assesses the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to provide safe, effective and compassionate care. It will be awarded to staff in health and care roles who can demonstrate that they meet each of the 15 Care Certificate standards, including:

• caring with privacy and dignity
• awareness of mental health (including dementia and learning difficulties)
• safeguarding
• communication
• infection control

It is referred to in the CQC’s guidance as a benchmark of how providers can meet the staffing regulations, and may be actively looked for by CQC inspection teams.

The Care Certificate was a recommendation from the Cavendish review, which made suggestions on how to improve the quality of care provided by health and care support workers in the wake of the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

More detailed information can be found here. Health Education England