All 16 standards written by Skills for Care and Skills for Health — the induction the CQC expects every new care worker to complete — delivered as one guided course on Care2Learn, tracked automatically, with a dated certificate the moment they pass.
The Care Certificate is the agreed starting point for anyone new to health and social care. It sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours a care worker must demonstrate to provide safe, compassionate, person-centred care from their very first shift.
It's built around 16 standards defined nationally by Skills for Care and Skills for Health, and applies across every setting — home care, residential and nursing homes, supported living and hospices.
On Care2Learn, the 16 standards are delivered as one guided course rather than a stack of disconnected modules — so a new starter has a single, clear path from day one to certificate.
CQC inspectors look for it. Providers are expected to evidence that new staff are working towards or have completed the Care Certificate. On Care2Learn it's tracked automatically and appears in your compliance reporting.
It de-risks induction. A consistent, complete grounding means fewer gaps, safer care, and a confident new team member.
It travels with the carer. The certificate and portfolio are issued in the carer’s own name, downloadable at any time and verifiable by a future employer — so the record belongs to the carer, not to one employer’s filing system.
The Care Certificate isn't a legal qualification, but it's the benchmark the CQC expects providers to meet for staff who are new to the sector. It's designed for anyone who:
Each standard is a guided module with clear content, knowledge checks and an assessment — everything a new carer needs to be ready to practise.
The Care Certificate is a nationally defined framework maintained by Skills for Care and Skills for Health, and is kept under review to stay aligned with best practice. Care2Learn keeps its course content up to date as that guidance changes.
Add your new starter and assign the Care Certificate in a couple of clicks — or pick them by name.
They work through all 16 standards at their own pace, on any device, with knowledge checks along the way.
Each standard ends with an assessment, then your assessor confirms every outcome and records a short professional discussion — all in the platform.
Once every standard is signed off, a dated certificate is issued with a printable portfolio, stored in their record.
Content covering every one of the 16 standards, written for clarity and kept current as national guidance evolves — so new carers gain a genuine, thorough grounding.
Aligned to the Skills for Care and Skills for Health standards the CQC expects — with signed-off outcomes, recorded professional discussions and a printable portfolio, so induction can be evidenced at inspection down to the individual outcome.
One course, any device, any pace. Assign it, and Care2Learn handles tracking, reminders and the certificate — removing the stress of inducting new staff.
One credit is £4. The Care Certificate is a full 16-standard induction, so it uses 2 credits — or it's included at no extra cost on an Unlimited subscription.
The Care Certificate uses 2 credits (£8) per learner. Every other course is 1 credit (£4). Credits never expire, and you only buy what you need.
On an Unlimited subscription the Care Certificate — and every other course — is included at no extra cost, for your whole team, with no credit counting.
Like every online Care Certificate, the course itself delivers the knowledge component for all 16 standards. To award the full Care Certificate, the learner's practical competence must also be observed in the workplace and signed off by a manager or competent assessor — that judgement is, and stays, the employer's. What Care2Learn now does is capture it properly: your assessor confirms every individual outcome of each standard, records a short professional discussion in the learner's own words, and signs off electronically — building a printable portfolio of the whole certificate, both halves, ready for induction files and inspection. No provider can award the Care Certificate entirely online; we simply make the workplace half as organised as the online half.
Last reviewed 3 September 2026 against the Skills for Care standards.
The Care Certificate is not a legal qualification, but it is the expected standard the Care Quality Commission looks for in staff who are new to adult social care. Providers are expected to evidence that new staff are working towards or have completed it.
There are 16 standards. The framework was updated in March 2025, when a sixteenth standard covering awareness of learning disability and autism was added to the original 15. Some training providers still advertise 15 standards, which reflects the pre-2025 version.
On Care2Learn the Care Certificate costs £8 per person — two credits at £4 each. There is no minimum order and no subscription. Across the wider market, online Care Certificate courses typically run from about £15 to £60 per learner.
Skills for Care, Skills for Health and NHS England reviewed the standards in 2025. A sixteenth standard was added covering awareness of learning disability and autism, and the framework was aligned to the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification.
No. Online learning covers the knowledge element of all 16 standards. The Care Certificate is only awarded once a competent assessor has observed the learner in practice and signed them off. Any provider claiming to award it entirely online is overstating what e-learning can do. On Care2Learn that workplace half is recorded in the platform: the assessor confirms every individual outcome, records a professional discussion, and signs off electronically — so both halves live in one evidenced, printable portfolio.
The knowledge element usually takes 12 to 18 hours of self-paced study. Overall completion depends on how quickly workplace observations can be arranged, and most providers allow around 12 weeks from induction.
Anyone new to health and social care in a non-regulated role: care assistants, support workers, healthcare assistants and assistant practitioners. It is designed for staff without a relevant prior qualification.
If they deliver direct care, yes. CQC expects the same induction standard regardless of how someone is employed. Many providers ask agency staff to evidence a completed Care Certificate before their first shift.
The Care Certificate itself does not expire and does not need repeating when someone changes employer. However, a new employer may want to assure themselves of competence, and the individual mandatory courses within it — such as moving and handling or basic life support — do need periodic refreshing.
No. The Care Certificate is an induction standard, not a qualification. The Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate is a formal regulated qualification introduced alongside the 2025 update. The Care Certificate standards were aligned to it, but they remain separate things.
Standard 16 is Awareness of Learning Disability and Autism. It was added in March 2025 and covers recognising and responding to the needs of autistic people and people with a learning disability, including reasonable adjustments and communication.
At sign-off, each standard carries short prompting questions — 45 across the programme — that the assessor asks and records in the learner's own words. Learners can see the questions in advance, so nobody walks into their assessment cold, and the recorded answers appear on the printed portfolio as evidence that understanding was genuinely checked rather than just ticked.
The certificate belongs to the individual. On Care2Learn every completion is certificated in the carer's name with the completion date and renewal date, and can be downloaded at any time — along with the printed Care Certificate portfolio showing the signed-off outcomes and professional discussion for every standard. We recommend carers save copies as they go.
See the Care Certificate inside Care2Learn alongside every other mandatory course, with compliance tracking built in. Book a short demo, or start today.