Working safely on your own — recognising when you are a lone worker, your employer's duties and yours, contact systems, first visits, de-escalation, when to leave, no-reply procedures and the effect lone working has on you.
What this course covers
- Recognise when you are working alone, including situations people do not count
- Explain your employer's legal duties and your own
- Identify the main risks of lone working in care and the controls that reduce them
- Use a lone worker contact system correctly and ask the right questions about yours
- Prepare for and carry out a first visit to an unfamiliar address safely
- De-escalate a situation that is turning, and disengage from one that has
- Report incidents and near misses, and recognise the effect of lone working on your wellbeing
How much does Lone Working training cost?
£4 per person on Care2Learn, with no minimum order and no subscription. If your team needs a full training matrix rather than one course, a subscription at £2 per learner per month covers every course in the catalogue — see the 2026 price comparison.
Who needs it
Care workers, support workers, senior carers, team leaders and registered managers across domiciliary, supported living, extra care and residential services. If you run waking nights, sleep-ins, community outings, or have anyone on shift who could not be heard from another part of the building, this applies to more of your staff than you would expect. Completion is recorded with the date taken and the date it is next due, so it appears correctly on your training matrix and can be evidenced at inspection.
What the learner receives
A certificate in their own name carrying the CPD Aligned seal, showing the completion date and the renewal date a year later, downloadable at any time. The record belongs to the learner, not just the employer — it travels with them rather than sitting in one provider's system.
Related courses
Providers usually assign these alongside Lone Working.
- Safeguarding Adults — 60 min online, £4 per person
- Health & Safety — 45 min online, £4 per person
- Positive Behaviour Support — 45 min online, £4 per person
You can also browse the full catalogue, or read about the Care Certificate for staff new to care.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Lone Working training take?
About 45 min of e‑learning, across 10 sections with 11 assessment questions. Learners can stop and resume at any point, and it works on a phone.
Is Lone Working CPD Aligned, and how is it assessed?
Yes — the certificate carries the CPD Aligned seal. The assessment is multiple choice with a pass mark of 70%; attempts are recorded and learners can retake it. Renewal is set at 12 months from the completion date, so the course reappears on your training matrix when it is due.
Is lone working training a legal requirement?
No law names it specifically. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess and manage the risks and to provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed. Training is how most services meet that, and CQC will look at it under Regulations 12 and 18.
Which HSE guidance is it based on?
INDG73(rev4), Protecting Lone Workers, published 2020. That revision added work-related violence, how managers keep in touch with lone workers, and the impact of lone working on stress and mental health. Earlier revisions are still widely circulated and are missing exactly those sections — worth checking what your current provider uses.
Does it cover domiciliary as well as residential?
Both. The section on arriving, working and leaving is written for visiting someone’s home; the sections on recognising lone working, risk, contact systems and wellbeing apply equally to waking nights and single-staff shifts inside a building.
Is this breakaway or physical intervention training?
No. It covers recognising escalation, verbal de-escalation and disengaging by leaving. Any physical technique requires accredited face-to-face training, and services whose risk assessments call for it need that separately.
Does this count towards the Care Certificate?
No — this is a standalone mandatory course rather than one of the Care Certificate standards. The Care Certificate is available as its own guided course for staff who are new to care.
Add Lone Working to your team
£4 per person, or included on a £2 per learner subscription.
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