Skills for Care have published a new guide on statutory and mandatory training, which are both key aspects of any care worker induction.
Statutory training is training that is required by law or by a statutory body, such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) or Ofsted, in order to ensure care providers and their workers are meeting legal requirements.
Mandatory training refers to training that is compulsory based on local or national policies and government guidelines to ensure that staff know how to work safely.
Skills for Care’s new Statutory and mandatory training guide for adult social care employers sets out the training which all adult social care workers are required to complete. This includes the following subjects:
- Health and safety awareness
- Infection prevention and control
- Fire safety
- Moving and handling objects
- Safeguarding adults
- Learning disability and autism awareness
- Safeguarding children
Statutory and mandatory training must be refreshed
The guide explains that refresher training in these topics should be provided regularly. In most cases, course certifications will need to be refreshed at least every three years, if the worker has not achieved a recognised adult social care qualification within that time. Training may also need to be refreshed before this time if a new risk or activity is introduced in the setting or if legislation or guidance changes.
Depending on their exact role and responsibilities, additional training may be required for selected workers. This includes in the following subject areas:
- Medication administration
- Moving and assisting people
- Food hygiene
- Basic life support and first aid
Employers in adult social care have a duty to ensure that their staff are competent and should carry out regular checks to this effect. This includes assessing their practice and knowledge. For more complex care tasks, staff may have to be assessed more frequently.
The introduction of any new legislation, guidance and requirements will require additional assessments and may mean additional training is required.
Additional courses may complement statutory and mandatory training
In addition to the statutory and mandatory training courses that care workers must complete, employers should also provide additional training specific to the service needs and contract requirements.
For CQC-regulated care services, the onus is on the provider to identify and provide appropriate additional training for staff.
The Care Workforce Pathway for Adult Social Care provides useful guidance for further training for care workers.
Additional training subjects could include, but are not limited to:
- Effective Communication
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
- Person Centred Care and Support
- Positive Behaviour Support
- Personal Care
- End of Life Care
- Dementia Awareness
- Epilepsy and Emergency Medication
- Functional Skills
Care employers may also wish to consider training in aspects such as delegated healthcare tasks, mental health, specific conditions and clinical skills.
Skills for Care guidance for employers
Employers should ensure that their staff training and development requirements are fully and clearly documented in their relevant organisational policies. The training should relate to the care setting and the needs of the people being supported.
In their guide, Skills for Care also makes clear that it is important that the training provided to care workers enhances their confidence, knowledge and skills and enables competence to be easily demonstrated. To do this, training can be both formal, such as a scheduled training session or accredited learning programme, or informal, such as shadowing other staff members, reading or discussion.
Although Statutory and mandatory training should be provided as part of a care worker’s induction to the setting, Skills for Care states that, in general, training “should be prioritised in line with the needs of the service and people who draw on care and support.”
They explain:
“Not everything may be needed in an initial induction period, required training can be incorporated into a longer-term development plan which may typically include other learning and development opportunities to enable the worker to fulfil their role and aspirations.”
Basic principles for refresher training
Training should also be aligned with the setting’s process for ongoing supervisions and annual staff appraisals.
For additional training outside of the statutory and mandatory training subjects, there are not advised refresher periods, but Skills for Care says that a few basic principles can be applied in judging suitable refresher periods. These include:
- Has a new risk emerged / been introduced?
- Have care and support needs changed?
- Has the care environment changed?
- Have teams significantly changed?
- Are new care tasks / activities required?
- Have changes been made to legislation, best practices, guidance or policy?
- Is the worker deemed competent?
Statutory and mandatory training with a leading supplier
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider.
They deliver over 6,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, mental health, health and social care and other special focus topics.
Their course portfolio for health and social care includes statutory and mandatory training awards, clinical skills, special focus courses and higher level training for supervisors and managers.
They also have a wide range of courses that care providers may need to commission as additional training for their staff.
Their diverse portfolio spans subjects such as Infection Control and Prevention, Safeguarding Adults, Duty of Care, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Person Centred Care and Support and many others.
A Trainer at FRT, says:
“It is essential that care workers are given the tools they need to succeed – that is, to provide high quality, person-centred, compassionate and safe care that takes account of people’s specific needs and preferences. Statutory and mandatory training is the first vital step on this journey, and additional training also provides essential support.”
FRT have developed a brief summary guide of what employers need to know about statutory and mandatory care training.
For more information on the training provided by FRT, please call them on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.