Mandatory training for care workers online in England

Regulation 18 does not say which care training must be face to face. It asks for the training "necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform", and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) guidance on it sets outcomes, not a delivery method¹. The exceptions sit in the standards behind the training: the Care Certificate says basic life support "cannot be awarded on eLearning or knowledge achievement only" and that moving and assisting people and hand hygiene must be observed in the workplace², and the Oliver McGowan code requires 1 day in person for staff who care for autistic people or people with a learning disability³. In the Care Certificate framework, e-learning can help evidence the knowledge criteria, as long as it has an associated assessment².

Regulation 18 is law. The Oliver McGowan code is a statutory code of practice: CQC must take it into account, and a provider that does not follow it has to explain why and show it protects people in another equally effective way¹³.

The Care Certificate and Skills for Care's statutory and mandatory training guide, updated December 2025, are guidance, not law. Skills for Care's guide sets expected content and refresher considerations⁴; the Care Certificate FAQ says providers "can use the Care Certificate standards as a framework to help them achieve" Regulation 18(2)(a)⁵.

Does CQC say which care training can be done online?

No. Regulation 18(2)(a) requires that staff "receive such appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal as is necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform"¹. Neither the regulation nor CQC's guidance on it, as last updated on 16 May 2025, uses the words online, e-learning, classroom or face to face¹.

CQC's guidance on Regulation 18 sets a sequence: induction, training needs assessed at the start of employment, and "Where appropriate, staff must be supervised until they can demonstrate required/acceptable levels of competence to carry out their role unsupervised"¹. CQC's guidance on Regulation 12 adds that staff using equipment need "the training, competency and skills needed", and that staff responsible for medication "must be suitably trained and competent and this should be kept under review"¹.

If your training matrix is a column of online certificates, it records completion. CQC's guidance on Regulation 18 asks for supervision until staff "can demonstrate required/acceptable levels of competence", and the Care Certificate assessor guide says "eLearning without summative assessment of what has been learnt is not evidence" toward its standards¹².

Learning disability and autism training is the exception: the statutory Oliver McGowan code fixes the format, down to who must be in the room³.

Which care training has to be practical or face to face?

The sources name a practical, observed or in-person element for 6 topics.

• Basic life support. Care Certificate Standard 12 requires the learner to "Complete practical basic life support training that meets the UK Resuscitation Council guidelines" and says the standard "cannot be awarded on eLearning or knowledge achievement only". Simulation is allowed inside formal basic life support training². Skills for Care's guide lists formal basic life support training "when identified or at least annually" among its recommended refresher frequency considerations⁴.
• Moving and assisting people. Criterion 13.3c, moving and assisting people and objects safely, "must be observed in the workplace as part of the support worker's normal work duties"². The Health and Safety Executive's general manual handling guidance ends its training list with "practical work so the trainer can identify anything the trainee is not doing safely and put it right"; HSE's care sector guide sends object handling to those pages and does not repeat the line for moving people, so applying it to people is one reading⁶.
• Hand hygiene and PPE. Criteria 15.1d, effective hand hygiene, and 15.1g, putting on and taking off PPE safely, must also be observed in the workplace².
• Medicines. Skills for Care cites NICE guidance that designated staff "should only administer medicines when they have had the necessary training and have been assessed as competent by the employer", and names medication administration as an example key task for the formal competency checks it describes as "observations of the workers practice whilst they are carrying out key tasks"⁴.
• Learning disability and autism, Tier 2. Staff who provide care and support need at least 1 day of interactive training, and "both the trainees and the trainers must attend in person for the one-day training"³.
• Fire safety. Fire safety knowledge can be tested by multiple choice questions². Skills for Care adds: "Practice fire drills should be held yearly as a minimum."⁴

Of those, the legal footing for medicines is Regulation 12, which asks for staff with "the qualifications, competence, skills and experience" to give care safely, and for "the proper and safe management of medicines"; the assessed-as-competent step comes from NICE guidance cited by Skills for Care¹⁴. The Tier 2 day rests on the statutory code³. The rest comes from the Care Certificate framework, HSE guidance and Skills for Care guidance²⁶⁴.

If your care workers never move people, the Care Certificate assessor guide allows role play or simulation for 13.3c². If they do, 13.3c must be observed in the workplace². Hand hygiene (15.1d), PPE (15.1g) and basic life support (Standard 12) do not depend on moving people, and no online course can sign them off alone either, nor any other criterion that starts with "demonstrate"².

Which mandatory training can be done online?

In the Care Certificate framework, e-learning can help evidence any criterion that tests what a worker knows. The Care Certificate assessor guide sorts its criteria by verb: knowledge criteria start with verbs such as "describe," "explain," "define," "list," or "identify", and can be assessed in writing, out loud or by multiple choice questions².

eLearning is primarily a way to acquire and demonstrate knowledge, not skill. Skills must be demonstrated and assessed in real work activity.

The Care Certificate standards updated 2025, Assessor and employer guide²

The Care Certificate assessor guide puts 1 condition on e-learning: where it is used, "it must have associated assessment e.g., questions/answers and/or multiple-choice questions"². E-learning with an assessment can help evidence knowledge criteria such as 13.7a in fire safety, and 13.3a (the legislation) and 13.3b (tasks a worker may not do until competent) in moving and assisting².

For learning disability and autism, an e-learning module of at least 90 minutes is compulsory for all staff, and the 1 hour of live interactive training for general awareness "can be delivered online"³. NHS England calls that route Tier 1. Staff on Tier 2 still do the e-learning, skip the 1 hour session, and go to the 1 day in person⁷.

Skills for Care's guide sets the content for adult safeguarding, health and safety awareness and food hygiene, and says nothing about whether you teach it online or in a room⁴. Skills for Care's own web page offers an eLearning bundle covering "eight key topics identified within part 1", without naming the 8⁴.

Can each mandatory topic be done online?

This table shows only what the sources read for this page say about method. Where a source is silent, the cell says so.

The table does not cover every topic your service needs. For additional training, Skills for Care says that in CQC-regulated settings "it continues to be the providers legal responsibility to identify and provide the appropriate additional training"⁴.

How does CQC judge whether your training works?

Against its quality statement "Safe and effective staffing", whose "What this quality statement means" list includes "Staff receive training appropriate and relevant to their role" and whose subtopics include "Learning, development and competency"⁸. Under that subtopic, CQC names the Oliver McGowan training and no other best practice guidance⁸.

For learning disability and autism, the Oliver McGowan code writes the test down. CQC "must take the code into account when assessing whether providers have met the relevant registration requirements", and providers "must demonstrate how their training arrangements meet all of the standards"³.

For moving and handling people, the Health and Safety Executive points CQC-registered providers in England to CQC as "the relevant regulatory body for patient safety matters"⁶. On Regulation 18 itself, CQC states: "CQC cannot prosecute for a breach of this regulation or any of its parts, but we can take regulatory action"¹.

CQC's guidance says staff work unsupervised once they "can demonstrate" competence, and that completed training "should be monitored"¹. None of the CQC pages read for this article says how an inspector treats your online moving and handling certificate.

What should you keep on file?

Skills for Care says employers have the responsibility to "check and evidence that workers are competent to carry out their role on an ongoing basis"⁴. Keep:

• Observation records. "Formal competency checks are observations of the workers practice whilst they are carrying out key tasks and should include checks of the workers practice and knowledge."⁴
• The assessment behind each e-learning module, since e-learning without summative assessment is not evidence toward the Care Certificate standards².
• Your training and development policy, with the competency check timescales Skills for Care says belong there⁴.
• The date each worker was signed off to work unsupervised, because Regulation 18 guidance ties unsupervised work to demonstrated competence¹.
• Learning disability and autism completion in your existing staff record system, unless the training provider specifies otherwise³.

The Care Certificate assessor guide rules out remote video or live recordings for assessing performance where they compromise the dignity and confidentiality of the people receiving care². If your file has an online certificate for every topic and no observation record, that file meets none of the "demonstrate" criteria by the guide's own test².

How to do it yourself

You can sort your mandatory training into online and practical with free material and the managers you already have. For 1 service with, say, 3 roles (care worker, senior care worker, coordinator), plan on 1 to 2 working days for the sort and the policy, then an observed check per worker for each practical topic. These times are working estimates, not Skills for Care or CQC figures.

For each observed check, the Care Certificate assessor guide says 1 span of duty may be enough, or more observations may be needed².

The tools: Skills for Care's December 2025 guide⁴; the Care Certificate assessor and employer guide and self-assessment tool²; the free-to-access elearning for healthcare Care Certificate program for the knowledge components⁵; and the Oliver McGowan e-learning, free to access in the UK⁷.

The steps:

1. List the topics for each role. Start from Skills for Care's part 1. Skills for Care attaches a test question to 3 topics, each answered by "If yes, training is required": assisting and moving people, food hygiene and medication⁴.
2. Split each topic by verb. Knowledge criteria ("describe," "explain," "list") go to e-learning with an assessment. Criteria that say "demonstrate," "take steps to," "use" or "show" go to an observed check in real work².
3. Book the practical pieces. Practical basic life support to Resuscitation Council UK guidelines², moving and assisting training with practical work (HSE's general manual handling guidance lists it; one reading for moving people)⁶, and Oliver McGowan Tier 2 for care and support roles³.
4. Name your assessors. An assessor must be competent in the standard being assessed; basic life support may need a different assessor².
5. Write the timescales into your policy. Skills for Care asks you to plan competency checks "based on the complexity of the activity" and document them in your training and development policies⁴.
6. Supervise until competent, then record the date. Where appropriate, CQC's guidance on Regulation 18 keeps staff supervised until they can demonstrate competence¹.

Step 2 can stall on the first file you open: a care worker whose moving and handling record is an online certificate and nothing else. That certificate covers 13.3a and 13.3b at most, and only if the course ended in an assessment².

Criterion 13.3c still "must be observed in the workplace"². HSE's general manual handling guidance lists practical work in training, which on one reading covers moving people⁶. Where appropriate, CQC's guidance on Regulation 18 keeps that worker supervised until they can demonstrate competence¹.

Budget for an observed check, and for practical training if the observer finds unsafe technique.

The 3 mistakes that cost the most

1. Buying e-learning with no assessment. Without summative assessment, the course is not evidence toward the Care Certificate standards².
2. Booking the 1 hour online session for staff who need Tier 2. Care and support roles need the 1 day in person³⁷.
3. A single observed check at induction and none after. Skills for Care asks for competence checks "on an ongoing basis"⁴, and Regulation 12 guidance says medication competence "should be kept under review"¹.

Questions people also ask

Can mandatory training for care workers be done online? In part. In the Care Certificate framework, e-learning can help evidence the knowledge criteria if it has an associated assessment. Basic life support, moving and assisting people, hand hygiene and PPE need a practical or observed element².

Can moving and handling training for carers be done online? Not on its own. The Care Certificate assessor guide says criterion 13.3c "must be observed in the workplace", and HSE's general manual handling guidance lists practical work as part of training²⁶.

Can the Care Certificate be done online? Partly. The free-to-access elearning for healthcare program lets a worker evidence the knowledge components, and "the use of eLearning alone cannot provide full achievement of the Care Certificate standards"⁵.

Is medication training online enough for a support worker? Not for giving medicines. NICE guidance cited by Skills for Care says designated staff should only administer medicines after training and an assessment of competence by you, the employer⁴.

Is Oliver McGowan training mandatory? The law requires CQC-registered providers to give staff learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role, to the standards in the statutory code. Oliver McGowan is the "preferred and recommended" package for it³⁷.