I own a Domiciliary care agency and I am also the Manager. I wanted to ask, in regards with Care Certificate training, if I would want to deliver the training myself, would I need to be accredited to do so? Especially during the COVID, training providers are closed and are doing e-learning which I don’t feel content with.

Answered by Sheila Scott

Thank you for your email. Training during COVID is a hot topic, particularly for domiciliary care.  Registered managers are responsible for signing off the Care Certificate, an RM must be confident that the new worker is competent in their job role. Employers can choose how the Care Certificate is delivered and assessed for example; in-house or by working with an external training provider. Employers must also be confident that the Care Certificate assessor/trainer is occupationally competent in the standard(s) they are assessing or delivering. To delegate assessment responsibilities ( or if it is you delivering the training) you should ask yourself:

• Do they you have a thorough understanding and direct experience in what they are assessing?
• Are they/ you confident and competent in the skills required to assess in the workplace? (Remember they/you do not need a formal assessor qualification but some training about the principles of work-based assessment to a certain standard is recommended.)

I understand your concerns about training being fully e-learning and by using this approach you lose the ability to fully check the understanding and level of engagement of your learners. If you want to have a more blended approach you could consider doing some interactive sessions using Microsoft teams ( free if you have an NHS email address), Whatsapp or Zoom. This way you can share the learning materials online but also have better interaction. There are some great resources on Skills for Care Website that you may find useful. I hope this helps.