In short
After the Care Certificate, healthcare assistants (HCAs) and care workers keep up statutory and mandatory refreshers on a set cycle, plus wider CPD agreed in supervision. In the NHS, Skills for Health’s Core Skills Training Framework sets resuscitation and information governance every year and most other subjects every three years. In adult social care, Skills for Care gives most core topics a minimum refresher period of three years, and basic life support at least annually.
NHS refreshers · Social care refreshers · “CPD accredited” · FAQs
Finishing the Care Certificate is a milestone, but it is a starting point: its standards are a recommended tool for the minimum training new care staff should receive during induction. This guide covers what HCAs and care workers keep up afterwards, and how to choose and record CPD that counts. For the basics, read our guide to what CPD means for care workers.
Where the expectation comes from
The Code of Conduct for Healthcare Support Workers and Adult Social Care Workers in England asks you to “strive to improve the quality of healthcare, care and support through continuing professional development”. That means keeping statutory and mandatory training up to date in agreement with your supervisor, taking part in CPD to reach the competence your role needs, and keeping an up-to-date training record. Skills for Care calls the Code voluntary but a sign of good practice, and the Code sets no number of CPD hours.
CQC Regulation 18 requires registered providers to give staff the training, professional development, supervision and appraisal they need, and to enable further qualifications where appropriate. Your employer’s policy sets your exact topics, levels and dates.
The Care Certificate is the foundation
The 16 Care Certificate standards, updated in March 2025, are aimed at people joining health or adult social care without past training or experience, including NHS HCAs. The official questions and answers (October 2025) say they do not replace statutory and mandatory training, and that experienced workers joining a new employer should have their knowledge checked for gaps or refreshers. Our Care Certificate guide lists every standard, and KCP’s Care Certificate course covers all 16 by live webinar or face to face.
NHS healthcare assistants: the Core Skills Training Framework
Skills for Health’s Core Skills Training Framework (CSTF) sets minimum learning outcomes and refresher frequencies, and Skills for Health asks NHS trusts in England to align to its England version 1.1 (June 2021), still the current version on its website. Required refreshers:
- Resuscitation (Levels 1 to 3): every year.
- Information governance and data security: every year.
- Infection prevention and control: Level 2 (staff giving direct patient care) every year; Level 1 every 3 years.
- Moving and handling: Level 2 (patient handling) every 2 years; Level 1 practical training for load handling every 3 years.
- Safeguarding adults and safeguarding children (Levels 1 to 3): every 3 years.
- Conflict resolution; equality, diversity and human rights; health, safety and welfare; preventing radicalisation: every 3 years.
- Fire safety: site-specific training at induction, then regular updates set by a training needs analysis, with assessment of competence every 2 years.
Changes in national guidance or local policy can trigger an earlier refresher, and a robust pre-assessment showing current knowledge and practice may mean you need not repeat one. The framework was opened to review in 2023, so check your trust’s current policy.
Care workers: Skills for Care’s refresher guidance
Skills for Care’s statutory and mandatory training guide for employers (updated December 2025) sets:
- Health and safety, fire safety, moving and handling objects, infection prevention and control, adult safeguarding: a minimum refresher period of three years, or sooner for a new risk or activity. A recognised adult social care qualification covering the topic means no refresher for three years from completion.
- Basic life support: formal training when identified or at least annually. First aid: every three years.
- Assisting and moving people, if your role includes it: at least every three years if you have had no additional training in that time.
- Child safeguarding: at least every three years, unless you have achieved the Care Certificate standards or a recognised qualification in that time.
- Food hygiene, if you handle food: every three years.
- Medication, if you support it: needs and competency reviewed if you have had no additional training within a year.
- Learning disability and autism: see the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice; the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is the government’s preferred and recommended training.
For additional topics such as dementia or end of life care, the employer sets refreshers. Our mandatory training checklist shows how to track it all on a training matrix.
The qualification route
In social care, Skills for Care calls the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate, launched in June 2024, the recognised and preferred standard for people entering the sector. It is Ofqual-regulated, built on the 16 Care Certificate standards, takes a new learner around 6 to 8 months, and replaces the Level 2 Diploma in Care (one you already hold remains a credible prior qualification). The Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care, usually 12 to 18 months, is often the next step, and employers may be able to claim Learning and Development Support Scheme funding. The government’s care workforce pathway maps progression from “new to care” to roles such as enhanced care worker.
In the NHS, Health Careers says HCAs may be offered apprenticeship qualifications such as the NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Healthcare Support Services or Level 3 Diploma in Healthcare Support, with routes to senior HCA, assistant practitioner or nursing associate. NHS England says support workers should have regular conversations about their learning, development and career ambitions.
What “CPD accredited” does and does not mean
The CPD Certification Service, an independent CPD accreditation organisation, describes accreditation as an independent assessment of courses, reviewed against its own criteria for structure and value. That is useful reassurance, but it does not:
- make a course a qualification – regulated qualifications are listed on Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications, which anyone can search;
- show on its own that a course meets your employer’s requirement – check the topic and level, and for NHS roles ask about CSTF alignment;
- prove practical competence – the Care Certificate questions and answers say good eLearning is mainly for knowledge, not skill, and the CSTF requires practical instruction for patient handling.
Choosing and recording CPD
Start with what is due on your employer’s policy, at the right level: the CSTF sets Level 2 infection prevention and control for staff giving direct patient care, so a Level 1 course alone may not be enough. Use online courses for knowledge and hands-on training for practical subjects such as moving and handling. Then build around the people you support, such as dementia or communication, and agree it in supervision. KCP’s online CPD platform has around 2,400 online CPD courses, and our courses page lists trainer-led options.
To record it, keep one log: date, title, provider, level, hours, what you learned and when it is next due, with the certificate. Skills for Care’s guide also recognises informal learning such as shadowing and reading. Bring the log, your Care Certificate and its portfolio to supervision.
CPD for healthcare assistants: FAQs
What CPD courses should a healthcare assistant take?
Start with the statutory and mandatory refreshers that fall due: the Core Skills Training Framework subjects in the NHS, or Skills for Care’s core topics in social care. Then add awareness courses linked to the people you support, such as dementia or end of life care, agreed with your supervisor.
Does the Care Certificate count as CPD?
It is best treated as your induction foundation. NHS England, Skills for Care and Skills for Health describe the Care Certificate standards as recommended, non-accredited standards for people new to care. Keep your certificate in your training record and build your CPD on top of it.
What does CPD accredited mean for care courses?
An accrediting organisation has assessed the course; the CPD Certification Service, for example, reviews courses against its own criteria for structure and value. It does not make a course a regulated qualification or, on its own, prove it meets your employer’s requirement.
Can I do CPD accredited care courses online?
Yes, for knowledge-based learning: the Core Skills Training Framework says eLearning can cover alignment for subjects such as infection prevention and control and information governance. Practical skills such as moving and handling people need practical instruction, so check which online courses your employer accepts.
Key takeaways
- The Care Certificate is the foundation; refreshers and CPD follow.
- NHS: the CSTF sets resuscitation and information governance every year, most subjects every three years.
- Social care: a minimum refresher period of three years for most core topics; basic life support at least annually.
- “CPD accredited” is not a qualification or proof of practical skill.
- Agree your CPD in supervision and keep one record.
Sources
Plan your next CPD step
Browse around 2,400 online CPD courses on KCP’s learning platform, or see all KCP courses, including the Care Certificate.