Since care training moved substantially online, every training coordinator faces the same planning question: which courses can the team do by live webinar, and which genuinely need everyone in the same room? Choosing well saves money and rota headaches; choosing badly produces certificates without competence. Here is the honest version of the comparison, based on how we deliver both every week.
What live webinars do well
A live webinar is not e-learning. There is a real trainer, real questions, discussion and scenarios – just through a screen. For knowledge-based courses this format holds up extremely well: staff join from home or a quiet office, nobody travels, night staff can attend without an extra journey, and a team spread across several sites can train together. Webinars also make small-group refreshers affordable, because there is no venue or travel cost to absorb.
Courses that suit webinar delivery are the ones where the learning outcome lives in the head: safeguarding adults and children, equality and diversity, mental health and dementia awareness, infection prevention theory, communication, record keeping and duty of care. Tier 1 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is itself designed around a live online interactive session.
Where face-to-face is non-negotiable
Some skills live in the hands, and no screen can assess them. Chest compressions on a mannequin with an instructor correcting depth and rate; a hoist transfer practised until it feels safe; breakaway techniques in PMVA training; the confidence that comes from having physically done the thing. For these courses, face-to-face is not a preference but the point:
- Basic life support and emergency first aid – practical CPR and choking response.
- People moving and handling – equipment use and transfer techniques.
- PMVA – de-escalation roleplay and physical safety skills.
- Tier 2 Oliver McGowan training – the standard itself requires a face-to-face day.
Workplace assessment is the other immovable piece: the Care Certificate's skills standards must be observed in the learner's real work setting, whichever way the knowledge was taught.
Cost, rotas and completion rates
Webinars win on direct cost and rota disruption – an hour online is far easier to release staff for than a day away. Face-to-face wins on attention and completion: a room has no second screen, and practical days are remembered long after slides are forgotten. In our experience the completion-rate gap disappears when webinars are kept short, interactive and scheduled with the rota rather than against it.
The blended plan most teams land on
In practice, almost every care provider ends up with a blend: knowledge courses and annual theory refreshers by live webinar; practical skills face to face, onsite where there are enough learners or at a training venue where there are not; and self-paced online CPD courses filling the gaps between live sessions. A simple annual training matrix – each course, each role, delivery mode, refresher date – turns this from an ad-hoc scramble into a calm routine.
Quick decision guide
- Knowledge in the head? Webinar works well.
- Skill in the hands? Face-to-face, always.
- Care Certificate: knowledge either way, skills observed in the workplace.
- Oliver McGowan: Tier 1 online interactive, Tier 2 face-to-face by design.
Plan your team's training with KCP
We deliver both modes across the UK and will help you decide which courses to run online, onsite or at our venues in London, Liverpool, Kent and Essex.