Conflict resolution training: a free pack for your staff
A staff session, a quiz and training record, and a rollout guide on calming conflict and aggression at work, built on HSE's guidance on violence at work and Acas's advice on problems between colleagues, and free by email. Or have us tailor it and run it for your staff and managers, on a branded company site, £9.99 + VAT per employee.
Outside mental health units, no law names conflict resolution training. Health and safety law makes you assess the risk of violence and aggression to your staff and control it, and HSE counts training among the controls.
Take the free pack and run it yourself, or have us tailor it and run it for you: a branded company site with your training content, every member of staff invited and reminded by email, and a dated certificate for every completion, £9.99 + VAT per employee. Neither replaces practice in person.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Is training required? | Not by name, outside mental health units. The law requires adequate health and safety training for the risks your staff face, and HSE counts training among the ways to control violence at work. |
| Who needs it? | Everyone who may be at risk, including cleaners, maintenance workers and temporary or agency workers. |
| What should it cover? | The regulator’s guidance says basic training often includes the causes of violence, warning signs, communication skills, your working practices and how to report incidents. |
| How often? | Periodically, to keep skills up to date. Skills for Health’s framework sets every three years for NHS staff who deal with the public. |
| Does either option cover the practical part? | No. Both cover the knowledge. Practice, and any physical intervention skills, need training in person. |
What the law expects of your training
Outside mental health units, no law names conflict resolution training. Health and safety law applies to violence at work as it does to any other risk, HSE says. For you as an employer:
- Protect your staff. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 makes you ensure your employees’ health, safety and welfare at work, so far as is reasonably practicable, including the information, instruction, training and supervision they need to stay safe. That covers work-related violence, which HSE defines as “any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work”.
- Assess the risk. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 make you assess the risks to your staff’s health and safety, the risk of work-related violence included.
- Train for it. The same regulations require adequate health and safety training when people join and when they face new or increased risks, and periodic repeats where appropriate.
- Take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment by customers. When abuse from a customer, client or patient is sexual, or related to a protected characteristic such as race, it can be harassment under the Equality Act 2010. Since 30 October 2026, you must take all reasonable steps to prevent it: our third-party harassment guide covers that duty.
The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance on violence at work sets out what the training should do:
- Make it available to everyone at risk, including cleaners and maintenance workers, and temporary and agency workers.
- Match it to your risk assessment. The level of training should reflect the needs of the work your risk assessment identifies.
- Cover the basics. Basic training often includes the underlying and immediate causes of violence, that no one should have to accept it as part of the job, warning signs such as body language, verbal and non-verbal communication, your working practices and controls, and how to report incidents.
- Consider physical skills where the risk is serious. Staff might need training in physical intervention techniques where there’s a serious risk of physical aggression.
- Keep it current. Monitor and review training needs regularly, check that courses work, and refresh skills periodically.
Problems between colleagues call for a different approach. Acas advises taking any problem a worker raises seriously, trying to settle it early and informally, keeping a record, and turning to mediation, where an impartial person helps both sides agree how to work together. If a problem becomes a formal grievance, the Acas Code of Practice applies: tribunals take it into account, and can raise an award by up to 25% when an employer unreasonably fails to follow it. The 1999 regulations cover England, Scotland and Wales.
Two ways to get your staff and managers trained
Run the free pack yourself, or have us tailor the training to your organisation and run it for you. Both cover the knowledge; staff who need practice or physical skills still need training in person.
Free
Complete the general training template: staff slides with speaker notes, a quiz and a rollout guide, to deliver however suits you.
Not included
- Tailoring to your organisation
- A branded company site
- Emails, reminders or chases to your staff
- Dated certificates or a list of who has completed it, kept for you
- Manager training
PowerPoint slides and Word documents.
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£9.99 + VAT per employee
We tailor the training content to your organisation, its processes and likely scenarios, and run it for all your staff.
Included
- Distinct manager and employee training
- A branded company site with your training content loaded for all staff to complete
- Every member of staff emailed for you
- Reminders and chases automated for you
- A dated certificate for every person who completes it
Audio or video, or a format to upload into your own learning or training hub.
Request received
Thanks. Our team will be in touch within one working day with follow-up questions to tailor the training to your organisation.
Could not send that request
Something went wrong on our side. Please try again, or use our contact form and our team will be in touch.
What the training covers
Staff session:
- What conflict is, what causes it and how it builds
- Why abuse and aggression are never part of the job
- Warning signs, including body language and signs that someone may turn violent
- Communicating in a conflict: tone, body language, listening and cultural differences
- De-escalation: staying calm, keeping a safe distance and offering a way out
- When to step away, and how to use your emergency procedures
- Disagreements with colleagues: raising them early, informal chats and mediation
- Reporting every incident, verbal abuse included, and the support available afterwards
What the core skills framework and the Care Certificate expect
In health and social care, a law for mental health units and three sets of guidance in England go further:
- The Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018. Since 31 March 2022, each NHS or NHS-funded mental health unit in England must train its staff on the use of force, including techniques for avoiding or reducing it, with refresher training at regular intervals.
- The Core Skills Training Framework. Skills for Health’s framework sets minimum learning outcomes and refresher periods for statutory and mandatory training, for any healthcare employer in the UK to align to. Its conflict resolution subject, for the NHS in England, covers frontline NHS staff and professionals whose work brings them into direct contact with the public, builds on de-escalation, and sets refresher training every three years. E-learning can support the knowledge, and the subject also requires practical instruction.
- The Care Certificate. Its standards set out what health and social care workers who are new to care need to know and do. Standard 3, duty of care, asks them to deal with confrontation and difficult situations: what can cause confrontation, how communication can reduce it, how to assess and reduce the risks, when to get support, and how to report it. It also covers handling comments and complaints.
- CQC’s guidance on regulation 18. It asks providers to monitor the training their staff complete and to act quickly when someone falls behind.
An assessor checks what each worker knows and does, so neither the pack nor the tailored training awards the Care Certificate, and neither replaces the practical instruction the framework requires.
After the training
Record and report incidents. Keep a record of every incident, verbal abuse included: a brief note of what happened, when and who was involved is enough to start. You must report to HSE any work-related violence that causes a death, a specified injury, or an injury that keeps a worker from their normal duties for more than seven days.
Review what the records show. Examine your incident records regularly to see whether your controls work and whether the problem is changing, and check your arrangements with your staff and their representatives. When you log an incident, our training management software assigns retraining to the people named in it.
Support people after an incident. Offer them a chance to talk as soon as possible, counselling if you provide it, and changes to their work if they’re badly affected, HSE advises, and make sure whoever handles the aftermath has the training to support them.
Refresh it. Repeat the training periodically where appropriate, and when someone faces new or increased risks, for example after a change of role.
Our bullying and harassment and workplace investigation training guides each come with a free pack.
Common questions
Is conflict resolution training a legal requirement?
Not by name, outside mental health units. Health and safety law makes you assess the risks to your staff, the risk of violence at work included, and give them adequate health and safety training for the risks they face, and HSE counts training among the ways to prevent and manage violence at work. Since 2022, mental health units in England must train their staff on the use of force, including techniques for avoiding or reducing it. Security staff who need a front line licence from the Security Industry Authority, for door supervision, security guarding, close protection or vehicle immobilising, must first get a licence-linked qualification, which includes conflict management.
Who needs conflict resolution training?
Everyone working for you who may be at risk, HSE says, including cleaners, maintenance workers and temporary or agency workers, at the level your risk assessment shows they need. In healthcare, Skills for Health's framework covers frontline NHS staff and professionals whose work brings them into direct contact with the public.
What should conflict resolution training cover?
HSE says basic training in managing violence often includes: its underlying and immediate causes; that no one should have to accept it as part of the job; warning signs, such as body language; verbal and non-verbal communication skills; your working practices and control measures; and how to report incidents.
What are de-escalation techniques?
Ways to calm a situation before it turns violent. HSE's basic techniques: be polite and use a clear, calm voice; relax your posture and keep your hands by your side; keep a safe distance; face the person and keep eye contact; show empathy and that you're listening; avoid raising your voice or arguing; and offer other solutions, so the person has a way out other than aggression. If it isn't working and you don't feel safe, HSE suggests finding a reason to step away, such as checking with your manager, and if that doesn't help, following your emergency procedures, such as a panic alarm.
Does the training cover breakaway or restraint?
No. Both options cover the knowledge. HSE says you might need training in physical intervention techniques where there's a serious risk of physical aggression. Those skills need training in person, as does the practical instruction Skills for Health's framework requires for frontline NHS staff.
How often should staff refresh conflict resolution training?
The law sets no interval: it asks you to repeat training periodically where appropriate, and again when people face new or increased risks. HSE advises periodic refreshers to keep skills up to date. In healthcare, Skills for Health's framework sets refresher training every three years.
How should you handle conflict between colleagues?
Acas advises taking any problem a worker raises seriously, even an informal one, and trying to settle it early, for example through an informal chat, with a record of what you discussed and agreed. Mediation, where an impartial person helps both sides find a way forward, is voluntary and can help at any stage. If the problem becomes a formal grievance, follow the Acas Code of Practice.
What's in the free conflict resolution training pack?
Three editable files: a staff session (PowerPoint, with speaker notes), a quiz with answers and a training record to sign (Word), and a rollout guide (Word). Manager training comes with the tailored training.
What's the difference between the free pack and the tailored training?
The free pack is the template: three editable files you fill in, present and record yourself, with one staff session for everyone, no manager training and no certificate of completion. We build the tailored training for your organisation and run it for you: distinct manager and employee training, a branded company site with your training content, every member of staff invited by email and reminded until they complete it, and a dated certificate for every completion. Neither includes training in person.
References
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2: general duties of employers to their employees
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3: risk assessment
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13: capabilities and training
- HSE: How employers can protect workers from violence and aggression at work
- HSE: Violence at work, what the law says
- HSE: Violence at work, control measures to prevent violence
- HSE: Violence at work, reporting and learning from incidents
- Equality Act 2010, section 26: harassment
- Equality Act 2010, section 40: employees and applicants, harassment
- Acas: Dealing with a problem raised by a worker
- Acas: Mediation at work
- Acas: Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Skills for Health: Core Skills Training Framework, subject guide for NHS trusts in England
- Skills for Care: Care Certificate standards (updated March 2025)
- CQC: Regulation 18, staffing
- Security Industry Authority: Check what training you need to get an SIA licence
- Security Industry Authority: Read the specifications for SIA licence-linked training
- Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018, section 5: training in appropriate use of force
General information, not legal advice. It reflects our understanding of the law and official guidance as of November 2026, so check the sources above for the current position.