Content reviewed October 2026.

CompliantCare · CQC guides

Mandatory training in health and social care: the list, how often, and a free training matrix

For registered managers and training leads in care homes, home care and healthcare in England: the statutory and mandatory training each role needs, from Skills for Care's guide, Skills for Health's core skills framework and CQC's regulation 18, how often to refresh each topic, and how to keep the record. Get a free training matrix by email.

Last updated 12 November 202612 min read

At a glance Statutory and mandatory training Training every employer needs The list for adult social care The list for healthcare Keeping the record Free training matrix FAQs

At a glance, as at 12 November 2026

Every care and health provider registered with CQC in England must give staff the training they need for the duties they’re employed to perform, under regulation 18. The regulator’s guidance asks you to monitor the training staff complete and act quickly when someone falls behind, and a breach can lead to regulatory action.

Beyond the training the law requires, you define your mandatory training for each role. Skills for Care’s guide for adult social care and Skills for Health’s framework for healthcare set out what to include, and the lists below follow them, with how often to refresh each topic. Keep the record in a training matrix: request ours free by email.

Question	Short answer
Who decides what’s mandatory?	You do, for each role, on top of the training the law requires.
What do care workers need?	Health and safety, fire safety, moving and handling, infection prevention and control, adult and child safeguarding, and learning disability and autism awareness, plus basic life support and first aid for the people you decide need it, and medication, food hygiene or moving people where the role includes them.
And healthcare staff?	Skills for Health’s framework sets 11 subjects, from fire safety and infection prevention to resuscitation and safeguarding, each with its own audience and refresher period.
How often?	In adult social care, a minimum refresher period of three years for most topics, and basic life support at least once a year. The healthcare framework sets one to three years, by subject and level.
What record should you keep?	The training each person’s role needs, when they completed it and when it’s next due, so you can act before anyone falls behind: a training matrix.

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The two kinds

Statutory and mandatory training: what the law requires and what you decide

Statutory training is training the law requires, or that a statutory body tells you to give under a specific law, such as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Mandatory training is training your organisation, or the commissioners of your service, decide is essential to deliver services safely, reduce risk and follow local or national policy. Those are Skills for Care’s definitions.

CQC’s guidance on regulation 18 asks providers to support staff to take part in four kinds of training:

Statutory training.
Other mandatory training, as the provider defines it for each role.
Additional training each person needs to carry out the regulated activities and meet the needs of the people they care for and support.
Other learning and development their role needs, which in adult social care includes first aid training.

Health and care law also names one topic for every registered provider. Since 1 July 2022, under the Health and Care Act 2022, each person working in a CQC-registered provider’s regulated activities must receive training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role, and the Oliver McGowan code of practice sets the standard for it.

So your list starts from the law and the guidance below, and your own policy sets the rest. Individual employers must assess what training each staff group needs to meet their legal duties as an employer and as a provider of safe and effective care, Skills for Health says.

Every employer

Training every employer needs: five topics the law names, four the regulators expect

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires the information, instruction, training and supervision your staff need to work safely, so far as is reasonably practicable, and the regulations in the first five rows name training outright. Apart from the Fire Safety Order, which covers England and Wales, these laws apply across Great Britain. For the last four, the regulators’ guidance sets out the training that helps you meet a wider duty. Each linked topic has a guide with a free training pack.

Training	What the law or the guidance asks
Health and safety	Adequate training when staff join, and when a new role, equipment, technology or way of working exposes them to new or greater risks. Repeat it where appropriate, in working hours (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13).
Fire safety	Adequate safety training when staff start and when risks change. Repeat it where appropriate (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 21). GOV.UK adds at least one fire drill a year, with a record of the results.
Hazardous substances (COSHH)	Information, instruction and training for each employee whose work could expose them to a substance hazardous to health, covering the risks, the precautions and what to do (COSHH Regulations 2002, regulation 12).
First aid	Enough people trained in first aid for your workplace, each with the training and qualifications the circumstances call for, or, where your work, numbers and location allow, an appointed person to take charge instead (Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981, regulation 3).
Display screen equipment	Health and safety training for staff who use screens as a significant part of their normal work, before they start using them and whenever their workstation is substantially modified (Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992, regulation 6).
Manual handling	The law asks you to reduce the risk of injury from manual handling, taking account of each person’s knowledge and training (Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, regulation 4). HSE says the training should include practical work.
Data protection	The ICO’s audit framework expects data protection training for all staff at induction, before they handle personal information, refreshers at appropriate intervals, and records of when each person last completed it.
Preventing sexual harassment	All reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of your employees (Equality Act 2010, section 40A) and, since 30 October 2026, to stop customers and other third parties harassing them (section 40). The EHRC’s guidance asks for training for all workers on recognising harassment and what to do if they experience or witness it, says managers may need more on handling and investigating complaints, and asks for records of who has received it.
Equality and diversity	You’re liable for discrimination and harassment by your staff unless you took all reasonable steps to prevent it (Equality Act 2010, section 109), and the EHRC’s Employment Code lists equal opportunities training among those steps.

Adult social care

The mandatory training list for adult social care, with refresher periods

Skills for Care, which works with adult social care employers across England, sets out the training every worker needs, depending on their role, and when to refresh each topic, in its statutory and mandatory training guide (December 2025). Each linked topic has a guide with a free training pack.

Training	Who needs it	When to refresh it
Health and safety awareness, covering each person’s responsibilities, risk assessment, hazardous substances, security, and workers’ own mental health and wellbeing	All workers	When a new risk or activity comes in; minimum refresher period three years
Fire safety	All workers	When a new risk comes in; minimum refresher period three years; practice fire drills at least once a year
Moving and handling objects	All workers	When a new risk or activity comes in; minimum refresher period three years
Infection prevention and control	All workers, relevant to the care setting	When a new risk or activity comes in; minimum refresher period three years
Adult safeguarding	All workers	When people’s care and support needs change or a new risk or activity comes in; minimum refresher period three years
Child safeguarding	All workers: what to do if they suspect someone is abusing or neglecting a child	At least every three years, unless they’ve completed the Care Certificate standards or a recognised adult social care qualification in that time
Basic life support and first aid	The people you decide need it: you set how many need training, and to what level	Basic life support when you identify a need, or at least once a year; first aid every three years
Learning disability and autism awareness	All workers, at a level appropriate to their role	At least every three years, or sooner if their role changes (the Oliver McGowan code)
Assisting and moving people	Workers who help people move	When people’s needs change or a new risk, activity or piece of equipment comes in; at least every three years
Food hygiene	Workers who handle, prepare or provide food, including helping people prepare it	When a new risk or activity comes in; every three years
Medication administration	Workers who support people with their medicines	When people’s needs, the risks, policy or practice change; if a worker hasn’t trained within a year, review their training needs and competency

The guide adds that a worker who completes a recognised adult social care qualification covering a topic doesn’t need to refresh it for another three years from completion.

Check competence as well as training. Skills for Care asks employers to check and evidence that each worker is competent on an ongoing basis: by watching key tasks such as medication administration and moving people, and through informal checks such as a quiz in a team meeting. For medicines, CQC says you mustn’t let new staff manage or administer medicines before you’ve assessed their competence, and you must keep records of each assessment with its review date.

Define the rest for your service. Skills for Care leaves further training to each employer, from the needs of the service and the people who draw on care and support, and any training commissioners require in their contracts. Its examples include mental capacity, equality, diversity and inclusion, GDPR and data protection, dementia, end of life care, communication, and nutrition and hydration. It advises no refresher periods for these: you set them, for example when a risk, people’s needs, the care environment or the law changes.

New to care. The Care Certificate’s 16 standards, updated in March 2025, set out what someone new to care should know and do, and can inform what your induction covers. An assessor checks what each worker knows and does.

Healthcare

The core skills framework for healthcare: 11 subjects and their refresher periods

Skills for Health’s Core Skills Training Framework sets minimum learning outcomes and refresher periods for statutory and mandatory training, and any healthcare employer in the UK, NHS, independent or voluntary, can use it. Its England version is for NHS trusts in England and other organisations in England that share or supply healthcare staff; organisations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales can use its UK version. The table follows the England version (v1.1, June 2021).

Subject	Who needs it	When to refresh it
Conflict resolution	Frontline NHS staff and professionals whose work brings them into direct contact with the public	Every three years
Equality, diversity and human rights	All staff, including unpaid and voluntary staff	Every three years
Fire safety	All staff, including unpaid and voluntary staff	Site training at induction, then regular updates, more often for staff who may help evacuate others; an assessment of competence every two years
Health, safety and welfare	All staff, including unpaid and voluntary staff	Every three years
Infection prevention and control	Level 1: all staff, including contractors. Level 2: staff involved in direct patient care or services	Level 1 every three years; Level 2 every year
Information governance and data security	All staff with routine access to information	Every year
Moving and handling	Level 1: all staff. Level 2: staff whose role involves handling patients	Level 1 every three years; Level 2 every two years
Preventing radicalisation	Clinical and non-clinical staff in contact with adults, children, young people or their parents and carers, with more for staff who may assess needs where there are safeguarding concerns	Every three years
Resuscitation	Level 1: non-clinical staff, depending on local risk. Level 2: staff with direct clinical care responsibilities. Level 3: registered professionals on the resuscitation team	Every year
Safeguarding adults	Level 1: all staff in health care settings. Levels 2 and 3 by role	Every three years
Safeguarding children	Level 1: all staff in health care settings. Levels 2 and 3 by role	Every three years

Some subjects need practical training. Skills for Health says to use e-learning only where the learning outcomes are knowledge-based. Its framework requires practical instruction as well for conflict resolution, fire safety and moving and handling, and recommends hands-on simulation training for clinical staff in resuscitation at Levels 2 and 3.

The refresher periods come with alignment. To align your training to the framework, you follow its refresher periods, and use others only in exceptional circumstances, such as after a local risk assessment that follows a serious incident.

Care providers can use it too. Skills for Health developed the framework for healthcare, and says care providers may use it to benchmark their training as good practice.

Keeping the record

The training matrix: who has done what, and what’s due

A training matrix sets each member of staff against the training their role needs, with the date they completed each one and when it’s next due. It shows at a glance who is up to date and who needs a refresher, so you can do what CQC’s guidance on regulation 18 asks: monitor the training staff complete, and act quickly when someone falls behind.

Other guidance asks for the record too:

Learning disability and autism training. The Oliver McGowan code asks registered providers to record and monitor each person’s completion in their staff record system.
Infection prevention and control. The code of practice on infections asks registered providers to keep a record of all training.
Medicines. CQC asks you to keep a record of each staff competency assessment and note when it’s due for review.
Any employer. The EHRC asks employers to keep records of who has received harassment training and refresh it at regular intervals, and the ICO’s audit framework expects up-to-date records of when staff last completed data protection refresher training.

Record	What it’s for
Each person’s name, role and start date	The training each person needs depends on their role, and CQC’s guidance asks you to assess each person’s needs when they start.
The training each role needs	Skills for Care asks employers to document every worker’s training requirements in their policies.
When each person completed each training, and how	Some topics need practical training as well as e-learning.
When each refresher is due	The periods in the lists above, and sooner when a role or a risk changes.
Competency checks and their review dates	Records of each medicines competency assessment, with its review date, and the ongoing checks Skills for Care asks for.

Keep it current. Add each new starter on their first day, with their induction training: the regulator’s guidance asks you to assess each person’s training needs when they start and review them during their employment. Update the matrix when someone changes role or a new risk comes in, since health and safety law requires training when either exposes them to new or greater risks. Then look ahead at what’s falling due, so refreshers happen before they lapse.

Free training matrix: every role’s training, done and due, in one place

A training matrix with the training from the lists on this page already in it, for you to add your staff and their dates. It records:

Each member of staff, with their role and start date
The training each role needs, from the lists on this page
The date each person completed each training, and when it's next due
Competency checks, with their review dates

An Excel file that also opens in Google Sheets. You fill it in yourself.

Enter your work email to get the free training matrix

Our team will send it to your inbox within one working day.

Or keep your training matrix live, with refreshers escalated before they lapse

CompliantCare’s Training Suite keeps a live training matrix mapped to roles and risks. It enrols each new starter in the right induction pathway for their role on their first day, maps every completion to your matrix, and escalates reminders to the person, then their manager, then your compliance lead before a refresher lapses. Outside healthcare, Training Suite comes as an add-on to CalmER, our employee relations platform.

See Training Suite →Explore CompliantCare

FAQs

Common questions

What is mandatory training?

Training your organisation, or the commissioners who fund your service, decide is essential to deliver services safely and reduce risk, as Skills for Care defines it. Statutory training is the training a law requires. For CQC-registered providers, the regulator's guidance on regulation 18 leaves mandatory training to each provider to define for each role.

What's the difference between statutory and mandatory training?

Skills for Health says statutory training arises from legislation, and each employer decides its mandatory training locally, depending on the services it provides. Fire safety training under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is one example of statutory training.

Is mandatory training a legal requirement?

Statutory training is. The law requires health and safety training when staff join and when they face new or greater risks, and names training for fire safety, hazardous substances, first aid and display screen equipment. For CQC-registered providers, regulation 18 requires the training each person needs for their duties, and the law adds learning disability and autism training for everyone working in their regulated activities. Your own policy sets the rest of your mandatory list.

What mandatory training do care workers need?

Skills for Care's guide lists health and safety awareness, fire safety, moving and handling objects, infection prevention and control, adult and child safeguarding, and learning disability and autism awareness for all workers. Basic life support and first aid are for the people you decide need them, at the level you set. Assisting and moving people, food hygiene and medication administration are for workers whose role includes them.

How often should staff refresh mandatory training?

In adult social care, Skills for Care sets a minimum refresher period of three years for most topics, basic life support when you identify a need or at least once a year, and a refresher whenever a new risk or activity comes in. In healthcare, Skills for Health's framework sets each subject's period: every year for information governance and resuscitation, and every three years for most others.

Is Oliver McGowan training mandatory?

Every CQC-registered provider must make sure each person working in its regulated activities receives training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. The Oliver McGowan code of practice, final since 6 September 2025, sets the standard: live training that people with a learning disability and autistic people co-deliver, alongside e-learning, with a refresher at least every three years. The government recommends the Tier 1 or Tier 2 package of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training.

Does the core skills framework apply to care homes?

Skills for Health developed it for healthcare. It says care providers may use it to benchmark their training as good practice, and they aren't eligible for its directory of aligned organisations. Skills for Care's guide is the one written for adult social care.

Can staff do mandatory training online?

For knowledge, yes. Skills for Health says to use e-learning only where the learning outcomes are knowledge-based, and its framework adds practical instruction for subjects such as fire safety and moving and handling. The Oliver McGowan code adds live training that people with a learning disability and autistic people co-deliver.

What is a training matrix?

A record of the training each member of staff needs for their role, with the date they completed each one and when it's next due, usually a grid of staff against training topics. It shows who is up to date and who needs a refresher.

Is there a free training matrix template?

Yes. Enter your work email in the form on this page and our team will send you a training matrix with the training from the lists on this page already in it, for you to add your staff and their dates. It's an Excel file that also opens in Google Sheets.

Sources & further reading

References

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.