Care Certificate Modules Explained: The 15 Standards and How Competency Assessment Really Works
If you are searching for care certificate modules, you may have seen them described as 15 standards. That is the original framework. Skills for Care updated the Care Certificate in March 2025: the current framework has 16 standards, including a new standard on awareness of learning disability and autism.
The standards set out the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of health and social care support workers. They are a national standard, not a qualification. They support induction, but do not replace workplace induction or the setting-specific training and supervision a role requires.
Achievers Training College (ATC), Highfield-approved centre 14591, supports learners and employers with structured learning and competency assessment. The aim is practical: build knowledge, demonstrate skills and gather evidence that reflects safe, person-centred work.
The 16 current Care Certificate standards
The list below summarises each standard. It is an overview, not a replacement for the full standards or an employer’s local procedures.
Understand your role: Know your duties, agreed ways of working, professional boundaries and how to raise concerns. Evidence may include discussion of role responsibilities and observation of practice in line with workplace procedures.
Your personal development: Identify learning needs, use feedback and reflection, and contribute to a development plan. Learners can show how they recognise progress and keep their knowledge and skills current.
Duty of care: Understand responsibilities, respond appropriately to dilemmas, and follow processes for concerns, complaints, incidents and errors. Assessment can combine knowledge questions with evidence of appropriate responses in practice.
Equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights: Understand rights and discrimination, and work in ways that respect people’s identities and needs. Evidence should show inclusive interactions as well as understanding of relevant principles.
Work in a person-centred way: Support choice, independence, wellbeing, consent and active participation. Assessment looks at whether the learner applies person-centred values in real interactions, not just whether they can define them.
Communication: Adapt communication to a person’s needs, preferences and understanding. Knowledge evidence can be supported by observation of verbal and non-verbal communication and appropriate use of communication aids.
Privacy and dignity: Protect privacy, dignity and confidentiality, including when providing personal care. An assessor may observe how the learner seeks consent, protects personal space and respects individual preferences.
Fluids and nutrition: Support access to food and drink in line with the person’s care plan, and recognise and report relevant concerns. Evidence may include knowledge of nutrition and hydration alongside observed support.
Awareness of mental health and dementia: Understand mental health and dementia, how they may affect a person’s needs, and the importance of positive, individualised support. Assessment can explore knowledge and how the learner responds to changes or concerns.
Adult safeguarding: Recognise possible abuse or harm, understand responsibilities and follow reporting procedures. Learners need to show they know what to do and can act appropriately within their role.
Safeguarding children, Understand the safeguarding requirements relevant to the learner’s role and know how to respond to concerns about a child or young person. The appropriate training and assessment route depends on the work setting.
Basic life support: Complete practical basic life-support training appropriate to the role. Knowledge alone or e-learning alone is not enough to demonstrate practical performance; skills practice and assessment are required.
Health and safety: Work safely, understand risk and follow agreed procedures, including those for moving and assisting where relevant. Assessment may include observed practice in the workplace.
Handling information: Keep records accurate, current and secure, and handle information in line with relevant rules and workplace procedures. Learners can show knowledge through questions and demonstrate good recording practice.
Infection prevention and control: Understand how infection spreads and follow precautions, including effective hand hygiene and appropriate use of protective equipment. Practical assessment helps confirm that safe steps can be carried out correctly.
Awareness of learning disability and autism: Develop awareness of learning disability and autism, and understand the importance of appropriate, respectful interactions. Learning should support inclusive practice and responses that reflect the individual’s communication and support needs.
Why do some resources still refer to 15 standards?
The 15-standard framework is an earlier version that remains in older workbooks, websites and course materials. In the updated version, learning disability and autism have their own Standard 16. The former Standard 9 now focuses on mental health and dementia.
When choosing learning materials or reviewing a learner’s evidence, check that they match the current framework. Skills for Care provides the updated Care Certificate standards and an assessor and employer guide.
How does competency assessment work?
The Care Certificate is about what a worker knows and what they can do. Completing learning or attending training does not, by itself, demonstrate competence across the standards.
A structured assessment may use:
- Knowledge evidence, such as written or verbal questions, a case study or professional discussion.
- Practical evidence, including observation of workplace activity where the standard requires performance.
- Portfolio evidence, such as assessment records, reflective accounts and relevant witness testimony.
- Skills practice, including OSCE-style observation in a suitable simulated setting when appropriate.
The right method depends on the standard, the learner’s role and the care setting. Skills for Care guidance says performance should generally be assessed during real work activity. Simulation is appropriate where real-work assessment is not reasonably possible or the situation is unlikely to arise during induction; basic life support is one example. Simulation supports practice, but should not be used as a substitute for workplace observation where that is required.
Evidence should be valid, authentic, current, reliable and sufficient. An assessor must be competent in the standard they assess and make the final decision about whether the learner has met it. Evidence may sometimes support more than one standard, where it genuinely demonstrates the relevant requirements.
How ATC supports learning and evidence
ATC’s competency-based approach brings together structured knowledge development, practical skills and assessment. Learners build understanding, practise relevant skills and collect evidence that can be mapped to the standards. Depending on the requirement, this may include workplace observation, OSCE-style assessment and portfolio evidence.
For employers, a clear assessment plan helps identify what the learner needs to learn, how evidence will be gathered and who will make the assessment decision. It also helps ensure the Care Certificate complements, not replaces, local induction and ongoing supervision.
The Care Certificate itself is not an accredited qualification. It is also separate from the regulated Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification, which is based on the same 16 standards but is a different product with its own qualification requirements. Where Highfield e-learning is used, it is a learning platform; it does not make the Care Certificate a qualification or replace assessment of practical competence.
Start with the current standards
Whether you are beginning a care career or supporting a workforce, the standards provide a clear starting point: learn what safe practice involves, demonstrate it appropriately and keep a record of achievement. Check that your materials reflect the 2025 framework and agree assessment arrangements with the employer.
ATC works with learners and care providers to develop knowledgeable, competent, confident and compassionate professionals. Explore Achievers Training College or contact the team at info@achieverstrainingcollege.co.uk to discuss learning and assessment options.