Best online Care Certificate courses in the UK: what the 16 standards are and who signs them off

You can complete the knowledge part of the Care Certificate online, but no online course can award you the Care Certificate itself: your employer observes your practice and signs off all 16 standards. Lift College's Care Certificate course covers all 16 standards for £19.99, pay once, with a CPD certificate issued by Lift College and a 14-day money-back guarantee; your employer then observes you at work and completes the national certificate template. This guide compares that course with Caredemy, Care Skills Academy and SCIE, explains what the Care Certificate is and is not, and sets out what CQC inspectors look for.

What the Care Certificate is

The Care Certificate is a set of 16 standards, published by Skills for Care, Skills for Health and NHS England, that define the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected of new health and social care workers during induction. It is not a regulated qualification. Skills for Care's own questions and answers say the employer "remains responsible for the decision to award the full certificate of achievement". External learning providers "must not sign and issue the certificate". The same document states that "the use of eLearning alone cannot provide full achievement of the Care Certificate standards", because e-learning cannot demonstrate skill.

The 16 standards (Skills for Care, March 2025 edition) are:

1. Understand your role
2. Your personal development
3. Duty of care
4. Equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights
5. Work in a person-centred way
6. Communication
7. Privacy and dignity
8. Fluids and nutrition
9. Awareness of mental health and dementia
10. Adult safeguarding
11. Safeguarding children
12. Basic life support
13. Health and safety
14. Handling information
15. Infection prevention and control
16. Awareness of learning disability and autism

Standard 16 was added in March 2025 and reflects the learning disability and autism training requirement introduced by the Health and Care Act 2022. Some older courses still cover 15 standards; check before you buy.

Comparison table

What CQC inspectors expect to see

CQC does not inspect the Care Certificate as such; it inspects whether your service meets Regulation 18 (Staffing) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Skills for Care's questions and answers summarise that regulation: providers must ensure staff receive "such appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal" as is necessary for them to do their jobs. The same document says regulated providers are expected to assess a new worker's competence before they deliver care out of the line of sight of a more experienced colleague.

In practice, inspectors want to see for each new worker:

• Evidence of learning against all 16 standards, which an online course certificate provides for the knowledge element.
• Evidence of observed practice for the skills elements, recorded by a competent person in your service.
• A completed and signed Care Certificate on the national template, issued by the employer, not by a training provider.
• A record that the worker was supervised until competence was confirmed.

An online certificate on its own, from any provider, does not satisfy this. The right way to use a course such as Lift College's is as the knowledge element: the worker completes the modules, the manager or senior carer observes the practical standards on shift, and the employer signs the certificate.

Choosing a course

For individual care workers. Lift College and Caredemy sell directly to individual learners; Care Skills Academy is aimed at organisations, and SCIE sells per-learner licences. Lift College's £19.99 pay once price includes a certificate recording the 16 standards, 12 hours of learning, the completion date and a refresh date, plus a free refresher every three years.

For employers. Caredemy and Care Skills Academy publish bulk pricing. Whichever you choose, the sign-off process is yours: the training provider's certificate is evidence of learning, and your observation records and signed template are the Care Certificate.

After the Care Certificate. Once you are working and inducted, the next qualification is the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care for senior roles. See Do I need qualifications to work in a care home? for the full ladder, and the health and social care hub for all Lift College care courses.