Guidance

Care workforce pathway for adult social care: overview

Updated 9 April 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

The care workforce pathway was developed in partnership with Skills for Care (SfC). It is the first time the care sector has seen a universal career structure setting out the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours required to deliver high-quality, personalised care and support.

The pathway supports the wider aims to create an NHS fit for the future by:

• further recognising care workers as professionals
• promoting care work as a career
• improving recruitment and retention
• improving the quality and experience of people receiving care

The pathway was launched in January 2024, covering 4 direct care role categories. Four more role categories were added in April 2025.

The 8 role categories are now:

• new to care
• care or support worker
• enhanced care worker
• personal assistant
• supervisor or leader
• practice leader
• deputy manager
• registered manager

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in partnership with SfC, is committed to continue to build on the progress we have made. We want to ensure we meet our ambition to develop a comprehensive, universal career structure for adult social care.

Background

As we look ahead to implement the government’s 10 Year Health Plan, we know the health and social care landscape has to evolve. This will help to support people to live well in a place they call home. People are living longer, often with complex health conditions.

The adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages and with diverse needs. This includes mental health conditions, physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism and dementia. The adult social care workforce is therefore essential to those who draw on care and support, helping them maintain their quality of life, independence and connection to the things that matter to them.

We aim to build stronger partnerships between health and social care, fostering a system where people receive care and support by well-trained care professionals to enable them to live more independent and fulfilling lives. And as we work towards a more integrated health and care workforce, the pathway will play a significant role as part of wider workforce frameworks and strategies, including:

• the NHS Long Term Plan
• leadership and management frameworks
• setting out expectations for the training, development and competence of care workers and personal assistants carrying out delegated healthcare activities

This is to ensure that healthcare activities are delivered safely and confidently, with the right skills, training, competency and support, building stronger and trusted relationships across local systems.

Understanding the care workforce pathway

Role categories 

The pathway includes both direct care and management role categories. The role category titles are designed to be relevant across the sector.

Each role category can cover a range of roles and job titles. This reflects the diversity of the sector, as we know different organisations may use different titles.

New to care

Would normally have been in their first care role for up to 12 months.

Care or support worker

Established in their role, they have consolidated their skills and experience.

Enhanced care worker

Delegated healthcare activities by regulated professionals and/or provides specialist condition specific support.

Personal assistant

Supports an individual to live more independently, usually in their own home.

Supervisor or leader

Might be a team leader with some staff management responsibilities.

Practice leader

Practises a care specialism and helps others develop theirs, but does not have line management responsibilities.

Deputy manager

Has staff management responsibilities and helps to run the service.

Registered manager

Focuses on regulatory and legal requirements and runs the service.

Suggested learning opportunities

The pathway includes suggested learning opportunities to help members of the workforce develop knowledge and skills within a role or within a specific area of practice. These learning opportunities align with the knowledge and skills breakdown for each role category.

Universal sector values

We commissioned Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) to work with people who draw on care and support to develop a universal set of values for the sector. Values are the beliefs and views that people hold about the importance of something.

The values that have been defined apply across all role categories outlined in the pathway. The intention is for these values to apply across the whole of the adult social care workforce. The values reflect what people who draw on care and support said they want to see in all members of the adult social care workforce.

The values also explain to those considering a career in adult social care the values they must have. The values were shared with representatives from the adult social care workforce to make sure that the values identified by people who draw on care and support aligned with what members of the adult social care workforce think.

Some employers and sector organisations will already have values that meet the needs of their organisation, workforce and people who draw on care, which may already align or partially align with the values set out within the pathway. We do not expect the pathway values to replace existing organisational values where these are working well.

However, we would suggest that all organisations consider how the pathway values might be useful to them - for example, as the basis for recruitment to ensure people considering a role in adult social care can demonstrate these values.

The benefit of using the pathway values is that they have been co-produced with and reflect the lived experience of people who draw on care and support.

TLAP has produced a method statement (annex A, below) that explains the process that was followed to incorporate value statements into the pathway.

Kind, compassionate and empathetic

Be kind, compassionate and empathetic so you can see things from my point of view, with concern for what matters to me, my wellbeing and health.

Honest, trustworthy and reliable

Be honest, trustworthy and reliable so you turn up when you say you will, and provide the care and support we have agreed. Be discreet and confidential to build up a trusting relationship between us.

Respect

Treat me, the people around me and where I live with respect. Respect my values and my choices about the life I want to lead and respect your role to value and uphold my goals.

Courageous and principled

Show strength, courage and commitment to speak out if something is not right or could be better, and to step back when I am exercising my choice and control. Act according to principles of human rights, equity and inclusion and in line with my personalised care and support plan.

See the whole person 

Be curious and listen carefully to understand the unique person I am with strengths, abilities and aspirations. Make plans and decisions about me, with me.

Flexible, open and learning 

Be reflective, open and non-judgemental so we can learn and adapt how we work together in the longer term.

Proud and positive 

Take pride in your work and have a friendly, positive and proactive attitude so we can enjoy spending time together.

Values persona: Ann

Below is an example of a persona where some of the universal sector values have been applied.

Ann has a disability caused by a neurological condition, uses a wheelchair and draws on daily support from a home care agency. She works as a manager of a deaf and disabled people’s organisation alongside an active family life and a number of voluntary roles.

Care workers assist her 7 days a week with getting up and ready for the day and going to bed, which involves the use of specialist equipment to help her move. Without this support, Ann would be prevented from leading an active and contributing life. 

Ann has had good and bad experiences of care. Things do not work well when people turn up at the door acting as if their job is to carry out a series of tasks. Things work best when care workers show respect and see her as a whole person - for example, by taking the time to get to know Ann and her family situation. What appear as little things can count for a lot, like asking her how she wishes to be addressed. 

It is vital to Ann that she feels able to put her trust in those that are supporting her with intimate aspects of daily living and that she can direct how she is supported. The equipment Ann has in her home is specific to her needs, and her care workers must be confident and competent in using it. It has therefore been agreed that all new workers undertake some ‘shadow’ visits alongside an existing care worker. Ann then lets the agency know when she thinks the worker is ready to manage on their own. 

It is also important that her workers are reliable. It is not always possible to turn up at the same exact time but, when running late, Ann likes being informed. While she appreciates consistency in how she is supported, no day is exactly the same, which means that it is important that her workers are flexible in their approach so Ann is ready and set up for the day.

On occasions, if there are problems that they cannot resolve together, with Ann’s agreement, the care worker will take the initiative to feed this back to the agency. Important to Ann is feeling confident that the worker will be listened to seriously and an agreed approach worked out together. 

Ann knows that being a care or support worker in any role requires a great amount of skill, and wants all the people that support her to feel recognised and rewarded for the work they do with opportunities to develop.

Behaviours

All the behaviours set out in the pathway must be set within the context of values outlined above. Care workers should prioritise each person’s own needs and preferences, while actively working in co-production with the person drawing on the care and support.

The values and behaviours will ensure that our adult social care workforce consistently delivers compassionate and person-centred care and support.

Role category structure

Each of the 8 role categories outline the following. 

What people do in their work 

This section outlines the kind of responsibilities someone within the role category is likely to undertake as part of their role. 

The behaviours people must show (must do) or be expected to show 

Behaviours are the way that values are demonstrated in practice. This section will outline the behaviours required to work within the role category.

These are the things people must be doing in their job. We want to develop universal acceptance of these behaviours as what is expected in adult social care roles. 

Knowledge and skills people should have 

Knowledge means the things that someone needs to understand to undertake the responsibilities of the role.

Skills are the ability to apply that knowledge in practice.

This section includes the things people should know and the things they should be able to do in their job within the role category. 

Specific areas of practice (can do) and suggested learning opportunities 

Specific areas of practice

This section outlines the opportunities:

• within the role category to specialise in one or more areas
• to develop within their role or to progress into another role

These are the things people could be doing in their job or in their development.

Where people are working in a setting where there is a particular specialism focus, the knowledge and skills will be a requirement of working in their role. For example, someone working in a dementia setting will need to have specialist dementia care knowledge and skills.

Suggested learning opportunities

These represent an opportunity to develop and specialise within the role category, either to:

• develop a practice specialism
• progress into another role

Suggested continued professional development to develop these knowledge and skills is outlined in this section, both for learning in specialisms as well as additional suggested learning opportunities that may be applicable to all roles.

Role category persona 

The persona is a case study of what someone within the role category may be doing in their job. 

Links to wider adult social care workforce learning and development 

Learning and Development Support Scheme

DHSC is providing funding under the new Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS) to support learning and development for ‘non-regulated care staff’, including deputy and Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered managers and agency staff, in England for financial year 2025 to 2026.

Eligible adult social care employers can claim funding for certain training courses and qualifications on behalf of eligible care staff. Funding is available for eligible courses and qualifications paid for and started between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

Training funded by the LDSS includes:

• a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification – this is an Ofqual regulated qualification designed to provide a baseline standard to care and reduce the need for repeat training
• over 150 courses and qualifications, including training on:
  • healthcare interventions to support delegation
  • learning disabilities and/or autism
  • dementia care
  • leadership

Quality assured care learning service

Quality assurance is vital when planning training and development for staff.

That is why we launched the quality assured care learning service in 2024 to review the quality of individual courses and qualifications delivered by training providers in the adult social care sector.

The service will enable adult social care providers to:

• easily identify high-quality learning and development opportunities
• trust that courses and qualifications, including those funded through the LDSS, will support their training needs

DHSC will be working to identify and include high-quality learning and development opportunities that are quality assured into the pathway.

The pathway is designed to be a foundation which will enable individuals to develop a ‘portable portfolio’ of skills attained both through learning programmes and practical experience within a range of care services, such as learning disabilities, autism or dementia. The pathway will provide an evidenced and recognised platform for career progression and individual learning.  

The pathway sets out the steps people can take to build their skills and experience. It should enable our adult social care workforce and employers to be ambitious in developing and recognising people’s contribution.

It is designed to show how people can progress from new starter through to specialist and practice leader roles and on to potentially becoming a registered professional. It is also designed to show how people can develop skills and experience within role categories - and so it is about more than progressing to more senior positions.

The pathway will make it easier for people to understand the knowledge and skills the workforce needs, and identify the learning and development that will help them develop.

Digital care workforce pathway and skills record

In addition, we are also developing a digital, interactive version of the pathway which will reshape the existing content to provide tailored information to different user groups. Once operational, this will enhance the user experience of frontline care workers and managers.

This will be linked to a new service, the adult social care skills record, which aims to improve the portability of training for those working in the sector.

The design will enable anyone in the care workforce to quickly and easily identify where they sit on the pathway by linking their knowledge and skills to a personal pathway profile. This will directly link across to learning and development opportunities to meet any skills gaps.

Relationship between the pathway and apprenticeships 

The pathway is the framework which sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours of the workforce and articulates a career framework for those working in a variety of roles within adult social care. It seeks to set out in clear terms the shared ambition and vision for the workforce developed through a combination of qualifications, learning programmes and experience.

This enables employers to be ambitious in recognising and developing people’s contribution and providing opportunities for progression and development in a range of specialisms and roles. 

Apprenticeships are recognised programmes built around an agreed occupational standard. Each apprenticeship standard is linked to a specific occupation and articulates the things an apprentice must know, do and understand to achieve the overall standard. This is following a period of learning and development both on and off the job and an external assessment of competence.

Apprenticeships are just one vehicle employers may choose to achieve the elements of the pathway in a particular defined role category. Other programmes of learning and qualifications are also available and referenced within the pathway which may achieve the same end result. 

We recognise the importance of adult social care training and qualifications. With the creation of Skills England, alongside the new growth and skills levy, we are working closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE - Skills England from April 2025) and the Department for Education to align with the government’s wider skills strategy.  

Developing the pathway

Call for evidence 

A call for evidence was published in April 2023 to inform the development of a new care workforce pathway for adult social care. This included a proposal for how the adult social care workforce might be structured and how we can articulate the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to perform different roles. 

In the call for evidence, we asked:

• what the pathway should include
• how it should be set out
• how we can support people working in care and adult social care employers to use it

We asked for examples of:

• what is working well in the sector
• what needs to change
• where there are barriers and challenges, and how we can address these

In January 2024, we published the pathway together with a response to the call for evidence. Full details of the feedback received is available in the response on the call for evidence page.

This updated version of the pathway overview reflects the commitment of this government to work with the sector and people who draw on care and support, to co-develop a nationally recognised pathway setting out the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure for the workforce.

It now includes role categories for registered managers, deputy managers, personal assistants and enhanced care workers. 

The government, in partnership with SfC, has used the information supplied through the call for evidence, alongside wider evidence, research and sector-wide engagement, to ensure that the pathway: 

• reflects the realities of receiving or providing adult social care
• builds on existing good practice
• helps drive change as well as responds to change
• can grow and develop as our expectations of adult social care change

Engaging with the sector

We have engaged with the adult social care sector to develop all the pathway role categories. Engagement has focused on gathering feedback and insight into how role categories should work and to test emerging role category content. 

The content has been tested extensively with stakeholders from across the sector and has been shared with colleagues across DHSC and other relevant government departments and agencies, including CQC and IfATE.

We engaged with the sector in many different ways, including specifically convening focus groups and one to one conversations with interested stakeholders. We also made use of existing meetings and networks such as the:

• SfC large employers meeting
• Registered Manager Network chairs meeting
• National Care Worker Forum

For example, following face to face engagement with the sector, SfC undertook a survey of 233 adult social care staff to gather feedback for the deputy manager and registered manager role categories.

We also conducted a survey to gather feedback on the enhanced care worker role category which received 144 responses. For the personal assistant role category we engaged with approximately 100 individuals for insight and feedback on the content and language used. The role categories were reviewed by our expert consultation group. 

Early adopters 

We launched a period of testing in summer 2024 to:

• rigorously examine how applicable, relevant and comprehensive the language and content of the pathway are across different settings
• understand how the pathway can be practically adopted and used by social care providers
• explore the positive impact adopting the pathway can have on care workers themselves as well as organisational outcomes

We established a cohort of early adopters, a group of 30 adult social care providers selected to represent the diversity of the social care provider market in England.

The social care provider organisations who became early adopters were supported to map their existing job descriptions, career frameworks and learning and development and HR policies against the role categories set out in the pathway.

They also established internal ‘pilot’ groups of frontline staff and managers who tested an approach to managing development using a pathway-based skills self-assessment and structured career and development conversations. 

This practical application of the pathway within social care providers operating in the real world has yielded rich insights into the language and content of the pathway which will be fed into future iterations.

It has also informed a suggested approach and methodology for any social care provider to adopt the pathway and begin to feel the benefits. These insights have been distilled into a series of implementation resources which will be hosted on the SfC website and are described in further detail below. 

As well as this, the early adopters tested links with other workforce policy - such as how easy it is to use the pathway and then access funded learning and development, including the Care Certificate Level 2 qualification.

Next steps

DHSC, in partnership with SfC, is committed to continue to build on the progress we have made and ensure we meet our ambition to develop a comprehensive, universal career structure for adult social care. The pathway will continue to evolve as the sector and workforce adapt to meet the changing needs of people who draw on care and support. 

The pathway will be used as a driver for change towards government ambitions. To achieve this, the pathway must be relevant to wider parts of the sector and support stronger partnerships between health and adult social care. It is therefore vital to continue to expand the pathway to include links into and out of health-related roles, as well as wider roles such as middle management and ancillary professions.  

The government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we develop our policy thinking. We are committed to co-developing and testing policy with the sector throughout the development of the pathway.

The emerging insights from the early adopter programme suggest there are a number of areas where the pathway can bring benefits, including workforce planning, recruitment, retention and performance management. We recommend that any employer in the sector should consider the pathway and think about how they can apply it. This could involve: 

• adopting the values in the pathway
• looking at how existing organisational structures and job roles map onto the pathway
• using the pathway to guide conversations about careers, development and progression

To support employers planning to adopt the pathway, we have developed a suite of implementation resources based on the insight and feedback from the early adopters. These have been produced in partnership with SfC and PA Consulting. The tools will guide you through the options for adopting the pathway, and have been designed with human resource professionals, operations managers, and learning and development teams in mind.

There are also resources for line managers and individuals who want to plan their own development. Finally, there are case studies and adoption stories and recorded sessions from the early adopters which help to bring implementation to life. You can access these resources on the SfC care workforce pathway page.

To ensure the pathway remains relevant, high-quality and responsive to the sector’s evolving needs, we are developing a care workforce pathway governance framework. This will mean that changes to the pathway and its ongoing refinement are timely, transparent and aligned with sector-wide priorities.

Implementation programme

In order to see the full benefits of the pathway, it will need to be widely adopted across the sector. To promote national implementation, we are also launching a new implementation programme in partnership with SfC.

The programme will identify and recruit the next wave of pathway adopters. It will provide support to adopting organisations, explaining how the pathway can be applied in different organisational contexts. It will also advise on planning for adoption and how to make full use of the available resources. As with the original early adopters, we will take forward learning from the programme into future iterations of the pathway content, language and supporting resources.

Annex A: Think Local Act Personal method statement

In May 2023, DHSC requested that TLAP, as part of its grant-funded work programme, undertake activity to support the development of the care workforce pathway. The purpose and focus of the work was to convene people who draw on care and support to establish their views on the sorts of values people working in social care should have in order to provide personalised care and support in line with previous government white papers. 

The intention was that the outputs would underpin the pathway. 

The approach taken was founded on co-production with people who draw on care and support, including unpaid carers. This statement explains the process that was followed to reach the point where a set of values statements have been incorporated within the pathway. 

Summary of activities 

The main stages of the process undertaken were: 

• a desktop review
• a series of workshops with people who draw on care and support
• support for 4 organisations to run sessions with the people they support
• discussion around the values at a session with care and support workers
• mapping the values against the behaviours in the pathway
• a dedicated session with some older people drawing on care and support living in a care home

The results of these combined activities were analysed in order to distil a set of co-produced workforce values that reflected the views and priorities of people who draw on care and support. A more detailed description of these activities is given below. 

Desktop review (June to July 2023) 

TLAP commissioned an independent research and evaluation consultant to undertake a desktop review of existing resources in the public domain that relate to workforce values. The review was co-designed with the input of members of TLAP’s national co-production advisory group and framed around the following questions: 

• what evidence exists?
• how was it produced?
• how are ‘values’ defined?
• what are the values?
• who are the values for?

A call-out for resources was issued, including internationally through the International Initiative on Disability Leadership, and 6 interviews undertaken with important contacts, which included the chief executive of SfC. Around 80 resources were looked at. These were analysed and turned into a report that informed planning the workshops (see below). 

The review highlighted:

• the importance of valuing care and support workers as an important enabler of good person-centred care and support
• the interdependency with a range of structural factors likely to influence achieving a values-based approach, including commissioning and markets, leadership, culture, and regulation

Workshops with people who draw on care and support (1, 3 and 8 August 2023) 

Forty people with lived experience of adult social care were recruited to take part in 3 consecutive online workshops. Participants received remuneration from TLAP for giving their time. 

Given the diversity of people who draw on care and support and broad range of services and support people experience, we worked hard to attract a diverse pool of people. A broad mix of people were recruited, both in terms of the type of support people were receiving (for example, home care, day care, supported living and direct payments) and in terms of protected characteristics such as age, gender, disability and ethnicity. There was a more or less even split between people drawing on care and support and unpaid carers. 

The content of the workshops was co-designed with people with lived experience. The workshops were facilitated and recorded. The broad focus of each was: 

• workshop 1 - initial exploration of workforce values
• workshop 2 - developing a long list of values, prioritising them and identifying the barriers that get in the way
• workshop 3 - exploring the behaviours underpinning values and ways of valuing the workforce

For the first 2 workshops, there was a separate group for unpaid carers. For the final workshop, the groups were combined into a mix of people who draw on care and support and unpaid carers. 

Participants were invited to give feedback after the first and second workshops so that adjustments could be made where needed. An evaluation form was sent to participants after the third workshop. There was keenness that what people had said would be taken seriously and reflected in the pathway. 

The outputs of the workshop were compiled and analysed by the independent research and evaluation consultant who undertook the desktop review. The highest-rated values were clustered into a number of themes and then distilled into a single set of values statements that reflected what people felt was most important. 

Support for external sessions (September 2023) 

A number of organisations providing care and support expressed an interest in running their own sessions. To support this, a facilitator’s guide was produced and a feedback form used to ensure a consistent approach was taken. Four organisations ran these sessions. The findings from these sessions were built into the analysis of the workshops to check for consistency across the main themes. 

Sharing the values at a session with representatives of the adult social care workforce (6 September 2023) 

A ‘first cut’ of the values was shared with a group of workers and managers organised by SfC to share progress with the pathway. They were well received, with most of the discussion focused on how these could be achieved in practice, given current barriers and pressures. There was a clear expression of the need to recognise the role of government, commissioners and employers in creating the conditions where workers are able to translate the values into practice.

Conclusion 

In developing the care workforce pathway, a project methodology was applied to secure the input of a broad mix of people drawing on varying forms of care and support. This ensured we heard their views and experiences of the values they prize most highly when applied to the care workforce. 

People clearly articulated their expectations, placing a premium on values associated with respect, reliability and honesty. In sharing their experience and views, participants strongly advocated that, in order for workers to be ‘proud and positive’, and achieve progress with implementing the pathway, concerted action will be required across the care and support system to address current barriers and to create the conditions where workers are able to translate the values into practice. 

The conversations that we had were rich and have been turned into a single set of values to underpin the pathway, which clearly signal and cement that developing the social care workforce depends at its core on holding and acting upon a set of values that reflect a commitment to person-centred care and support.

Annex B: the government’s wider health and care integration agenda

We are launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a national care service.

Chaired by Baroness Louise Casey and reporting to the Prime Minister, the commission will work with people who draw on care and their families, staff, politicians, and the public, private and third sectors to make clear recommendations for how to rebuild the adult social care system to meet the current and future needs of the population.

Care and support workers deserve to be recognised and supported for the important work they do. The government recognises the scale of reforms needed to make the adult social care sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth and improve the retention of the domestic workforce.

We want it to be regarded as a profession, and for the people who work in care to be respected as the professionals they are. We need to build on the skills of staff working in social care to ensure that care is high quality, fair, personalised and accessible. The pathway is designed to help us meet all of the above ambitions.  

The pathway, and the career structure it is developing, is also well placed to support the development of the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector which we are introducing so that care professionals are recognised and rewarded for the important work that they do.

We will engage those who draw upon, work in and provide care and support as well as local authorities, unions and others from across the sector. The Fair Pay Agreement is a key part of the government’s new deal for working people. The plan to Make Work Pay sets out a significant and ambitious agenda to ensure workplace rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and deliver economic growth. This is a core part of the government’s mission to grow the economy and raise living standards across the country.