Ask us for advice

How to become
a care worker

Contact our expert team about our care services at hello@verilife.co.uk.

How to become

There are lots of routes into home care, allowing people to enter the industry from a wide range of backgrounds. Depending on your requirements, your career as a care worker could start with:

College courses

There are several college courses that will allow you to earn qualifications relevant to a career in care. These include the Level 1 Certificate in Health and Social Care, Level 2 Diploma in Care, and the T Level in Health.

Apprenticeships

If formal college courses don’t appeal to you, pursuing an adult care worker intermediate apprenticeship or a lead adult care worker advanced apprenticeship could be a more engaging route into the industry.

Volunteering

Voluntary work at a care home, hospital, hospice, or for a charity will give you valuable experience supporting vulnerable people. This allows you to experience the role first-hand and could lead into a position as a care worker.

On-the-job training

Many organisations will be happy to train care workers on the job. In this situation, you would apply for a position directly and would receive support from your employer to help you grow into the role.

Starting

When embarking on your first position as a care worker, your employer may ask you to complete the Care Certificate course during your induction. This is a training course that covers 15 standards that encompass the skills, knowledge, and practices that are needed to provide effective care. These topics are:

  • Understand your role
  • Your personal development
  • Duty of care
  • Equality and diversity
  • Work in a person-centred way
  • Communication
  • Privacy and dignity
  • Fluids and nutrition
  • Awareness of mental health, dementia and learning disabilities
  • Safeguarding adults
  • Safeguarding children
  • Basic life support
  • Health and safety
  • Handling information
  • Infection prevention and control

checks

In order to work with vulnerable adults, you will need to pass an Enhanced DBS check. This process ensures that you are suitable for a position as a care worker, checking your background to see if you have a criminal record. If you successfully pass this background check you will receive a certificate as proof.

Completing your Care Certificate

The course has been designed with clear modules in mind that you can complete in an e-learning format at a time that suits your schedule. This allows you to cover the content independently, rather than needing to attend in-person training where you progress as part of a group. There will be an online assessment for each of the 15 standards to check that you have fully understood the material. By completing your Care Certificate, you demonstrate that you understand the responsibilities of the role and are ready to be observed by an experienced care worker in a practical setting.

Becoming

At Verilife, all our new care workers complete their Care Certificate as well as basic courses on medication and safe manual handling. These e-learning courses are completed in advance so that we can check their understanding and competency in person, rather than needing to teach the material from scratch. This reduces the time taken before new care workers can shadow an experienced care worker or supervisor on care visits. All our care workers are paid the full rate from the moment they attend these initial shifts, ensuring there is no financial impact from the training process. This shadowing process is used to build up their confidence until they feel confident working independently and can go out on their own care visits. We also have the resources to support people with these training courses, ensuring that, so long as you have the right attitude, you will be able to understand and apply the material.

Contact Verilife

Are you interested in becoming a care worker? Call 02031419290 or email hello@verilife.co.uk to speak to a member of our team about how to join the industry. We’ll be happy to discuss the role of a home care worker with you and to help you determine if this is the right fit for your requirements. We’re here to help you kickstart your career.