Oliver McGowan mandatory training: a guide for care homes

If you run a care home in England, every member of staff needs learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. That has been the law since 1 July 2022, and since 6 September 2025 a statutory Code of Practice has set out what "appropriate" means. This guide covers what the training is, which tier each role needs, how long it takes, and how to record it so you can answer an inspector in one look.

What Oliver McGowan training is, and why it's required

Oliver McGowan was a young autistic teenager who died in 2016. His mother, Paula McGowan, campaigned for health and care staff to be trained to understand and support autistic people and people with a learning disability, and the training carries his name.

There are three layers, and it helps to keep them separate:

The duty applies to all CQC-registered health and adult social care providers in England. CQC is clear that it covers all services and all settings, not just specialist learning disability or autism services, and that it includes ancillary staff such as receptionists, cooks and kitchen staff, and cleaners.

The four standards in the Code

Whatever training you use has to meet all four:

1. Minimum content: capabilities from the core capabilities frameworks for supporting people with a learning disability and autistic people.
2. Putting it into practice: training that helps staff explore how they will use what they've learned.
3. Live and interactive: a minimum amount of live training, co-produced and co-delivered by people with a learning disability and autistic people, on top of compulsory e-learning of at least 90 minutes. For the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training, the Code says at least one person with a learning disability and one autistic person must co-deliver.
4. Evidence-based and quality-assured, with people with a learning disability and autistic people meaningfully involved.

Tier 1 vs Tier 2: who needs which

The Code describes capabilities in tiers. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training covers Tiers 1 and 2:

The Code's care home example is the most useful guide for a registered manager:

• Care home staff are likely to need Tier 2, so they can make the service accessible. In practice that is likely to include care workers, senior carers, nurses, activities staff and anyone else who supports residents day to day. The Code's list of Tier 2 roles includes registered managers, team leaders, care assistants, support workers, students and trainees.
• People who make decisions about the home are likely to need Tier 2. That is likely to include the registered manager, the deputy and the nominated individual.
• Staff who don't meet the public, such as someone employed to do laundry or look after the gardens, may only need Tier 1. The Code gives a finance worker as a similar example for adult social care generally.

Two cautions. First, in most care homes "doesn't meet the public" is a short list: kitchen, housekeeping and maintenance staff often talk to residents and visitors every day. Second, the Code says providers must carry out regular skills assessments for all staff to decide the level of training each needs. Write down your decision for each role and why. CQC says that if you decide someone doesn't need this training, it expects you to be able to show a record of how you reached that decision.

Tier 3 is for staff working with a high degree of autonomy in complex situations, such as learning disability nurses or clinical psychologists. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training doesn't cover it; the Code points to apprenticeships, vocational or subject-specific training instead. Few residential care homes will need it, but a specialist service might.

How long it takes and how often

• Tier 1: about 90 minutes of e-learning plus a one-hour live online session.
• Tier 2: the same 90 minutes of e-learning plus a full day face to face.
• Refresher: the Code says providers are responsible for making sure staff undertake learning disability and autism training at least every three years, or more often if needed.
• New starters: the Code sets no fixed deadline for completing it after starting. Build it into induction and the probation plan so nobody drifts past their first year without it, and record the date it's booked.
• Staff who move from another employer: the standardised package is designed so providers can be confident staff who change employers were trained to the same standards. Ask for their certificate and record the date they completed it.

Plan the face-to-face days early. A Tier 2 day takes a carer off the rota, so book cohorts around the rota, not the other way round.

Recording it in your training matrix

The Code says providers should keep using their existing staff record systems to record and monitor completion. For most homes, that's the training matrix. Here is a layout that answers the questions an inspector is likely to ask:

How to fill it in:

1. Decide the tier per role first, write the reason for any Tier 1 decision, and review it when a role changes.
2. Record the two parts separately. The e-learning on its own isn't the complete package. Mark the course complete only when both parts are done, and date it from the live session.
3. Set the renewal to three years from completion.
4. Record the certificate. Note who checked it and when, especially for staff who trained elsewhere.
5. Ask staff to complete the surveys. For the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training, the Code expects providers to ask staff to complete the standardised pre- and post-training surveys.
6. Treat it as mandatory for the roles you've decided need it, so gaps show up red on the matrix rather than hiding in a spreadsheet tab.

Our care home training matrix template has the full matrix with every other mandatory course alongside.

What inspectors look for

CQC's guidance and inspection approach point to the same handful of things:

• Training records that show who has done which tier and when.
• Your reasoning for the tier each role needs, and a record of any decision that someone doesn't need the training.
• A review of older training. If staff did learning disability and autism training before the Code, CQC expects you to review it against the Regulation 18 requirement using the Code, and monitor whether it's working.
• Competence in practice. CQC says it will look at how you make sure trained staff are competent and putting what they learned into practice. Supervisions are the natural place for that: see our guide to supervision and appraisal for care staff.
• New registrations. CQC said in September 2026 that its registration teams now address this requirement when assessing applications to register.

CQC's assessment framework is changing, but the five key questions and Regulation 18 stay, so the evidence above holds. Our CQC inspection checklist covers the rest.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The section 181 duty and the Oliver McGowan Code apply to CQC-registered providers in England. Elsewhere, staff training duties come from each nation's own care regulations:

• Wales: regulation 36 of the Regulated Services (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017 requires core training appropriate to the work, plus specialist training as appropriate. Care Inspectorate Wales regulates.
• Scotland: section 8 of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 requires care service providers to ensure staff receive appropriate training for their work. The Care Inspectorate regulates.
• Northern Ireland: regulation 20 of the Residential Care Homes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 requires mandatory training and other training appropriate to the work. RQIA regulates.

If you support autistic people or people with a learning disability outside England, ask your regulator or workforce body what training they expect, and record it on your matrix in the same way.

Checklist

• Every role assigned a tier, with the reason written down for any Tier 1 or "not required" decision.
• Every member of staff on the matrix with both parts of the training recorded.
• Three-year renewal dates set.
• Face-to-face Tier 2 dates booked for anyone outstanding, with cover on the rota.
• Older learning disability and autism training reviewed against the Code.
• Certificates for staff trained elsewhere checked and recorded.
• Supervisions ask how staff are using the training.

How ShiftComplete helps

ShiftComplete's training matrix shows every person against every course, green, amber (due within 30 days), red (expired or missing mandatory) or grey (not required). For Oliver McGowan training you can:

• Add Tier 1 and Tier 2 as two courses, each with a three-year renewal period, marked mandatory, and required for the roles or areas you decided.
• Let staff add their own certificate with a photo; it stays pending until a manager confirms it.
• Get reminders by email and in the app at 30 days, 7 days and when training has expired, plus a Monday round-up.
• See warnings on the rota when someone whose mandatory training has expired is put on a shift. The owner can make it a hard block.
• Filter by site, role and area, export to CSV or print the matrix for an inspection.

It doesn't deliver the training itself, and it works alongside your care-records system rather than replacing it. It costs £2.49 per active staff member per month, with no minimum and no contract, and the first 60 days are free with no card needed.

See the training matrix, rota warnings and the rest of the care features on our care homes page.