Care workforce pathway for adult social care
The care workforce pathway outlines the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours people need to work in adult social care.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The care workforce pathway issets out the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to work in adult social care. It provides a newuniversal career structure for the adultsector’s social1.5 caremillion workforce.workers - the first of its kind.
The pathway wasis launchedco-developed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in Januarypartnership 2024,with coveringSkills 4for directCare, care providers, workforce representatives and people with lived experience of care.
The pathway now covers ‘direct’ and ‘supporting’ role categories. FourTogether, morethese roleincorporate categoriesnearly wereall addedof in Aprilthe 2025.unregulated workforce who contribute to the quality of adult social care, whether directly or indirectly.
The 811 direct role categories are now:are:
- new to care
- care or support worker
- activity co-ordinator
- enhanced care worker
- care technologist
- personal assistant
- supervisor or leader
- practice leader
- deputy manager
- registered manager
- nominated individual
The Department7 ofsupporting Healthrole andcategories Social Care (DHSC) developed the pathway in partnership with:are:
SkillscorporateforCare(SfC)managementrepresentativeslearningfromandthedevelopmentadultsocialcareworkforcepractitionerpeoplequalitywhoassurancedrawoncareandsupportlead- administration
- catering
- domestic
- maintenance
TheThere pathwayis hasalso beenan informedeasy byread responsesversion toof thecare callworkforce for evidencepathway,. whichThis rancurrently forhas 8 weeks in April and May 2023.
DHSC, in partnership with SfC, is committed to continue to build on the progressfirst we8 haverole made.categories. We wantwill toadd ensureeasy weread meetversions ourof ambition to develop a comprehensive, universal career structure for adult social care.
See the easylatest read10 versionrole ofcategories care workforce pathway.shortly.
Updates to this page
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Added 10 new role categories: 'Activity co-ordinator'; 'Care technologist'; 'Nominated individual'; 'Corporate management'; 'Learning and development practitioner'; 'Quality assurance lead'; 'Administration'; 'Catering'; 'Domestic'; and 'Maintenance'; and amended the 'Overview' to add information about the adult social care workforce transformation, neighbourhood health and links with the government’s skills strategy, and to update the information on 'next steps'.
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Amended 'deputy manager' and 'registered manager' role categories to note that the Management and Leadership Code for Health and Social Care (draft version) is now expected to be published in 2026.
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Updated the 'deputy manager' and 'registered manager' role categories (in 'The behaviours people must show' section) to say: the Management and Leadership Code for Health and Social Care (draft version) is expected to be published later in 2025.
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Added a link to the easy read version of the care workforce pathway.
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Added 4 new role categories to the pathway: enhanced care worker, personal assistant, deputy manager and registered manager. Updated the overview document to reflect the development of the pathway.
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First published.
Update history
2026-07-16 14:30
Added 10 new role categories: ‘Activity co-ordinator’; ‘Care technologist’; ‘Nominated individual’; ‘Corporate management’; ‘Learning and development practitioner’; ‘Quality assurance lead’; ‘Administration’; ‘Catering’; ‘Domestic’; and ‘Maintenance’; and amended the ‘Overview’ to add information about the adult social care workforce transformation, neighbourhood health and links with the government’s skills strategy, and to update the information on ‘next steps’.
2025-11-12 10:52
Amended ‘deputy manager’ and ‘registered manager’ role categories to note that the Management and Leadership Code for Health and Social Care (draft version) is now expected to be published in 2026.
2025-05-23 13:02
Updated the ‘deputy manager’ and ‘registered manager’ role categories (in ‘The behaviours people must show’ section) to say: the Management and Leadership Code for Health and Social Care (draft version) is expected to be published later in 2025.
2025-05-14 12:35
Added a link to the easy read version of the care workforce pathway.
2025-04-09 13:42
Added 4 new role categories to the pathway: enhanced care worker, personal assistant, deputy manager and registered manager. Updated the overview document to reflect the development of the pathway.
2024-01-10 17:29
First published.