Best Ways to Become a Registered Manager – What Training You Need

What is a Registered Manager?

A registered care home manager is someone who is responsible for running a care service on a day-to-day basis. This could be a homecare or domiciliary care service. Registered managers have the responsibility of making services meet both legal and regulatory requirements, and provide safe, effective and well-led care to their service users. They will also have to manage their staff and make sure their team receives the right amount of continued support, supervision and training while maintaining business compliance, including health and safety standards and resource management.

To be a registered manager, you have to be registered with your national regulator for standards in health and social care; the CQC (Care Quality Commission) in England, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, RQIA in Northern Ireland and Arolygiaeth Gofal Cymru yng Nghymru (Care Inspectorate Wales) in Wales.

Some qualifications from different UK nations are transferable within the UK, but not all, and some may require you to take additional qualifications or inductions before starting to work there, such as the Wales induction framework in Wales.

CQC registered manager training, qualifications (or training from your national regulator) and experience are required to carry out the job correctly.

Registered Manager Qualification

While the best education is undoubtedly real-life experience, you have to complete certain training and qualifications to become a registered manager. For example, you will need a degree-level qualification.

In England, the main qualification you need for a successful application is the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management in Adult Care. This course is mandated and it’s the qualification that CQC will expect registered managers to complete. It’s a diploma that’s equivalent to a year's Masters course. It’s also replaced the Registered Managers Award. There will be variations of this level 5 qualification that has been tailored and targeted towards different areas of care, such as complex care and domiciliary care. If you are already working in care, you can study towards a Level 3 Diploma in adult care or a field that’s more relevant to you before you undertake your Level 5 certificate.

Alternatively, if you have a bachelor's or Masters degree in a relevant subject, such as social care management or health, or something in the nursing/medical field, this will be acceptable. You should always check with your regulator's most recent rules on which qualifications they will accept though, as these are subject to change or carry additional requirements or evidence.

Care Inspectorate Registered Manager Qualifications (Scotland)

Before being appointed, registered managers as a minimum need to hold a ‘relevant care practitioner qualification’ and a relevant management qualification. What is and isn’t a relevant qualification is determined by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). Accepted qualifications include:

• HNC in Social Services
• SVQ Social Services and Healthcare SCQF Level 9
• Any practice award in the supervisor or manager category

If you don’t have an HNC in Social Services or the SCQF Level 9, but think you may have another relevant qualification please check with the SSSC, either online or over the phone if the qualifications you have been accepted as equivalents.

Remember that unlike in some other parts of the UK, in Scotland you need this qualification before you start working as a registered manager.

Care Inspectorate Wales Registered Manager Qualifications

In Wales the key registered manager qualification is to have both: City and Guilds Level 4 Preparing for Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care

And:

City and Guilds Level 5 Leadership and Management of Health and Social Care: Practice

Alternatively, there are a number of other qualifications you can use in place of the level 5 qualification, as long as you are currently enrolled on the level 5 qualification. You can find more details and make direct contact to confirm details if necessary through Social Care Wales.

Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, you will need to be able to register with RQIA and/or NISCC to become a registered manager. Applicants will need to hold or work towards at least one of the following qualifications:

• QCF Level 5 or equivalent in Health and Social Care Adult Manager.
• S/NVQ Level 5 in Health and Social Care.

In some cases, the service will require you to be a qualified social worker or a registered nurse. If you don’t have the right qualifications, some services will accept people who are willing to work towards a relevant management qualification, as long as you have the right attitude and level of experience.

How to Become a Registered Manager

Once you have obtained your registered manager care qualifications, you can then start applying for the relevant jobs, or take on a role in your existing care service if one is available. However, there are other criteria you will need to meet, such as certain experience and training, and a specific attitude that shows that you will succeed in your position. Here are the steps you should follow if you want to become a registered manager.

Make Sure You Work on Your Skills

There are a certain set of skills you need to have to become a successful registered manager, these include but aren’t restricted to:

• Strong leadership qualities – Being constant and consistent will help your team feel supported, looked after and safe. Other qualities include being able to possess self-awareness, focus on relationships, exhibit humility and stay authentic while leading and motivating your team.
• Work well under pressure – Registered managers have a lot on their shoulders, so they must be able to deal with stress effectively and lead and motivate their team successfully, even during times of doubt, change and urgency.
  
  
• Effective communication skills – You must be able to communicate clearly, effectively and consistently with your team, no matter how many tasks you have to deal with at the time.
  
  
• The ability to think strategically – This is the ability to plan for the future by preparing strategies and conjuring ideas that will cope with changes in the environment while considering the various challenges that lie ahead.
  
  
• Great organisational and project management skills – You need a multitude of skills to be organised. To name a few, you must have the ability to identify goals and arrange priorities from most important to least. You must be able to break down large projects into smaller achievable tasks and communicate effectively with members of the team.
  
  
• Good English, numeracy and digital skills – Having basic skills in Maths and English will help you achieve the above and so much more, while digital skills are essential for success in the care industry. This is because the social care aim is for 80% of CQC registered providers to have digital social care records by March 2024. This digital transformation has the potential to drastically improve the quality of care.

While some of these skills for care will be part of your core personality, many of them can be worked on and developed over time. One of the best ways to gain skills that are tailored to meet your work environment requirements is to gain experience working in a social care or health role.

Invest Time into Work Experience

Gaining work experience in the health and social care sector is key to becoming a thriving registered manager. You can’t expect to run a team successfully without having been in their position in the past, and you won’t do as well as meeting your service user's needs without the experience of working closely with people with similar needs.

The majority of registered managers will work their way up from junior positions, so they will naturally have the skills and knowledge of working in care homes or other healthcare settings. As well as helping you gain the information you need to succeed, work experience can also help you see if a position as a registered manager is actually right for you.

If you decide it’s not a good choice for you, some people will choose to become a care coordinator or care worker instead. However, these require their own set of training and development.

Get Yourself Registered with your regulator

Before you can work as a registered manager you will need to register with your regulator, for example, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England. This process can take time and will involve providing certain details of the facility you plan to manage, as well as evidence of your suitability for the position and your qualifications. You will also need to provide detailed information which states how you plan to manage the care service, so the regulator can assess your plans and approve them if they align with legal standards.

Once you have become registered with your regulator and your work is subject to their legal standards, you will be able to start practising as a registered manager.

Work Your Way Up in Your Care Service

After spending a sufficient amount of time in a junior role in the care sector, you may come across the opportunity to train, advance your learning and eventually, move into a more senior position.

A lot of registered managers have originally worked as deputy managers in a care home before they become fully qualified registered managers. Once you have gained the necessary qualifications and training in a mid-level role, an opening as a registered manager may present itself to you in the future. Your experience will help you succeed if you choose to work your way up in your care service. 

However, your journey to becoming a registered manager will also require you to search and apply for the role. Not everyone is fortunate enough to come across and meet the requirement of a position in their care home and can progress internally. If you think you’re ready to take on the responsibilities of a registered manager, then you should start applying for available roles at other care services.

Continue Your Professional Development

Even if you meet the CQC registered manager qualification requirements, or those of the national regulator for your service and you have bagged the role you have been working towards, the training and development shouldn’t stop there. Once you have become a registered manager, it’s recommended that you continue your professional development.

You can do this by keeping up-to-date with all of the latest developments and information surrounding the care sector and attending regular training sessions. Joining a registered manager network will allow you to meet other registered managers and help you find useful events and courses to attend.

Use eLearning for Career Progression

As you can see, to become a registered manager for a care service, you really need to put in the hours and prove your dedication. Work ethic and experience can take you far, as well as dedicating time to studying and continued professional development. There are multiple ways you can complete and continue your training, including classic classroom learning or modern online studying. 

Once you are running your care service, you will need to keep both you and your team’s skills and knowledge of the care sector up to date to remain compliant, boost your ratings and ensure you are delivering safe, high-quality care. One way to help you and your team meet your targets is to invest in a digital platform like eLearning for Health and Social Care from The Access Group. 

During your training and after you have gained experience from managing a care service, you will notice that getting everyone on board with learning and development isn't easy. To help you understand the most common challenges related to training in care and how to overcome them, we have put together this informative learning and development guide for care providers. 

We’ve been digitising businesses for over 30 years, including local, national and international care services of all sizes. We have created this eLearning platform to make training more manageable, engaging and cost-effective. Our courses have been endorsed by Skills for Care and contain bespoke content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. We aim to give you the freedom to do more.

If you’d like to know more about our award-winning eLearning platform, get in touch with one of our experts today to discuss this further. We also encourage you to explore what courses we have to offer.