Staffing policy template

1. What the regulation says

Sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced persons must be deployed in order to meet the requirements of this Part. (Reg 18(1): the headline duty)

receive such appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal as is necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform. (Reg 18(2)(a): support, training, supervision and appraisal)

The full text of the regulation is at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/18. Where this policy and the regulation diverge, the regulation wins.

2. Plain-English summary

You have to deploy enough suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet Part 3. Staff have to receive appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal. Where staff are health or social-care registered professionals, they have to be enabled to give their regulator evidence of meeting professional standards.

3. Scope

This policy applies to all staffing decisions across : workforce planning, recruitment, induction, supervision, appraisal, training, professional development, continuing professional competence, and the support a member of staff receives day to day. It covers every clinical and non-clinical role, employed and contracted staff, agency and locum cover, and external parties working alongside the team.

(Tenant updates the angle-bracket placeholder.)

4. Roles and responsibilities

• Registered Manager: accountable for Reg 18 across every site. Maintains the workforce plan; reviews staffing levels against the plan weekly; signs off the annual training cycle.
• Nominated Individual: holds provider-side accountability.
• HR Lead: operates the recruitment cycle, supervision and appraisal cadence, training-matrix register currency, professional-registration verification.
• Clinical Lead: accountable for the clinical-competence component of Reg 18: assesses clinical fitness for role, advises on clinical training needs, confirms clinical-skills currency.
• Line managers: deliver supervision, appraisal, day-to-day support; surface workload-and-capability concerns.
• All staff: engage with supervision and appraisal honestly; complete mandatory training within the required windows; raise capability or workload concerns to their line manager.

(Tenant updates the named role-holders.)

5. Procedure

The Reg 18 procedure operationalises the staffing duty across the workforce lifecycle.

1. Workforce plan. The Registered Manager maintains a workforce plan: the role-and-headcount required to deliver the regulated activity safely at each location, by role, by shift pattern. The plan is reviewed quarterly and on any change of service shape.
2. Sufficient numbers. Daily staffing levels are checked against the workforce plan. Where actual is below planned, the gap is filled (own-staff cover, bank, agency) or service activity is reduced to a safe level. A pattern of repeated gaps triggers a workforce-plan review.
3. Recruitment. Recruitment follows the Reg 19 fit-and-proper-persons-employed process (Schedule 3 information per the Fit and Proper Persons Employed Policy). Sufficiency includes the right skill mix, not just headcount.
4. Induction. New staff complete induction before unsupervised work begins. Induction includes role-specific training, Reg 18 mandatory training topics, the platform's tour, the provider's policies, and a buddy or mentor arrangement for the first weeks.
5. Supervision. Supervision runs per the Supervision Policy. Cadence per role and per session type (one-to-one, group, peer, clinical, reflective practice). The platform's supervision register holds the record of every session.
6. Appraisal. Annual appraisal for every member of staff. Appraisal covers the year's performance against role expectations, training completion, professional development plan, any concerns surfaced, the year ahead's objectives. The appraisal record sits against the person record.
7. Continuing professional development. Each member of staff has a personal CPD plan aligned to the role and any professional-registration requirements. The CPD plan is reviewed at appraisal.
8. Professional registration. Where the role requires professional registration (NMC, GMC, HCPC, GDC, GPhC, Social Work England, etc.), the registration is verified against the live register at appointment, the renewal date is on the assurance calendar, and lapses are escalated immediately. Lapsed registration means the role cannot be performed.
9. Capability and conduct concerns. Where a capability or conduct concern surfaces (in supervision, appraisal, incident review, complaint, peer report), the concern is recorded and the appropriate process runs: capability process for skills-and-competence concerns; conduct process for behaviour or safeguarding concerns. Both processes preserve the staff member's rights and the service users' safety.
10. Workforce review at governance meeting. Aggregate workforce metrics (vacancy rate, sickness rate, training-currency rate, supervision-current rate, appraisal-current rate, professional-registration-currency rate) are reviewed monthly at the clinical governance meeting.

6. Training and the staff training plan

The Service holds a staff training plan that identifies the training every member of staff needs to deliver safe, effective and person-centred care, aligned to Regulation 18, to the Care Certificate standards for staff new to care, and to the service-user needs set out in the Service's statement of purpose. The plan covers:

Induction and mandatory training.

• every new member of staff completes a structured induction before working unsupervised; for staff new to health or social care the induction is mapped to the Care Certificate standards
• mandatory training for every role: safeguarding adults and children (at the level the role requires), Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards awareness, equality, diversity and human rights, health and safety, fire safety, infection prevention and control, moving and handling, basic life support, food hygiene where relevant, and information governance
• the mandatory set is matched to the Service's business needs and the needs of the people it supports

Role-specific training.

• each role, including managers, receives the role-specific training its competency framework requires (for example medicines administration for care staff, clinical skills for clinical roles, and leadership and governance for managers)

Specialist training.

• where the Service supports people with particular needs, staff receive the specialist training those needs require, for example dementia care, sensory impairment, mental health, and learning disability and autism (including the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism), end-of-life care, and the management of specific conditions
• the specialist training reflects the service-user bands set out in the Service's statement of purpose

Training providers.

• the plan names the training provider used for each topic, and the Service satisfies itself that the provider and the training are of suitable quality (for example Skills for Care endorsed provision or equivalent)

Refresher training.

• the plan sets how often each topic is refreshed, and refresher dates are tracked on the assurance calendar so that training does not lapse

Support for overseas workers.

• workers recruited from overseas receive any extra support they need, for example a longer induction and English-language support, and help to understand UK care standards and the rights of the people they support

The training plan and the training matrix are held in the tenant's training register; currency is surfaced on the assurance calendar and reviewed monthly.

(Tenant completes the named training providers, the service-user bands, and the per-topic refresher schedule to fit its own service.)

7. Audit

Compliance with this policy is monitored by the HR Lead and the Registered Manager jointly:

• Weekly staffing-versus-plan check: actual versus planned headcount per shift; gaps logged and addressed.
• Monthly training-currency dashboard: training matrix percentages by role and topic. Below-threshold cells investigated.
• Quarterly supervision-currency audit: percentage of staff with current supervision (per cadence) against the workforce list. Patterns of slipping cadence flagged.
• Annual appraisal completion: percentage of staff appraised in the year; outliers reviewed.
• Annual workforce plan review: the plan itself reviewed against the year's experience and the year ahead.

Audit findings recorded in the tenant's audit register; actions logged in the improvement-actions register.

8. Record-keeping

Staffing records (workforce plan, recruitment records, induction records, supervision records, appraisal records, training matrix entries, CPD plans, professional-registration verifications, capability and conduct records) are held for the duration of the staff member's tenure plus a minimum of 6 years after the end of tenure under the Limitation Act 1980, aligned to the standard limitation period.

Verivius preserves the per-record audit trail indefinitely while the workspace is active.

9. Related policies in this pack

• Recruitment Policy
• Good Governance Policy
• Safe Care and Treatment Policy
• Safeguarding Adults Policy

10. Sources and further reading

This template is based on CQC's guidance for providers and managers, the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and other topic-specific legislation and guidance listed below. It is a starting point for adaptation, not a substitute for legal, clinical, HR, safeguarding or specialist professional advice.

• CQC Regulation 18: Staffing
• CQC Regulation 19: Fit and proper persons employed
• CQC Regulation 17: Good governance
• Skills for Care guidance where adult social care
• Professional-body staffing expectations where clinical
• Learning disability and autism training requirements under the Health and Care Act 2022 and current Oliver McGowan / DHSC / CQC guidance
• Care Certificate standards (Skills for Care / Skills for Health) for staff new to care
• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/regulation/18)

11. When to seek further advice

Seek specialist advice where the issue involves serious harm, safeguarding, deprivation of liberty, restraint, children, professional misconduct, controlled drugs, radiation, termination of pregnancy, infection outbreak, water safety, employment dismissal, DBS barring referral, or regulatory enforcement.

12. Document control

This sample policy template was issued by Verivius. It is a template, not a substitute for legal advice or the tenant's own policy-development process. Where this template and live law or regulator guidance diverge, the live source wins.