For care providers
Supporting new care workers through their first shifts
What guidance says about the start of a new care worker's time with a service: working alongside a colleague before working alone, introducing themselves to the people they support, and knowing who to ask for support, including out of hours.
On a new care worker's first day, the people they go to see may not have met them yet. Their first shifts are taken here as practice: working alongside a colleague, introducing themselves to the people they will support, and knowing who to ask. This is information, not legal advice. It does not cover checks, training requirements or qualifications, which are set where a service operates.
Set up the first days before they start
Among NICE's recommendations for home care in England is that, in the induction period, a new home care worker is observed while they work. NICE's quality standard on home care for older people in England notes that home care workers typically work on their own with older people in the community, and describes regular supervision based on observing their practice as a way for them to feel supported. Observation of that kind can be offered to a new care worker as support rather than as a test.
What we don’t claim here
We don’t say what the rules require where your service operates, and we don’t set a standard of our own. Requirements differ from place to place, so we don’t imply one.
Who can weigh it: your service’s own policies, its regulator and professional advice where it operates. Where to take it →
Let them work alongside a colleague first
In Ireland, the HSE's service specifications for home support providers describe a new member of staff being supervised and shadowed before working alone with the people they support for the first time, and the provider's risk assessment of a person's home being discussed with the care worker before they first attend that home.
Give them time to say who they are and what they do
In Ireland, the human rights-based approach set out by HIQA and Safeguarding Ireland describes staff who are meeting a person for the first time taking the time to introduce themselves properly, so that they connect with the person from the start, and making sure the person understands what their role is.
Make clear who to ask, and when
NICE's home care guideline for England recommends responding promptly to home care workers when they ask for support to deal with difficult situations. Ireland's HSE specifications for home support providers describe care workers having access to line managers out of hours. HIQA and Safeguarding Ireland's guidance describes staff in Ireland knowing who to ask for advice or support within their service if they see, or are concerned, that a person's human rights are not being upheld.
Look to where you operate for what induction must include
The sources here are all Ireland's or England's. What checks, training and supervision a new care worker needs, and when, comes from local rules and each service's own policies, and is not listed here. Your induction plans are worth taking through those policies, your regulator and professional advice where you operate.
When to ask a professional
This guide stops where your service’s own judgment starts. Take what fits back to its policies, its regulator and professional advice where it operates.
Sources
The outside sources this guide draws on.
Primary: Taken from the official source itself, and cited directly.
- PrimaryNICE (England), Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older people living in their own homes (NG21), recommendations 1.7.3 and 1.7.10, 17 September 2015 (minor update March 2018)
- PrimaryNICE (England), Home care for older people (QS123), quality statement 6: Supervision of home care workers, rationale, 22 June 2016
- PrimaryHSE (Ireland), Home Support Services: Services for Older People, Authorisation Scheme, Service Specifications, specifications 17.1.1, 18.1, 18.2 and 19.9, Version 2.5, June 2026
- PrimaryHIQA and Safeguarding Ireland (Ireland), Guidance on a Human Rights-based Approach in Health and Social Care Services, section 2.1, "Day-to-day communication" and "Supporting the achievement of human rights", 2019
More in this department
How we source
Carefulness, made visible.
Named, not counted
Each guide names its sources and tags each one Primary or Secondary. It never counts sources at you.
Holding back
Where a part isn’t confirmed, a guide runs shorter and says what is missing.
Naming the limit
Every guide names where its authority ends, and who to ask instead.