Frequently asked questions

The provider portal offers a clear overview of staff training, both in detail and as an overview. It helps manage certificates, analyse skills gaps, and provides evidence for compliance for Local Authority monitoring meetings, internal audits and CQC inspections, as well as best practice.  

You can find out more on the About Us page. 

Please complete this form and a member of the Care Professional Academy team will be in contact.

If you are a Local Authority, you can register interest in the Academy here.

Where a local authority has signed up to provide the Academy to providers and care professionals it is available to you and your staff for FREE.

If you are interested in the Academy please call us 01707 937990 or email contact@careprofessional.co.uk to see if your organisation or local authority has signed up to access the Academy. If not, we can discuss how you can use the Academy service and the associated costs.

The Provider Portal is a digital platform designed to support care employers in key areas such as staff wellbeing, compliance, governance, and workforce development.

For your staff, the portal offers:

• Access to an exclusive rewards and benefits scheme for all employees and volunteers.
• Wellbeing support, including a confidential Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• A personal Training Passport to support supervisions, PDPs, appraisals, and to provide evidence for LA visits and CQC monitoring.

For your organisation, if you opt into the full service, the provider portal offers you:

• A digital hub to store all staff training certificates with notifications of expiring certificates at intervals for your staff and your nominated person who will manage the portal in your organisation or service (Provider Portal Admin/PPA). 
• A Competency Assessment linked to certificates.
• A training report and matrix for your Provider Portal Admin/PPA and manager to access and run at any time; allowing you to plan, identify training gaps and plan your L&D budget. (The Academy team will give you navigation training and ongoing support for your Provider Portal Admin/PPA).
• Access to the Academy training offer.

Find out more via the Why join? page

• Exclusive Rewards & Discounts – Unlock discounts and cashback at thousands of major retailers like John Lewis, Boots, M&S, supermarkets, holidays, travel – buses, trains, car parks, car leasing, pet care, hobbies, utilities everything from essential everyday living to luxuries.
• Wellbeing Support – access to ‘Support for YOU’ the Academy’s EAP service; along with our Wellbeing hub – Move, Munch, Money and Mind and access to purchase Heath Care Cash Plan.
• Financial Support – via our Wellbeing Hub, and mortgage service.
• Training Record Management – Log and track training certificates and qualifications in one central place.
• Career Development Support – Showcase your ongoing training and commitment to high standards in care.
• Showcase Skills – Easily demonstrate professional qualifications and transferable skills to current and future employers.
• Professional Recognition – Be part of a movement to professionalise adult social care and elevate the perception of care roles.
• Access to Adult Social Care News – Stay updated with the latest developments and news in the adult social care sector.

If you are already registered for the Provider Portal, please click the ‘Log In to Your Portal‘ button located at the top of the website. Please note that only Provider Portal administrators can access the Provider Portal.

If you have any questions please contact the Academy team by calling 01707 937990 or email contact@careprofessional.co.uk

As a Provider Portal administrator/PPA you can join us on our Induction & Navigation webinar, we hold them on a regular basis. Click here to register, if you would prefer to have a 1:1 meeting please email us and we can arrange this with you contact@careprofessional.co.uk

If you would like the ‘How to Guide’ please email us and we will get this to you contact@careprofessional.co.uk

We have a range of ‘How to Videos’ for the Provider Portal available here includes:

• How to manage your service in one place
• How to add a certificate for a care professional
• How to add a new or existing care professional & end employment
• How to navigate the training report
• How to navigate the training matrix
• How to add and view a competency assessment

All certificates are held for 6 years from the date they left your employment. When a member of staff leaves you can still access a restricted profile to support requests for evidence of training or investigations relating to that member of staff during their employment with you.

As part of setting up your organisation on the portal, we will ask you to nominate 2 people who will manage the portal across your organisation or for your service (Provider Portal Admin/PPA). Often this is an administrator and/or manager,  who will be managing data (Data Processor) for your staff, this will need to be considered when you are deciding who to nominate as your Provider Portal Admin/PPA.

Once your Provider Portal has been set up for your organisation, your PPA will be sent an email containing a ‘How to Guide’, with a breakdown of how to use all the features of the provider portal.

The Care Professional Academy also run Induction & Navigation webinars for providers, where you will be given step- by-step training on how to use the provider portal.

If you would like to book on an Induction & Navigation webinar, please click here to sign up.

If you have any questions at any time during business hours, please send us an email to contact@careprofessional.co.uk or give us a call on 01707 937990

Should you wish to request the removal of a certificate, please contact the Academy team at contact@careprofessional.co.uk and we can do this for you.

All certificates uploaded to the portal are validated ensuring relevance to Adult Social Care, we reference Skills for Care Core and Mandatory training document for guidance.

Each certificate uploaded to the Academy is processed through our validation process, checking:

1. The certificate is relevant
2. The name matches
3. The course name is correct
4. The training company and what type of training provider
5. Date on the certificate matches the details entered
6. Expiry date on certificate. (If there is no expiry date Skills for Care guidelines will be used if it should have one.)
7. Logos are correct
8. The categories you have completed on upload are correct

If there are any concerns about the validity of a certificate, additional checks are carried out.

Regulation 18 requires providers to have “qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the people using the service” 

The provider portal, digital certificate hub, competency assessments, training report , and training passports enable all providers signed up to the provider portal to access this evidence quickly, upload for your monitoring evidence as well as use for you organisations planning

The Academy can be used as part of your organisation’s recruitment & retention strategy. Include in your recruitment posts you offer an Employee Benefit Scheme and Wellbeing Support.  We know retaining your staff to be able to provide continuity of care is key; showing that you value your staff by providing discounts, benefits, and wellbeing support supports the longevity of your staff engagement.  

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