The Care Workforce Pathway is a comprehensive framework designed to clearly define careers in adult social care, detailing the knowledge, skills, values, and behaviours essential for delivering high-quality, personalised care and support.
July 2026
New role categories added to the Care Workforce Pathway
The Care Workforce Pathway has been expanded with the addition of ten further role categories, published by the Department of Health and Social Care in July 2026.
These new role categories build on the eight categories published in January 2024 and April 2025, giving employers greater flexibility when implementing the Pathway within their organisations.
Alongside direct care and management role categories, the expanded Pathway now includes non-direct care roles, such as Care Technologist, Nominated Individual and Activity Co-ordinator. It also recognises the contribution of the wider workforce, including people working in corporate and middle management as well as in supporting roles within the sector, such as cleaning, catering, and maintenance.
Together, these role categories reflect the breadth of the unregulated workforce who contribute, directly or indirectly, to the quality of adult social care provision.
View the new role categories on GOV.UK
The Care Workforce Pathway clearly sets out what a career in social care means and the level of knowledge, experience, and skills required to deliver high-quality, personalised, care and support. It is the first universal career structure for the adult social care workforce, which sets out the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to work in adult social care.
The Care Workforce Pathway identifies the knowledge and skills required to deliver high-quality, personalised care and support across different roles. It aims to help address recruitment and retention issues by providing a shared vision for the workforce and a recognised platform to support career progression and individual learning, making the sector a more attractive place to work.
The Care Workforce Pathway will empower people working in adult social care to develop themselves and their careers by setting out how they can gain skills, access learning and development, and grow in their careers in a way that meets their aspirations.
Find further information on the Care Workforce Pathway and how it has been developed.
We’ve been working in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to develop the role categories within the Care Workforce Pathway. DHSC also commissioned PA Consulting to develop a suite of practical resources to help care providers use the Pathway in their organisations.
These tools will guide you through the options for adopting the Care Workforce Pathway, and have been designed with human resource professionals, operations managers, and learning and development teams in mind. There are also resources for line managers and individuals who want to plan their own development.
Skills for Care is working with adult social care employers to adopt the Care Workforce Pathway through a series of direct support programmes. Organisations are being supported to adopt the Pathway and their insight used to test, refine and create resources to help ensure that the Pathway meets the needs of the sector.
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This guide introduces the Care Workforce Pathway and explains what it is, why it is important, and how it can help organisations, individuals, and the wider care sector.
At our 'Care Workforce Pathway: Shaping tomorrow, together' event in February 2026, we looked at how the Pathway is shaping the future of adult social care and shared practical insights and success stories to help inform and inspire Pathway adoption across the sector.
Developing new managers and deputies guide
With 10,000 registered managers due to retire in the next 15 years, succession planning is key to ensuring that your service continues to provide well-led, consistent quality care, both today and in the future. The Developing new managers and deputies guide provides practical steps to identify, develop, and retain future leaders in adult social care.