Following the sad death of Oliver McGowan in 2016, discussions around the need to improve the training of health and social care staff around learning disabilities and autism have led to the development of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training programme.

From 1 July 2022, under the Health and Care Act 2022, the Government introduced the requirement for CQC registered service providers to ensure that staff receive appropriate training on learning disabilities and autism.

Following a detailed trial, the first part of the mandatory training is now available as an e-learning package which is split into tier 1 and tier 2:

• Tier 1 - for people who require general awareness of the support autistic people or people with a learning disability need (90 minutes)
• Tier 2 - for those who provide care and support to autistic people or people with a learning disability (90 minutes)

Part two of the training, which is an hour-long online interactive session for tier 1 and one-day face-to-face training for tier 2, will be available from early 2023. These sessions will be managed by local integrated care boards (ICBs) and will be co-delivered by people with a learning disability or autism, providing paid opportunities and in turn, sharing real-life experiences with learners.

There is also a Health and Care Act code of practice in development which will be published next year and will outline the delivery and ongoing monitoring of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training.

The training should be completed by all who work in health and social care and aims to provide the workforce with the correct skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with learning difficulties.  

For further information, please see the NHS Health Education England project website.