Mandatory training requirement on learning disability and autism Solutions

One year on from the publication of the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice, we reflect on progress. 

The code provides the detail of how we expect registered health and care providers to meet the requirement for training. It also tells autistic people and people with a learning disability and their families what they can expect from their service providers. 

CQC has continued to work to ensure our people have the resources, skills and understanding to regulate the training requirement effectively. We are also making sure that our colleagues in registration teams address this issue when assessing an application to register with CQC. This enables an effective and consistent approach at this crucial early stage of a provider’s regulatory relationship with CQC. 

CQC cannot endorse specific programmes of training, but the number of providers taking up the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training gives us a good indication of the level of engagement with the regulatory training requirement on learning disability and autism more broadly. Data demonstrates that uptake of training is variable across the country, with many larger organisations, NHS trusts and primary care providers still with much to do to ensure staff are trained. 

We have seen some innovative and positive examples of providers working hard to ensure staff have the training to be able to meet the specific needs of autistic people and people with a learning disability, including where training has been enhanced to reflect the specific requirements of different types of service. For example, some providers have added individualised chapters to their staff training programmes, which involve providing more detail in dedicated training sessions, and key information about specific people that staff will support. In health services, we have heard how providers have used the Code to write bespoke training that both meets the regulatory requirement and keeps people safe but also brings to life the specific environments in which they deliver care and treatment. 

However, not all providers are actively seeking or providing appropriate training for their staff despite this being a regulatory requirement. This endangers the outcomes and wellbeing of autistic people and people with a learning disability who use those services. 

Using 2024 data, the Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) report, published in July 2026, shows that among adults with a learning disability who had a LeDeR review, 39.0% of deaths were from causes classified as avoidable, compared with 21.1% in the general adult population. This means around two in five reviewed deaths were from avoidable causes—a proportion nearly twice that in the general adult population. Experiences and outcomes for autistic people and people with a learning disability are better when they receive care and treatment from a trained and skilled workforce, which highlights the importance of the requirement for staff to be trained.

This requirement relates to all services delivering a CQC-regulated activity. For more information on CQC’s approach to this requirement, see our guidance on Training staff to support autistic people and people with a learning disability.