STATUTORY TRAINING · TIER 2
The full-day, in-person tier of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training — for anyone providing direct care or support to autistic people or people with a learning disability. Every session is co-delivered with a co-expert who has lived experience of learning disability and/or autism.
WHY THIS TRAINING CARRIES HIS NAME
Oliver was an 18-year-old autistic young man with a learning disability and epilepsy. In 2016, he died after being given an antipsychotic medication against his and his family's wishes — a death a national review later called potentially avoidable. His mother, Paula McGowan, campaigned for change, and in 2022 training in his name became a legal requirement for every CQC-registered health and social care provider in England.
THE LEGAL REQUIREMENT
The Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a legal duty for CQC-registered health and social care providers to ensure their staff receive training in learning disability and autism, appropriate to their role. The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training is the government's preferred and recommended package for meeting it, and CQC now assesses providers against the published Oliver McGowan Code of Practice.
Anyone providing direct, hands-on care or support.
Registered managers and anyone overseeing direct care.
Staff making decisions that affect a person's care or treatment.
If your role involves regular contact with people who draw on care, Tier 2 is very likely to apply to you.
FUNDING
Eligible adult social care employers can claim funding towards Oliver McGowan Tier 2 through the Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), run by Skills for Care. Here's how it works with us.
£75 per delegate
Guide price, provisional pending launch.
Funding is subject to employer eligibility, the scheme's rules and available government funding. Reimbursement is not guaranteed.
Book your team onto Tier 2 with us. We'll send an invoice, and a receipt once it's paid.
Your staff attend the full day. We provide a certificate of completion for each delegate.
Claim through the scheme's digital claims service using your Skills for Care ASC-WDS account, ahead of the scheme deadline.
Once your claim is approved, you're reimbursed up to £90 per delegate for Tier 2 — covering our £75 price in full.
Illustrative example — training 20 members of staff
Illustration assumes 20 eligible delegates at our current £75 Tier 2 price, full reimbursement within the scheme's £90-per-delegate maximum, and a successful claim. Excludes any additional costs and is not a guarantee of funding.
FUNDING FAQ
Adult social care employers in England with an up-to-date Skills for Care Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) account, whose service is registered with the CQC. Both regulated and non-regulated staff can be claimed for.
Not upfront — you pay us to book the course, then claim the cost back afterwards through the government scheme. At our current £75 Tier 2 price, that's fully reclaimable against the scheme's £90-per-delegate maximum.
No — you submit your own claim, through the scheme's digital claims service using your ASC-WDS account. We give you an invoice, a payment receipt, and a completion certificate for each delegate to support it.
This particular scheme is for CQC-registered adult social care providers, not NHS trusts. If you're an NHS organisation, your own workforce or OD team will be able to tell you how Oliver McGowan Training is funded for your staff.
WHAT THE DAY COVERS
Tier 2 is built around the national curriculum standards for the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training, delivered as a full day of in-person learning.
Understanding how autism and learning disability affect communication, processing and the environment.
Recognising when physical or mental health symptoms get wrongly attributed to a person's disability.
Making practical, person-centred adjustments to how care and support are delivered.
Applying relevant legislation and reducing reliance on restrictive practice.
We didn't just send our trainers on a course — Sam, Sue and Dan completed Tier 2 training themselves, then completed the two-day Oliver McGowan Facilitator programme to be able to deliver it properly. Every session we run is co-delivered with a co-expert, never taught alone.”
Individual attendance and facilitator completion are personal to Sam, Sue and Dan; this is separate from any organisation-level provider accreditation scheme.FORMAT & LOGISTICS
Tier 2 is delivered as one full day of face-to-face training — not an online module.
Book a scheduled place with us, or commission a session at your own service.
A co-expert with lived experience of learning disability and/or autism teaches alongside our trainer.
Need Tier 1 instead? Tier 1 is the awareness-level tier for staff without direct caregiving responsibility.
See Tier 1 training →