Your Parent Can’t Check. But You Can.
care worker vacancies in England
annual staff turnover in adult social care
to verify with Certifyd
The reality of care workers in the UK.
Identity verification for care workers is a safeguarding imperative, not just an administrative task. Certifyd uses bi-directional authentication — both the care recipient (or their family) and the care worker cryptographically prove their identity to each other in real time. When a care worker arrives, the system verifies not just who they are, but that they hold an active membership with the care provider, their DBS status is current, and they are authorised for that specific service user. The result is a tamper-proof, auditable record of every visit.
Adult social care in England employs approximately 1.5 million people across 18,000 organisations. Staff turnover is 39% annually — meaning the care worker visiting your parent this week may not be the same person who visited last week. For families relying on home care, this constant rotation of unfamiliar faces creates anxiety and safeguarding risk.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) requires providers to carry out DBS checks and verify identity at onboarding. But DBS checks are a point-in-time snapshot — they confirm a person’s criminal record status on the day the check was run, not today. And onboarding verification confirms who a person was when they joined, not that the person arriving at a service user’s home is still that same employee, still with that same provider, still authorised for that role.
Agency staff compound the problem. Care homes and domiciliary care providers routinely rely on agency workers to cover shifts, particularly nights and weekends. The agency verifies at registration, but there is no real-time mechanism to confirm that the person who arrives is the person the agency dispatched. Certifyd closes this gap with device-bound, bi-directional authentication — verifying identity, organisational membership, and role authority in real time.
This is broken.
Here's why.
39% annual staff turnover means families constantly encounter unfamiliar care workers.
Agency staff cover nights and weekends — nobody verifies who actually arrives at the service user’s home.
DBS checks are point-in-time — they don’t reflect what’s happened since the check was run.
Vulnerable service users may not be able to challenge or verify a care worker’s identity themselves.
Simple verification.
Every time.
Care worker arrives — both parties (or the family member / manager) open Certifyd and authenticate via their registered device
Each person’s identity is cryptographically verified to the other — bi-directional, not one-way
The system confirms the care worker’s active membership with their care provider, current role, and authorisation for that service user
A tamper-proof record is created: who, when, where, and under whose organisational authority
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“Rotating agency staff cover nights and weekends. Families ask who’s looking after their parent. Honestly? We can’t always tell them fast enough.”— Manager, residential care home
Common questions.
CQC requires care providers to demonstrate robust recruitment and identity verification processes. Certifyd creates tamper-proof verification records for every care worker visit — who was verified, when, where, and under whose organisational authority. These records are audit-ready and demonstrate ongoing identity assurance, not just onboarding checks. This supports CQC’s ‘Safe’ and ‘Well-led’ key lines of enquiry.
Yes. Family members can be added as authorised verifiers for a service user. When a care worker arrives, the family member receives a verification notification confirming the care worker’s identity, role, and organisational membership — even if they’re not physically present. This gives families peace of mind without requiring them to be there for every visit.
Agency care workers register with Certifyd through their agency, which adds them as members with defined roles. When dispatched to a care provider, the system verifies not just the worker’s identity but their active membership with the agency and their authorisation for that specific assignment. If a worker’s agency contract ends, their membership is revoked instantly and they can no longer verify under that agency.
No. DBS checks serve a different purpose — they reveal criminal record information. Certifyd verifies identity and organisational membership in real time. The two are complementary: DBS confirms a person’s background at a point in time, while Certifyd confirms they are who they claim to be, right now, and that they are currently authorised by their employer to be caring for that specific service user.
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Book a demo to see how Certifyd works for your team, or tell us about your verification needs and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
Read: The Care Home Staffing Crisis