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Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

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Workplace Relationships and Professional Conduct Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline expectations regarding workplace relationships and professional conduct within our domiciliary care organisation. A professional, respectful, and inclusive work environment is essential to delivering high-quality care to service users, maintaining a safe and ethical workplace, and ensuring compliance with Care Quality Commission (CQC) Fundamental Standards, the Equality Act 2010, and other employment laws.

This policy establishes guidelines for maintaining professional relationships, managing conflicts of interest, ensuring dignity and respect in the workplace, and handling inappropriate conduct efficiently and fairly.

This policy also supports how CQC assesses quality through its assessment framework (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led). We use this policy to promote an open, respectful culture, prevent abuse and harassment (including by third parties), manage conflicts of interest, and ensure concerns are reported, investigated and learned from.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

• All employees, including care workers, administrative staff, and management.
• Contractors, volunteers, and third-party service providers working with or representing {{org_field_name}}.
• Service users and their families, ensuring professional interactions.
• External stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, suppliers, and local authorities.

It covers:

• Expected standards of professional behaviour.
• Relationships in the workplace.
• Managing conflicts of interest.
• Boundaries in relationships with service users.
• Bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
• Reporting misconduct and handling breaches of conduct.

3. Legal and Regulatory Framework

This policy supports compliance with legal duties and Care Quality Commission (CQC) expectations, including the Fundamental Standards and how CQC assesses services under its assessment framework (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led).

The key legal and regulatory requirements relevant to professional conduct and workplace relationships include (as amended from time to time):

• Health and Social Care Act 2008 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (the “Fundamental Standards”), including (where relevant to conduct):
  • Reg 10 Dignity and respect
  • Reg 11 Need for consent
  • Reg 12 Safe care and treatment
  • Reg 13 Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment
  • Reg 16 Receiving and acting on complaints
  • Reg 17 Good governance
  • Reg 18 Staffing
  • Reg 19 Fit and proper persons employed
  • Reg 20 Duty of candour
• Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009 (including requirements to notify CQC of certain incidents, where applicable to the service).
• Equality Act 2010 (including harassment and victimisation protections) and the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 duty (in force from 26 October 2024) requiring employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment (including by third parties).
• Employment Rights Act 1996 and related employment legislation (fair treatment, detriment and dismissal protections).
• Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (whistleblowing protections).
• UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 (confidentiality, lawful processing and handling of personal data).

Where this policy refers to other internal procedures (e.g., safeguarding, complaints, disciplinary, grievance, whistleblowing), those must be read and applied alongside this policy.

4. Expected Standards of Professional Behaviour

Employees are expected to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, respect, and integrity in all workplace interactions. This includes:

• Treating colleagues, service users, and stakeholders with dignity, respect, and fairness.
• Maintaining honesty, confidentiality, and professionalism at all times.
• Ensuring workplace communications remain professional, inclusive, and free from offensive language.
• Adhering to the organisation’s values, safeguarding policies, and ethical responsibilities.

5. Workplace Relationships

Positive workplace relationships contribute to a healthy work environment. However, relationships must remain appropriate, ethical, and free from conflicts of interest.

• Colleague Relationships: Employees must maintain respectful and collaborative working relationships.
• Personal Relationships: Any close personal or familial relationships between employees must be disclosed to management to prevent conflicts of interest.
• Romantic / Intimate Relationships (including where a relationship develops during employment):
  • Employees must ensure any relationship does not affect professional behaviour, decision-making, confidentiality, or team dynamics.
  • Relationships where there is a power imbalance (e.g., manager–report, supervisor–trainee, assessor–candidate, scheduler–care worker) must be declared to the Registered Manager immediately so that risk controls can be put in place. These controls may include changes to reporting lines, supervision arrangements, rota/planning responsibility, appraisal/disciplinary decision-making, training assessment, or allocation of work.
  • Failure to declare a relationship that creates (or could reasonably be perceived to create) a conflict of interest may be treated as misconduct.

6. Managing Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest may arise when personal relationships interfere with professional responsibilities. Employees must:

• Declare any personal, financial, or familial connections that may impact decision-making.
• Avoid favoritism, bias, or preferential treatment in hiring, promotions, and disciplinary actions.
• Ensure that workplace decisions remain impartial and ethical.

All declared conflicts must be recorded in a Conflicts of Interest Register (held securely by the Registered Manager/HR). Where a conflict exists (or could reasonably be perceived), the employee must not take part in related decisions (e.g., recruitment, supervision, rotas, investigations, purchasing, referrals, commissioning discussions). The Registered Manager will document the controls agreed and review them periodically.

7. Boundaries in Relationships with Service Users

Employees must maintain professional boundaries with service users to protect their well-being and maintain ethical standards. This includes:

• Avoiding personal relationships with service users that could lead to exploitation or conflicts of interest.
• Not engaging in financial transactions, gifts, or loans with service users.
• Ensuring social media interactions remain professional and do not compromise confidentiality.
• Reporting any concerns about inappropriate attachments or boundary-crossing to management immediately.

Any attempt by a staff member to form an intimate/personal relationship with a service user (or to encourage dependency, secrecy, or emotional leverage) is strictly prohibited and will be treated as a serious breach. Staff must not accept appointment as executor/beneficiary, hold keys/money without authorisation, or become involved in a service user’s private financial affairs (except where formally required by the care plan and organisational controls).

Where a boundary concern suggests exploitation, coercion, grooming, financial abuse, discrimination or improper treatment, it must be escalated immediately under the organisation’s Safeguarding Policy and managed in line with Regulation 13 (Safeguarding) and related Fundamental Standards.

8. Bullying, Harassment, and Discrimination

{{org_field_name}} maintains a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment, and discrimination. This includes:

• Physical, verbal, or psychological harassment of any kind.
• Unfair treatment, exclusion, or intimidation of colleagues.
• Discriminatory behavior based on age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, or religion.
• Sexual harassment, inappropriate jokes, or offensive comments.

Reporting Procedures:

• Employees who experience or witness inappropriate behaviour should report it to their line manager.
• Complaints will be handled confidentially, fairly, and in accordance with grievance procedures.
• Disciplinary action, up to termination of employment, will be taken for proven cases of misconduct.
• Reports of harassment will be treated as a potential safeguarding/workplace safety risk where relevant (e.g., repeated third-party harassment during visits), and risk controls will be updated without delay.

Preventing Sexual Harassment (legal duty): From 26 October 2024, the organisation must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers, including harassment by third parties (for example, service users, family members, visitors, or external professionals). We will implement and review controls such as risk assessment for lone working, clear reporting routes, support for staff, and prompt action (which may include changing care arrangements or escalating concerns).

9. Reporting Misconduct and Handling Breaches of Conduct

To maintain a professional and safe workplace, all employees are encouraged to report breaches of this policy.

• How to Report Concerns:
  • Speak to a line manager or the Registered Manager.
  • Use the organisation’s whistleblowing procedures if necessary.
  • Reports can be made anonymously where appropriate.

Where misconduct has caused or may have caused harm to a service user, the Registered Manager must consider immediate safeguarding actions, complaint handling duties, and whether the incident meets the threshold for the organisation’s Duty of Candour process (Regulation 20) and any relevant notification duties.

• Investigation Process:
  • All reports are taken seriously and investigated promptly.
  • Investigations follow fair and impartial procedures.
  • If misconduct is proven, appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
• Protection Against Retaliation:
  • Employees who raise concerns in good faith and/or make a protected disclosure are protected from detriment under whistleblowing law (Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998) and must not be victimised for speaking up.
  • Retaliation against complainants will result in disciplinary action.

10. Responsibilities, Training and Record Keeping

Employees must follow this policy, maintain professional boundaries, declare conflicts of interest, and report concerns promptly.

Line Managers/Registered Manager must:

• act promptly on disclosures of relationships/conflicts and implement documented controls;
• ensure investigations are fair, timely and recorded;
• ensure safeguarding, complaints, duty of candour and disciplinary/grievance procedures are used appropriately where required;
• maintain secure records including: a Conflicts of Interest Register, training attendance, investigation outcomes, and actions taken.
  Training: All staff will receive induction and refresher training relevant to professional conduct, equality/harassment prevention, safeguarding and raising concerns. Training needs will be monitored and refreshed in response to incidents, trends, or regulatory updates.

11. Compliance Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

To ensure adherence to this policy, {{org_field_name}}:

• Conducts regular training and awareness sessions for all employees.
• Holds annual reviews to assess policy effectiveness.
• Provides ongoing HR support and confidential reporting mechanisms.
• Seeks employee feedback to improve workplace culture.

12. Policy Review and Updates

This policy is reviewed annually or in response to:

• Legislative changes impacting workplace relationships.
• Feedback from employees, service users, or regulators.
• Incidents or concerns that necessitate policy updates.

 

13. Conclusion

By implementing this Workplace Relationships and Professional Conduct Policy, our domiciliary care organisation fosters a safe, professional, and ethical working environment. Through clear behavioural expectations, conflict resolution procedures, and staff training, we ensure that our workplace culture supports respect, integrity, and compliance with employment and care sector regulations.

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Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
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