City and Guilds of London Institute · RQF Level 3
City & Guilds Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Custodial Care
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits37
- Guided learning141 hours
- Units in this qualification50
Awarded by City and Guilds of London Institute · on the Ofqual register
Start here
See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units City and Guilds of London Institute registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Assess individuals offending behaviour and plan provisionReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand the principles that underpin the assessment of risk associated with offending behaviour
- Assess information about the offending behaviour and circumstances of individuals, and identify risk and protective factors
- Agree the individual’s needs for appropriate interventions
Assess individuals’ needs and plan activitiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand the principles that underpin the assessment of individuals’ needs and the planning of activities
- Contribute to the assessment of individuals’ abilities and needs
- Plan agreed development activities for individuals
Assist in the transfer of individuals between agencies and servicesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand relevant legal and organisational requirements
- Understand the principles that underpin the transfer of individuals between agencies and services
- Support individuals as they prepare for transfer
- Make agency preparations for individuals’ transfer
- Supervise individuals during transfer
Assist parents in custody to develop their parenting skillsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles that underpin helping parents in custody to develop their parenting skills
- Understand the factors affecting helping parents in custody to develop their parenting skills
- Promote the benefits of positive parenting to parents in custody
- Encourage parents in custody to relate positively to their children
- Help parents in custody to overcome parenting difficulties
Communicate effectively with people maintaining the security of informationReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to communicate with people.
- Understand how to maintain the security of information in communications with people
- Communicate with people
Contribute to planning and reviewing how to meet individuals’ needs and rights in the custodial environmentReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of meeting individuals’ needs and rights in the custodial environment
- Help to identify individuals’ needs and rights
- Contribute to developing plans to meet individuals’ needs and rights
- Contribute to reviewing plans to meet individuals’ needs and rights
Contribute to plans for the release and resettlement of offendersReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles and requirements of planning the release and resettlement of offenders
- Obtain information from offenders
- Obtain information from colleagues and evaluate and record the information gathered
- Assess the risks of release and resettlement of offenders
- Identify and assess the options for release and resettlement of offenders
Contribute to the adjudication processReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of adjudication
- Understand the legal and organisational requirements and priorities in regard to adjudication
- Contribute to the adjudication process
- Prepare for adjudication
- Take part in the adjudication process
Contribute to the control of incidents and emergenciesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for controlling incidents and emergencies
- Identify and assess incidents and emergencies
- Contribute to controlling incidents and emergencies
- Carry out procedures following incidents and emergencies
Contribute to the prevention and management of inappropriate behaviourReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of prevention and management of inappropriate behaviour
- Contribute to preventing inappropriate behaviour
- Deal with incidents of inappropriate behaviour
- Contribute to reviewing incidents of inappropriate behaviour
Contribute to the protection of individuals from abuseReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand legal and organisational requirements in relation to the protection of individuals from abuse
- Contribute to the monitoring of individuals who are at risk of abuse
- Minimise the effects of abusive behaviour
- Contribute to reducing the risk of abusive behaviour
Contribute to the security of the custodial environment using a dogReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles behind contributing to the security of the custodial environment using a dog
- Use a dog during patrols to contribute to the maintenance of security
- Use a dog to control the movement of individuals who are in breach of security
Control and restrain individualsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the procedures and requirements for controlling and restraining individuals
- Assess the need for control and restraint
- Restrain and remove individuals
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with the families of individuals held in custodyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance and principles of developing and maintaining effective working relationships with the families of individuals held in custody
- Know the factors affecting working relationships with the families of individuals held in custody
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships with the families of individuals in custody
- Work with family members to achieve positive outcomes for individuals in custody
Develop and sustain effective working with staff in other agenciesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand relevant legal and organisational requirements
- Understand the principles of effective working relationship with other agencies
- Develop and sustain effective working relationships with staff in other agencies
Develop control for people who are a risk to themselves or othersReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the theories and research of developing control for people who are a risk to themselves or others
- Know and understand the factors affecting the development of control for people who are a risk to themselves or others
- Understand how to develop control for people who are a risk to themselves or others
- Challenge behaviour which creates risk and establish agreed boundaries and expectations
- Maintain and review agreed boundaries and expectations of behaviour
- Assist people to develop greater control over their behaviour
Drive vehicles to carry out custodial dutiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of driving vehicles to carry out custodial duties
- Know and understand responsibilities and procedures in driving vehicles to carry out custodial duties
- Drive vehicles to carry out custodial duties
- Check the vehicle and prepare for the journey
- Operate and control the vehicle safely and efficiently
Enable individuals to access services and facilitiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand the principles that underpin enabling individuals to access services and facilities
- Help individuals find out about services and facilities
- Help individuals to use services and facilities
Encourage individuals to look after their own health and hygieneReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of encouraging individuals to look after their own health and hygiene
- Understand good practice and organisational contexts for encouraging individuals to look after their own health and hygiene
- Encourage individuals to look after their own health and hygiene
- Encourage individuals to adopt and maintain healthy and hygienic practices
- Assist individuals to maintain their health and personal cleanliness
Ensure your own actions reduce risks to health and safetyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand legal and organisational requirements in relation to health and safety
- Identify hazards and evaluate risks in the workplace
- Reduce risks to health and safety in the workplace
Enter and find data using a computerReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand the principles and importance of entering and finding data on a computer system
- Enter data on a computer
- Find data on a computer
Equality and diversityReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the key features of a culture which promotes equality and values diversity
- Understand the importance of the promotion of equality and valuing of diversity for effective work in the sector
- Understand and demonstrate behaviour appropriate to the promotion of equality and valuing of diversity
- Understand how to actively help others in the promotion of equality and valuing of diversity
- Understand how to review own contribution to promoting equality and valuing diversity
Help individuals address their offending behaviourReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand factors which can cause/impact on offending behaviour
- Support individuals in understanding their offending behaviour
- Support individuals in addressing their offending behaviour
- Record and report details of working with individuals to address offending behaviour
Help individuals in custody to maintain and develop relationshipsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of helping individuals in custody to maintain and develop relationships
- Understand the factors that influence the ways that help can be given to individuals in custody to maintain and develop relationships
- Support individuals in their relationships with those outside the custodial environment
- Support individuals in their relationships with others inside the custodial environment
Maintain and develop the performance of dogsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of maintaining and developing the performance of dogs.
- Maintain the performance of dogs.
- Maintain and develop the performance of dogs through training exercises.
Maintain and develop the performance of dogsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of maintaining and developing the performance of dogs
- Maintain the performance of dogs
- Maintain and develop the performance of dogs through training exercises
Maintain and develop your own knowledge, skills and competenceReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles that underpin maintaining and developing own knowledge, skills and competence
- Maintain and develop own knowledge, skills and competence
Maintain restrictions on individuals’ liberty whilst promoting and protecting their rightsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for maintaining restrictions on individuals’ liberty
- Maintain restrictions on individuals’ liberty in the custodial environment
- Promote and protect the rights and responsibilities of individuals in the custodial environment
- Promote and protect the equality and diversity of individuals in the custodial environment
Maintain security and order in the custodial environmentReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for maintaining security and order in the custodial environment
- Monitor the physical security of the custodial environment
- Monitor the security and behaviour of people in custody
- Identify and respond to breaches of security and order
- Restore security and order
Maintain security at entry and exit pointsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the security requirements and entry and exit points in the custodial environment
- Maintain security while people are entering and leaving
- Maintain security while vehicles are entering and leaving
Maintain security using screening equipmentReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles and procedures of maintaining security using screening equipment
- Screen individuals using electronic equipment
- Screen items using scanning equipment
Maintain security whilst escorting individuals to courts and other environmentsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the procedures and requirements for escorting individuals to courts and other environments
- Maintain the security of individuals during transfer
- Maintain the security of individuals in courts and other environments
- Liaise with staff in courts and other organisations
Manage information for action in the Justice sectorReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance and principles of gathering and providing information for action
- Understand the policies, procedures and processes for managing information for action
- Gather required information
- Inform and advise others
- Hold meetings
Manage physical resourcesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance of sustainability when using physical resources.
- Identify resource requirements for own area of responsibility.
- Obtain required resources for own area of responsibility.
- Monitor and review the quality and usage of resources in own area of responsibility.
Monitor and maintain the health, well-being and safety of dogsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles behind monitoring and maintaining the health, well-being and safety of dogs
- Monitor and maintain the health and well-being of dogs
- Monitor and maintain the safety of dogs
Prepare and drive secure vehicles to and from custodial and other environmentsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for preparing and driving secure vehicles to and from custodial and other environments
- Check the vehicle and its equipment
- Ensure the security of the vehicle
- Drive the vehicle to and from custodial and other environments
Prepare for and carry out searches using a dogReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for preparing for and carrying searches using a dog
- Prepare for a search using a dog
- Carry out a search using a dog
Prepare for and carry out searches using a dogReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for preparing for and carrying out searches using a dog.
- Prepare for a search using a dog.
- Carry out a search using a dog.
Prepare individuals for resettlement in the communityReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles underpinning the preparation of individuals for resettlement in the community
- Plan activities to prepare individuals for resettlement
- Manage activities outside the custodial environment
- Support individuals preparing for resettlement
Prepare, implement and evaluate group activitiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of using group activities
- Understand the needs of individuals participating in group activities
- Plan and prepare agreed group activities
- Support individuals through group activities
- Evaluate agreed group activities with other members of the team
Promote and reinforce positive behavioural goals during relationships with individualsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand factors which contribute to anti-social behaviour
- Facilitate behavioural change using pro-social modelling
- Review the effectiveness of behaviour change with individuals
Provide and obtain information at courts and formal hearingsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Provide written information at courts and formal hearings
- Obtain written information at courts and formal hearings
- Make verbal contributions to courts and formal hearings
Receive and discharge individuals and property in relation to the custodial environmentReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the processes and requirements for receiving and discharging individuals and property in relation to the custodial environment
- Receive individuals into the custodial environment
- Receive, store and release property
- Discharge individuals from the custodial environment
Search individuals, accommodation and areas in a custodial contextReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for searching individuals, accommodation and areas
- Search individuals in a custodial context
- Search custodial accommodations
- Search other custodial areas
Search vehicles in a custodial contextReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements for searching vehicles
- Prepare to search vehicles
- Search vehicles for unauthorised items and people
Support individuals experiencing difficultiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know and understand the principles that underpin the support of individuals experiencing difficulties
- Identify factors contributing to individuals’ difficulties
- Assist individuals experiencing difficulties
Support individuals in custody to take part in purposeful activitiesReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance and principles of supporting individuals in custody to take part in purposeful activities
- Understand the organisational requirements and standards with regard to supporting individuals in custody to take part in purposeful activities
- Promote the value of purposeful activities
- Help individuals take part in purposeful activities
Support individuals where abuse has been disclosedReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the support needs of individuals where abuse has been disclosed
- Understand the policies and procedures for supporting individuals where abuse has been disclosed
- Understand the characteristics and effect of abuse
- Support individuals who disclose abuse
- Support individuals who have been abused
Support individuals who are substance users.Real unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand about different substances, their effects and how they might be used.
- Enable individuals to adopt safe practices associated with substance use.
- Support individuals when they have used substances.
- Support individuals in reducing substance use.
Test for substance use.Real unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare to test individuals for substance use.
- Test for substances.
- Communicate outcomes of testing for substances.
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Administer personal money for individuals in custody
- Advise on the fitness of individuals for travel, transfer or release from police custody
- Arrange resources for public worship in a custodial environment
- Assist in the Transfer of Individuals
- Assist in the control of incidents and emergencies
- Assist parents in custody to develop their parenting skills
- Assist with the transfer of individuals between agencies and services
- Carry out start of day procedures for collecting and delivering cash and valuables in transit
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your own work
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for City & Guilds Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Custodial Care
48 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by City and Guilds of London Institute.
- Assess individuals offending behaviour and plan provision
- Assess individuals’ needs and plan activities
- Assist in the transfer of individuals between agencies and services
- Assist parents in custody to develop their parenting skills
- Communicate effectively with people maintaining the security of information
- Contribute to planning and reviewing how to meet individuals’ needs and rights in the custodial environment
and 42 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.