Documentation

How to use Policy Core

Step-by-step guides for everything Policy Core does: reading policies, writing and publishing them, keeping appendices and forms current, and following up. Every page says who it is for and how long it takes.

Start here

I have been asked to read a policyQuick start for staff, about 5 minutes I write or look after policiesQuick start for managers, about 20 minutes I set up and look after the systemQuick start for administrators Something is not workingFind it by what you see

Getting started

Where to begin, whoever you are.

What Policy Core is · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
What it does, who does what, and the handful of ideas everything else is built on.
Quick start for staff · Staff · 3 min
Sign in, find what you have been asked to read, read it and confirm. About five minutes.
Quick start for managers · Managers · 6 min
Write and publish a first policy, say who has to read it and see who has. About twenty minutes.
Quick start for administrators · Administrators · 4 min
Get your organisation ready: people, roles, Care Core and the first sign-ins.

Reading policies

Signing in, reading policies and confirming you have read them.

Signing in and out · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 4 min
Use an emailed link or a password, what to do if the link does not arrive, and how long you stay signed in.
Reading a policy and confirming you have read it · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
Open a policy, read it, answer any questions and record that you have read it.
Printing a policy or saving it as a PDF · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
Print a policy or a record, or save it as a PDF, and what the printout contains.
Finding a policy or a part of one · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
The policy library, search, the requirements page, and links that point at one numbered part.
Appendices, forms and templates · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
Where the forms and documents that go with a policy are, and how to know you have the current one.
Your account and what is recorded about you · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
Setting a password, and exactly what Policy Core keeps about you.

Writing and managing policies

Writing, structuring, publishing and following up policies.

Creating a policy · Managers · 3 min
Title, reference, category, review period and owner.
Building the sections of a policy · Managers · 7 min
Numbered sections, subsections, paragraphs and items: add, list many at once, move, nest and delete.
Writing the text of a part · Managers · 5 min
The editor, lists, pasting from Word, and the requirement each part relates to.
Pictures and links · Managers · 4 min
Add a picture with a description, link to a website, and link to a part of another policy.
Tracing a requirement to your policies · Managers · 4 min
Tag parts with the requirement or standard they relate to, and see where each is dealt with.
Adding appendices, forms and templates · Managers · 7 min
Write one in the system or upload the file you already have; keep it current; turn a file into a written one.
Choosing who has to read a policy · Managers · 5 min
Everyone, teams, job titles or named people, and what happens to joiners and leavers.
Adding questions to check understanding · Managers · 4 min
The question format, the pass mark, and reading the results.
Publishing a policy · Managers · 4 min
What has to be true before you can publish, what happens when you do, and how to preview first.
Changing a policy that is already published · Managers · 6 min
Start a new version, decide whether everyone must read it again, and see what changed.
Following up: who has read it · Managers · 6 min
The compliance pages, reminders, and recording that someone read a paper copy.
Reports and evidence you can print · Managers · 4 min
Reading records for a policy or a person, and the spreadsheet downloads.
Keeping policies reviewed · Managers · 4 min
Review dates, the reviews list, and marking a policy reviewed with no change.
Archiving, restoring and deleting · Managers · 3 min
Taking a policy out of use without losing the record, and what can be deleted.
Looking at one person's reading record · Managers · 3 min
What a person has to read, what they have confirmed, and a printable record.

Administration

People, roles, Care Core and settings.

Adding people, roles and leavers · Administrators · 6 min
When your staff list is kept here by hand: add, import, set roles, send sign-in links, mark leavers.
Sharing policy content with other systems · Administrators, Managers · 8 min
Give a learning system, an HR tool or an intranet a key to read your published policies as JSON or xAPI, and let it check its copy is still current.
Connecting Care Core · Administrators · 7 min
Keep staff, job titles and teams up to date automatically.
Organisation settings and the activity log · Administrators · 3 min
The organisation name, the default review period and who did what.
What email Policy Core sends · Administrators, Managers · 3 min
Every kind of email, when it is sent, and what it never does.

Understanding Policy Core

How the main ideas work, and why.

How "who has to read it" is decided · Managers, Administrators · 5 min
The rule, with worked examples, so you can predict exactly who will be asked.
How numbered parts and permanent links work · Managers, Staff · 4 min
Why a number can change but a link does not, and how to cite a part properly.
What a reading record shows, and what it does not · Managers, Administrators, Staff · 4 min
Being honest about what the evidence proves.

Reference and help

Facts to look up: who can do what, limits, file types, terms, answers.

Roles and permissions · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
A table of what each role can and cannot do.
Limits and rules · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
Sizes, counts, times and other fixed rules in one place.
File types you can attach · Managers, Administrators · 2 min
What is accepted, what is refused, and why.
Using Policy Core with a keyboard, a screen reader or a printer · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
Keyboard use, screen readers, zoom, colour and printing.
Security and privacy · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
What is protected and how, what is stored and for how long.
Glossary · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 3 min
The words Policy Core uses, in plain English.
Troubleshooting · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 6 min
Something not working? Find it by what you see.
Frequently asked questions · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 5 min
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
What is new · Staff, Managers, Administrators · 2 min
Changes to Policy Core and to this documentation, newest first.

Documentation last checked against the product on 14 Nov 2026. See what is new.