As a care worker you owe a duty of care to the people you support, your colleagues, your employer, yourself and the public interest. Everyone has a duty of care – it is not something that you can opt out of. When acting in a person’s best interests you must do so with their consent unless you have evidence that the person lacks capacity to make that particular decision at the time it needs to be made. If you are employed directly to support someone in their own home, duty of care still applies.