Providers of, and staff working for, lifestyle weight management services (designers, developers or deliverers in private, public or voluntary sector organisations working in the community or in [or via] primary care settings) professional bodies and training organisations, should:

• Develop training for lifestyle weight management programme staff with qualified professionals such as registered practitioner psychologists, registered dietitians and qualified physical activity specialists. Ensure this training addresses staff attitudes to, and any concerns about, their own weight.

• Train staff to communicate effectively with, and generally adopt a respectful and non-judgemental approach to, participants. They should work collaboratively with them. This means they should understand the complexity of weight management and the reasons why many people have difficulty managing their weight, the experiences they may face in relation to their weight, and the fact that they may feel anxious about attending the programme. They should also be clear and open about what the programme involves, so that participants can make an informed choice about whether or not to join.

• Train staff to deliver multicomponent programmes that cover weight management, dietary habits, safe physical activity and behaviour-change strategies. This should include the ability to:

•  tailor interventions to individual needs (considering, for example, any specific language or literacy needs)​

• review progress and provide constructive feedback to both participants and referrers​

• identify possible reasons for relapse and use problem-solving techniques to address these
  collect information about people's weight, eating habits and physical activity to support monitoring in line with the Department of Health's information governance and data protection requirements (for example, see the Public Health Services Contract 2014/15: guidance on the non-mandatory contract for public health services.)

• Train staff to accurately measure and record height and weight to determineBMI and to accurately measure waist circumference. They should also be sensitive to how people feel about being measured and able to identify when it is practical, relevant and appropriate to measure someone.

• Ensure staff are aware of the common medical and psychological problems associated with being overweight or obese.

• Ensure staff are aware of evidence on the effect of dietary habits and physical activity on weight gain, loss and maintenance.

• Ensure staff are aware of the practical skills and behaviours that can help someone lose or maintain their weight. This includes, for example, shopping and cooking skills, understanding food labels and knowing what constitutes an appropriate portion of food. It also includes being able to identify opportunities to be less sedentary and more physically active.

• Train staff to identify when a participant should be referred to their GP for potential onward referral to other services (for example, specialist weight management or other specialist services, such as alcohol counselling).

• Ensure staff leading supervised physical activity sessions are qualified and insured (for example, they should be trained to at least level 3 on theRegister of Exercise Professionals or equivalent).

• Train staff to identify any gaps in their own knowledge, confidence or skills and ensure they know how to get these gaps addressed through further training.