Refresher training: how often?

“How often do we have to do this again?” is the question that always comes at the end of the day, usually while people are signing the register.

The honest answer is that most training carries no legal expiry date at all. A handful of subjects do, and for everything else the interval comes from your own risk assessment, your policies and whoever commissions your service.

The short list the law actually fixes

First aid at work. FAW and EFAW certificates last three years, and HSE strongly recommends an annual refresher in between to keep the skills sharp. Book the requalification before the certificate runs out, not after
Paediatric first aid. The EYFS statutory framework says staff in early years settings renew that certificate every three years
Fire safety. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 says training happens when someone is first employed and again when they meet new or increased risks, then it must be “repeated periodically where appropriate”. No number, but a clear duty

That really is the short list. Nothing in law tells you that moving and handling is annual or that safeguarding is every three years, however often you have heard it said.

What CQC actually asks

Regulation 18 puts it in terms of the person, not the date. Staff must “receive such appropriate support, training, professional development, supervision and appraisal as is necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform”.

So an inspector is far less interested in your interval than in whether your team can do the job safely today, and whether your records show it. A yearly certificate on the wall does not help if the person cannot use the hoist in front of them.

How we set our own certificate periods

Every course we run carries a recommended refresher period, and it sits on that course page. They fall into three groups, and this is how many of our courses sit in each.

Every year122

Every two years58

Every three years6

Counted from our own course pages in September 2026: of 187 courses, 186 state a refresher period.

Every year: anything hands-on or high risk

Roughly two thirds of our courses sit here. Moving and handling, safe holds and PMVA, medication administration, basic life support, first aid awareness, fire safety and fire marshal, safeguarding adults and children, and most clinical skills such as stoma care and nutrition and hydration.

The common thread is muscle memory. Practical skills fade faster than knowledge, and the day you need them is not the day to find that out.

Every two years: knowledge-led subjects

Around a third. Infection control, health and safety, food safety, privacy and dignity, MCA and DoLS, leadership and management, and the condition awareness courses such as dementia awareness, epilepsy, autism, ADHD and stroke awareness.

These change less often, and they change through guidance rather than through technique.

Every three years: the longer programmes

Train the Trainer, Practical Care Workshop and Management and Supervision, alongside the first aid qualifications above.

One caveat runs through all of it: your commissioner, your insurer or your own policy may ask for more often than we recommend, and that always wins.

Five things that beat the calendar

A date in a spreadsheet is the backstop, not the trigger. Bring training forward whenever:

the equipment changes. A new hoist, a new sling, a new stand aid or a different alarm system
something goes wrong, or nearly does. An incident, a near miss or a complaint tells you more than any interval
the person’s needs change. Someone who now needs two carers, or a new catheter, PEG or syringe driver on your caseload
the role changes. A promotion to senior or team leader, or a carer starting to lead a shift
someone has been away. Long-term sickness, maternity leave or a spell on bank shifts elsewhere all take the edge off practical skills

A manager at a desk working through a printed training matrix with a highlighter, wall planner behind — One list, kept current, beats a folder of certificates nobody has opened since the last audit.

Keeping on top of it without the panic

Most services do not have a training problem. They have a diary problem. Three habits fix most of it:

Keep one matrix, not four. One sheet, every member of staff, every subject, with the expiry date rather than the date they attended
Book the refresher before the expiry month. Aim for the month before, so sickness or a rota change does not push anyone over the line
Spread the dates out. If you trained everyone at once during a CQC push two years ago, everything expires at once as well. Split the team over two or three sessions and stagger it from then on

Because we deliver on-site, a refresher day usually costs the same whether six people attend or fifteen, so it is worth filling the room. Two half-day refreshers on the same day work well for the same reason.

The quick answer

If you want a rule of thumb: practical and high-risk subjects yearly, knowledge subjects every two years, first aid every three with a yearly top-up, and anything at all when the equipment, the role or the person changes.

And if you are not sure what your team is due, send us your list. We will tell you what looks overdue, what can wait, and what can be combined into one day on site.

Courses teams most often refresh

Moving and Handling (full day): yearly, and sooner if the equipment changes
Safeguarding Adults at Risk (half day): yearly
Emergency First Aid at Work (full day): three years, with an annual refresher recommended
Fire Safety (half day): yearly, and whenever the building or the risks change
Medication Administration (full day): yearly
Audit Management (half day): building the audits that catch the gaps first