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GUIDE · CHILDCARE
Reviewed 21 Oct 2026 · Next review Oct 2027 · Northlight Training
QUICK ANSWER
What first aid training does a childcare setting need?
Paediatric first aid, from a regulated course, taught face to face and renewed every three years.
For registered childminders, that means a valid paediatric first aid certificate, with the full 12-hour course completed within the first year of registration. Someone with a valid certificate must be on the premises at all times.
For nurseries, playgroups, crèches and out-of-school clubs, at least one member of staff with up-to-date paediatric first aid must be present at all times, in each setting.
There is no ratio of first-aiders to children. So the real question is how many people you need to train to make sure that cover is always there, through opening hours, breaks, outings and annual leave.
The published Northern Ireland guidance says paediatric first aid must be taught face to face, and that online and blended courses aren’t valid. England’s early years rules don’t apply here.
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What the guidance says
The Health and Social Care Board’s implementation guidance for childminding says: “E-learning, blending or any other format of distance learning is not a valid form of delivery for Paediatric First Aid. Training must be delivered face to face.”
The guidance for sessional and full day care says the same for nurseries, playgroups, crèches and out-of-school clubs, because of the “important skills based element of training”. Both documents say the Minimum Standards, as the guidance interprets them, are compulsory.
Many paediatric courses in the UK are now sold as blended, with part of the course online and part in a classroom. That can work under England’s early years framework, which only asks for the emergency first aid parts to be taught face to face. England’s rules don’t apply here.
A blended certificate could leave you without valid cover when your Trust checks. So before you book, ask one question.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Is the whole course taught in the room?
If any part is taught online, the course doesn’t meet the published Northern Ireland guidance, even when the qualification itself is regulated. If you’re offered a blended course, check with your Trust’s Early Years team before you rely on it.
Our Paediatric First Aid course is taught face to face, onsite at your setting or on one of our public courses.
THE STANDARDS
Where do the requirements come from?
Childminders and day care providers looking after children under 12 for more than two hours a day must register with their Health and Social Care Trust.
The paediatric first aid requirement isn’t written into the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 itself. It comes from the Department of Health’s Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12, and the implementation guidance Trusts use to apply them.
That guidance describes the Standards as compulsory for registration. Your Trust’s Early Years team checks them when you register and at inspection.
If you’ve been reading advice written for England, be careful. England’s Early Years Foundation Stage framework has its own paediatric first aid rules, set by different legislation and inspected by Ofsted. Some of those rules, such as a paediatric first-aider accompanying every outing, don’t appear in the Northern Ireland standards. And Northern Ireland is stricter on blended learning, which England allows for part of the course.
1
qualified person on the premises at all times, as a minimum
3 years
before a paediatric first aid certificate needs renewing
REGISTERED CHILDMINDERS
Childminders
A registered childminder must hold a valid paediatric first aid certificate.
The route set out in the implementation guidance has two steps:
introductory paediatric first aid training before registration;
a full 12-hour certificated paediatric first aid course within the first year of registration, with evidence provided to the Trust.
After that, the certificate must be renewed every three years.
The guidance says the training must come from a provider of a regulated qualification and be delivered face to face, and that e-learning, blended learning and other distance learning are not valid for paediatric first aid.
What about assistants?
The guidance says a childminder should ensure someone with a valid paediatric first aid certificate is on the premises at all times.
That’s usually the childminder. But think about the times when it isn’t.
Suppose a childminder does the school run while her assistant stays at home with the younger children. For those twenty minutes, the person on the premises is the assistant. If the assistant doesn’t hold a valid certificate, nobody does.
The same applies if an assistant covers the childminder’s annual leave, which the guidance allows for short periods.
Assistants need introductory training in the core areas, including paediatric first aid, to be approved. Our reading of the guidance is that if your arrangements ever leave an assistant in charge, they need a valid certificate too, not just the introduction.
A childminder who employs an assistant is also an employer. That brings workplace first-aid duties for the assistant, covered later in this guide.
DAY CARE SETTINGS
Nurseries, playgroups, crèches and out-of-school clubs
The Standards for full day care and sessional care say the same thing: at least one member of staff with up-to-date paediatric first aid training must be present at all times.
The implementation guidance adds detail:
at least one member of staff in each group-based setting or location must hold a current paediatric first aid certificate;
a qualified member of staff must be on the premises at all times when children are being cared for;
the training must be approved, accredited and delivered face to face;
certificates must be renewed every three years.
Paediatric first aid is a practical skill. The day care guidance says that’s why it must be taught face to face.
What the documents don’t set out is a minimum course length for day care staff. Nor is there a ratio of first-aiders to children: the Standards say so directly and point to HSE’s workplace guidance, which is about first aid for employees, not children.
Out-of-school and breakfast clubs are included, even when they run on a school site. While children are in school for full-time education, the school’s arrangements apply. Once the school day ends and the registered club takes over, the childcare standards do.
WHICH COURSE?
Paediatric First Aid or Emergency Paediatric First Aid?
There are two main types of regulated paediatric qualification:
| Detail | Paediatric First Aid | Emergency Paediatric First Aid |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 12 hours, usually over two days | 6 hours, one day |
| Childminder registration | Meets the 12-hour requirement | Does not meet the 12-hour requirement |
| Day care cover | Our recommendation for the people you rely on | Useful extra cover; check with your Trust before relying on it |
- Detail
- Length
- Paediatric First Aid
- 12 hours, usually over two days
- Emergency Paediatric First Aid
- 6 hours, one day
- Detail
- Childminder registration
- Paediatric First Aid
- Meets the 12-hour requirement
- Emergency Paediatric First Aid
- Does not meet the 12-hour requirement
- Detail
- Day care cover
- Paediatric First Aid
- Our recommendation for the people you rely on
- Emergency Paediatric First Aid
- Useful extra cover; check with your Trust before relying on it
Sources: course lengths are guided learning hours from the Ofqual register (STA Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid, 610/5835/X, and STA Level 3 Award in Emergency Paediatric First Aid, 610/5834/8). The childminder row comes from the HSCB Implementation Guidance. The day care row is our recommendation.
For childminders, the answer is clear. The guidance asks for a full 12-hour course, so the one-day emergency course doesn’t meet it.
For day care, the Northern Ireland documents don’t specify hours. The Childcare Partnerships’ training guidance describes the full 12-hour course and a shorter refresher, and says your Trust decides what it accepts.
Our recommendation is to train the people you rely on as your required paediatric first aid cover on the full 12-hour course. The one-day emergency course is a good way to give other staff core life-saving skills, but check with your Trust before counting it as your required cover.
A short parent and baby first aid session, like ours, is useful for families. It isn’t a regulated qualification and doesn’t meet registration requirements.
HOW MANY TO TRAIN?
How many people need paediatric first aid?
The minimum is one, present at all times. One certificate rarely achieves that.
Suppose a 40-place day nursery opens from 7.30am to 6pm. It has three rooms over two floors, and staff work early and late shifts.
The nursery trains one room leader in paediatric first aid. On paper, it meets the minimum.
Now test it:
Who is qualified at 7.30am, before the room leader’s shift starts?
Who covers her lunch break?
What happens upstairs in the baby room while she’s in the pre-school room downstairs?
Who is qualified on the afternoon walk to the park, and who is still at the nursery?
What happens during her two weeks of annual leave?
The answer to each of those questions is a person, on the rota.
For a setting like this, our starting point would be one qualified person on each floor for each shift, plus one more, so that one absence never leaves a floor without cover. More rooms, longer hours or regular outings would push that number up.
This is the same principle we use for workplace first-aiders: count the cover, not the certificates. How many first aiders do I need in my workplace? walks through it in more detail.
NORTHLIGHT TIP
Run the day without one person
Map who holds paediatric first aid against your opening hours, rooms and outings for a normal week.
Then take one qualified person out, as if they were on annual leave.
If any room, any part of the day or any outing is left without a qualified person, that’s your gap.
Outings and school runs
The Northern Ireland standards ask for a risk assessment, enough staff and written parental consent for outings. They don’t say a paediatric first-aider must go with the children, as England’s framework does.
They do still require a qualified person on the premises at all times.
Our view is that a group of young children away from the setting should have a paediatric first-aider with them. Plan outings so that someone qualified goes with the group and someone qualified stays behind.
WORKPLACE FIRST AID
First aid for your staff, too
Paediatric first aid is about the children. Your staff are covered by workplace first-aid law as well.
If you employ people, including a childminder employing an assistant, the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, as amended, apply to them. You need a first-aid needs assessment for your staff, and the provision it identifies, such as a first aid kit, an appointed person or a trained workplace first-aider.
HSE’s guidance, which HSENI follows, strongly recommends including non-employees such as children in that assessment, and gives paediatric first aid as an example of the extra training this can mean.
In most childcare settings, the two fit together. But they are two questions: one about the children, and one about your staff.
RENEWAL AND RECORDS
Keep it current
Paediatric first aid certificates need renewing every three years. Diary the expiry dates and book well before they run out. How long does a first aid certificate last? covers when to book.
Some providers run a shorter paediatric refresher for people whose full certificate is still current, or expired no more than 28 days ago. The Childcare Partnerships’ training guidance describes this route. Once a certificate has been expired for longer, the full course is needed. Our paediatric courses renew through the full course.
Alongside training, the Standards expect:
a first aid box, easy for carers to reach and out of reach of children, checked often and restocked;
a first aid policy and a procedure for medical emergencies;
a record of every accident, injury or incident, which parents read, date and sign as soon as possible;
telling your Trust’s Early Years team without delay about significant events, such as an injury or illness needing medical attention.
The Standards include a suggested list of first aid box contents. There’s no legal list, and the number of boxes should come from your own risk assessment.
THE NORTHLIGHT TAKEAWAY
Is your paediatric first aid cover in place?
01
Choose the right course
Childminders need the full 12-hour paediatric course. For day care, train the people you rely on as your cover on the full course too.
02
Make it face to face
Ask if the whole course is taught in the room. The Northern Ireland guidance says online and blended courses aren’t valid.
03
Cover every hour, room and outing
Test your rota with one qualified person away.
04
Keep it in date
Renew every three years, and don’t forget first aid for your staff.
KEEP READING
Keep working through your provision
TRAINING FOR THIS TOPIC
Courses that cover this
Always face to face: onsite at your setting, or on a public Paediatric First Aid course.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Department of Health: Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12: Minimum Standards (July 2012, amended October 2018). Standard 3, children’s health and wellbeing; Standard 11, organisation of the setting; Standard 15, documentation.
Health and Social Care Board: Implementation Guidance, Childminding (Version 4, September 2020). Introduction (page 3) on the Standards being compulsory; Standard 3 (pages 5 and 6) on paediatric first aid, including that it must be taught face to face; Standard 11 on mandatory training and assistants.
Health and Social Care Board: Implementation Guidance, Sessional and Full Day Care (Version 3, October 2017). Introduction (page 3) on the Standards being compulsory; Standard 3 (page 7) on paediatric first aid, including that it must be taught face to face.
Childcare Partnerships: Sourcing Core Training for Practitioners within the Early Years and Childcare Sector (updated March 2026). Paediatric first aid full course and refresher.
Northern Ireland legislation: Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, Part XI, Articles 118 to 132, registration of childminders and day care providers.
Northern Ireland legislation: Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, read with the Health and Safety (First-Aid) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017.
HSE: First aid at work: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. Guidance on Regulations (L74). Paragraphs 28 to 29 on including non-employees.
Department for Education: Early years foundation stage statutory framework (England, effective 1 September 2026). Annex A on paediatric first aid training. For comparison only; it does not apply in Northern Ireland.
Ofqual: Register of regulated qualifications. STA Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid (610/5835/X) and STA Level 3 Award in Emergency Paediatric First Aid (610/5834/8).
Reviewed
21 Oct 2026
Next review by
21 Oct 2027
Written by
Northlight Training
Review sooner if the Department of Health’s Minimum Standards or implementation guidance, Trust registration practice, the STA paediatric qualifications or Northlight’s paediatric courses change.