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GUIDE · WORKPLACES
Reviewed 21 Oct 2026 · Next review Oct 2027 · Northlight Training
QUICK ANSWER
How long does a first aid certificate last?
Three years.
First Aid at Work (FAW) and Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW) certificates are valid for three years from the date the course was completed. The expiry date should be on the certificate itself.
When that date passes, there is no grace period. The person no longer counts as a trained first-aider in your workplace until they requalify.
To renew:
FAW: take the two-day Requalification First Aid at Work course before the certificate expires.
EFAW: take the one-day EFAW course again. There is no shorter route.
The new certificate runs for three years from the new course date, not from the old expiry date. So book far enough ahead to be sure of a place, but not so early that you give up months of the old certificate.
Our advice is to start looking for dates about three months before expiry, and aim to finish the course in the last month or two before the old certificate runs out.
CERTIFICATE CHECKER
Check your first-aiders’ certificates
See when each of your first-aiders’ certificates expires, when to start booking and which course renews it.
Add each first-aider’s certificate and the date it was completed, or the expiry date if you have it.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. It stays in your browser.
Add a date to see when each certificate expires.
First-aider 1
THE THREE YEARS
Where does the three years come from?
Not from the law itself.
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, as amended, require employers to provide suitable people with appropriate training and qualifications. They don’t set a validity period.
The three years comes from HSE’s guidance on the Regulations, known as L74, which HSENI has adopted for Northern Ireland. It says all first aid training certificates, whether FAW, EFAW or other appropriate training, are valid for three years, and that employers need to arrange retraining before they expire.
In practice, the distinction rarely matters. If someone’s certificate has expired, it would be very hard to show they are still a suitably trained first-aider.
WHEN IT EXPIRES
What happens when a certificate expires?
On the day before expiry, your first-aider is trained. On the day after, they are not.
They haven’t forgotten everything overnight. But HSE’s guidance is clear: if a first-aider doesn’t requalify before the expiry date on their certificate, they are no longer considered competent to act as a first-aider in the workplace. HSENI follows that guidance.
So if your needs assessment says a trained first-aider should be available, an expired certificate leaves a gap in your cover from that date.
Can an appointed person cover the gap?
Not as a planned arrangement.
The Regulations let an appointed person provide emergency cover when a first-aider is absent in temporary and exceptional circumstances, such as unexpected illness. HSE’s guidance says annual leave doesn’t count, and expects employers to plan for absences they can see coming.
An expiry date is printed on the certificate three years in advance. It is about as foreseeable as an absence gets.
An appointed person can still take charge in an emergency while you wait for a course, but that doesn’t fill the gap in trained cover. Get the requalification booked. For more on what the role can and can’t do, read What is an appointed person?
RENEWING FAW
Renewing First Aid at Work
FAW is renewed through a two-day requalification course. It covers the same content as the full three-day course and leads to the same qualification, with a new certificate valid for three years.
The certificate you’re renewing doesn’t have to come from us. Any awarding body’s FAW certificate can be renewed through requalification.
What if it has already expired?
This is where the rules differ, so it’s worth being precise.
HSE’s guidance says a first-aider can requalify on the two-day course after their certificate has expired. But it suggests the full three-day course may be more prudent once more than a month has passed, and it leaves the choice to the employer.
STA, the awarding body for our course, sets a firmer line. To join our Requalification First Aid at Work course, your FAW certificate must not have expired by more than one calendar month when the course starts. For example, a certificate that expired on 5 March allows a course that starts on or before 4 April. Please bring evidence of your existing certificate.
If it expired longer ago than that, you’ll need the full three-day First Aid at Work course. If you’re not sure where you stand, contact us before booking.
REQUALIFYING ISN’T A GRACE PERIOD
The one-month window decides which course someone can take. It doesn’t mean they still count as a first-aider during that month.
From the expiry date until they pass, they are not part of your trained first-aid cover.
RENEWING EFAW
Renewing EFAW
EFAW has no requalification course. HSE’s guidance says EFAW requalification should be the same length and content as the initial course.
So an EFAW first-aider renews by taking the one-day Emergency First Aid at Work course again, before their certificate expires.
Renewal is also a good moment to check that EFAW is still the right course. If your workplace has changed since the last booking, such as new machinery, a new site or a colleague with a known medical condition, read Do I need EFAW or FAW? before you rebook.
Paediatric first aid certificates also last three years, and childcare settings have their own requirements. Read First aid for childcare settings in Northern Ireland.
WHEN TO BOOK
When should you book?
No guidance gives a set lead time. This is our practical advice.
The new certificate starts from the date the new course is completed. It can’t be backdated. HSENI says so directly.
That creates two risks.
Booking too early
Suppose a first-aider’s certificate expires in June 2027, and they requalify in January 2027.
Their new certificate runs to January 2030. They have given up about five months of the old one.
That might be a price worth paying if it’s the only date that works. But it’s rarely necessary.
Booking too late
Now suppose you leave it until the week before expiry, the only course that week is full, and your first-aider has a week of annual leave booked.
Your certificate lapses, your cover has a gap, and for FAW the clock on the one-month requalification window has started.
Our recommendation
Start looking for dates about three months before the expiry date.
Aim for the course to finish in the last month or two before the old certificate runs out. You lose very little time, and you still have room to rearrange if someone is ill on the day.
Certificates are usually issued within a few days of passing. Don’t plan to finish on the expiry date itself.
NORTHLIGHT TIP
Watch for certificates that expire together
If several first-aiders trained on the same course, their certificates all expire on the same day, and so does all of that cover.
When you renew, consider staggering the dates. Requalifying one person a few months earlier than the others can mean you never lose all your trained cover at once.
REFRESHERS
Annual refreshers
HSE and HSENI strongly recommend that first-aiders take refresher training every year of their three-year certificate.
It isn’t mandatory. But first aid skills fade when they aren’t used, and a refresher helps people keep CPR, bleeding control and dealing with an unconscious casualty fresh, and catch up with any changes in practice.
A refresher helps keep skills like bleeding control fresh between renewals.
A refresher doesn’t renew the certificate. However many refreshers someone completes, their certificate still expires three years after their last full course or requalification.
We can run a bespoke refresher session at your workplace, built around the situations your first-aiders are most likely to face.
RECORDS
Keep a simple record
HSE’s guidance says employers should keep a record of their first-aiders and their certification dates, so further training can be arranged on time.
For each person, record:
name or role;
which certificate they hold;
the date they completed the course;
the expiry date on their certificate;
when you plan to renew it.
Look at it alongside your first-aid needs assessment whenever staff, shifts or the work changes. A certificate that expires during a busy season, or while another first-aider is on leave, is easier to plan for when you can see it coming.
If you book through us, each learner can find their certificate in My Northlight.
THE NORTHLIGHT TAKEAWAY
Keep your first-aid cover in date
01
Know the dates
Do you have a record of every first-aider’s certificate and its expiry date?
02
Renew before expiry
FAW renews on the two-day requalification course. EFAW renews by taking the one-day course again.
03
Book at the right time
Start looking about three months ahead and aim to finish in the last month or two.
04
Keep skills fresh
Plan a refresher each year between renewals.
KEEP READING
How many first-aiders do you need?
Renewal keeps your existing first-aiders in date. Whether you have enough of them is a separate question.
That guide shows how to turn the provision your needs assessment identifies into enough trained people to cover shifts, locations and normal absences.
TRAINING FOR THIS TOPIC
Courses that cover this
Regulated qualifications. Public dates in Belfast, Mallusk and Ballymena, or at your workplace.
SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Northern Ireland legislation: Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1982, regulations 3 and 4, read with the Health and Safety (First-Aid) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017, regulation 2.
HSENI: First aid at work. Northern Ireland requirements, certificate validity and adoption of HSE guidance.
HSENI: First Aid at Work FAQs. Northern Ireland position on requalification after expiry and certificate dates.
HSE: First aid at work: The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981. Guidance on Regulations (L74), third edition, amended in 2024. Particularly paragraphs 68 and 74 to 77 on certificates, requalification, refreshers and records, and paragraph 81 on appointed-person cover.
HSE: First aid at work: your questions answered (INDG214). Annual refresher training and appointed persons.
HSE: Selecting a first-aid training provider: A guide for employers (GEIS3). Course lengths for FAW, FAW requalification and EFAW.
Safety Training Awards: STA Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work, qualification specification v26.1. Validity, requalification and the one-month rule.
Reviewed
21 Oct 2026
Next review by
21 Oct 2027
Written by
Northlight Training
Review sooner if Northern Ireland legislation, HSENI or HSE guidance, STA qualification rules or Northlight’s requalification course information changes.