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QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid (Annual Refresher) (RQF)
Half a day. The top up the HSE recommends between three year certificates, for first aiders who already hold FAW or EFAW and have not used the skills since the day they learned them.
About this course
A first aid certificate lasts three years. Skills do not. The research the HSE relies on is blunt about how quickly CPR quality and confidence fall away without practice, which is why their guidance on the Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 recommends annual refresher training in between the full certificates.
The QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid (Annual Refresher) is the regulated qualification built for that. Half a day, hands on, aimed squarely at the skills that decay: CPR, the recovery position, choking and serious bleeding.
It is not a replacement for requalification. Your three year certificate still expires on its date and you still need FAW-R or a fresh EFAW to renew it. What this does is stop the twelve months either side of that being twelve months of drift.
It also produces a record. If you are ever asked what you did to keep your first aiders competent between certificates, a regulated annual refresher with a certificate against each name is a better answer than a toolbox talk.
- What has changed in guidance since you last trained, and what has not
- Assessing an incident and carrying out a primary survey, under time pressure
- Adult CPR on a manikin, with feedback on depth, rate and recoil
- The recovery position, and monitoring a casualty once they are in it
- Choking, mild and severe
- Controlling life threatening external bleeding
- Recognising and treating shock
- Where your own confidence has slipped, which is usually the useful part
How completing this course helps you
- QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid (Annual Refresher), a regulated qualification in its own right
- Skills that have actually been practised in the last twelve months rather than the last thirty six
- A documented record that your first aiders were kept current between certificates
- First aiders who will start rather than hesitate
Who should attend?
Qualified first aiders who already hold First Aid at Work or Emergency First Aid at Work and want to stay sharp between certificates. Employers book it as a standing annual date for the whole first aid team.
Entry requirements. You should already hold a current First Aid at Work or Emergency First Aid at Work qualification. This is a refresher, not a first course, and it assumes you have done one.
Ready to take the next step?
Choose a delivery option, compare dates and book with confidence, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Choosing the right one
Which first aid course does your workplace actually need?
The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 do not name a course. They tell an employer to carry out a first aid needs assessment and then provide what that assessment says is adequate, which is why two businesses next door to each other can land on different answers.
The rough shape is this. Lower hazard workplaces usually land on Emergency First Aid at Work, one day. Higher hazard workplaces, larger headcounts and anywhere with specific risks usually land on First Aid at Work, three days. Early years settings have their own rules through the Department for Education. Outdoor and remote work adds distance from the ambulance, which changes the answer again.
If you are not sure where you sit, ring us with what your people actually do and we will talk it through. Sending somebody on the wrong course costs more than the phone call.
Do the needs assessment first
Hazards, headcount, shift patterns, lone workers and how far you are from help. The HSE guidance is the starting point and it is short.
Match the course to the answer
EFAW for lower hazard, FAW for higher hazard, plus any specific qualification your setting or your insurer requires.
Plan the three years
Certificates last three years and the HSE recommends an annual refresher in between. Diary it when you book, not when it expires.
Course content
What you will cover
The qualification is structured around the management of health and safety and the practical application of risk assessment.
Back up to speed
- The role and responsibilities of a first aider, revisited
- Minimising the risk of infection
- Consent
- Assessing an incident and conducting a primary survey
- Summoning appropriate assistance
The skills that fade
- When to administer CPR, and demonstrating adult CPR on a manikin
- Placing a casualty into the recovery position and monitoring them
- First aid for a casualty who is choking, mild and severe
- Identifying and controlling life threatening external bleeding
- Recognising and treating shock
Method of assessment
How the Annual Refresher is assessed
Practical observation across the half day. There is no written examination on this one.
Practical observation
Your tutor observes the primary survey, adult CPR on a manikin, the recovery position, choking and bleeding control, and gives you feedback where technique has drifted.
No written paper
This qualification is assessed by practical observation only, which is the point of it. It is about doing, not remembering.
Certification
Issued by QNUK. It does not extend your three year FAW or EFAW certificate: that still renews on its own date.
Ways to learn
How you can take this course
Every route covers the same accredited syllabus and the same support. Pick the one that fits how your people work.
Classroom
Tutor-led at one of our centres, with everything provided.
Ask us to open a classroom date →or ask MB nowDates and locations
Arrange this course
There are no scheduled dates for this course at the moment. It is normally arranged around you.
Tell us roughly when you need it and how many people are going, and we will come back with dates and a price.
Also available
In-company training
We run this one to order, at your place or ours.
Onsite / in-company
Run First Aid Annual Refresher at your site
We deliver anywhere in the UK, on your dates and around your shift patterns. For six or more people it is usually cheaper per head than sending everyone to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling.
Tell us roughly how many people and when, and we will come back with options and a price, or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
What onsite includes
- The same tutor, materials and certification as our centres
- Your venue or one we arrange near you
- Dates and start times built around your operation
- One invoice and one point of contact for the whole group
- Content examples drawn from your own workplace
First Aid Annual Refresher FAQs
No. The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981 do not require it. HSE guidance recommends it, and a good many insurers and clients now expect to see it. It is a recommendation with teeth rather than a duty.
No. Your FAW certificate runs for three years from the date it was issued and is renewed by the two day First Aid at Work Requalification. The annual refresher sits between those, it does not replace them.
Anyone holding a current FAW or EFAW certificate. Most employers put their whole first aid team through it on the same half day, once a year, and treat it as a standing diary entry.
Because CPR quality falls off within months of training, and the first aider who hesitates is the one who has not touched a manikin since the certificate. It is half a day to keep the thing you already paid for working.
The annual refresher is a yearly qualification and the clue is in the name. It does not extend your three year First Aid at Work or Emergency First Aid at Work certificate, which still expires on its own date and still needs requalification.
Yes, anywhere in the UK. For six or more people it is normally cheaper per head than sending everybody to a centre, and nobody loses a day travelling. We work around your shift patterns.
At our centres in Stoke-on-Trent, Derby, Manchester and Liverpool, at your own premises nationwide, and through our partner network where a local option suits you better. Pick a date from the board on this page or call 0330 124 2165.
QNUK, an Ofqual regulated awarding organisation. This one is QNUK Level 3 Award in First Aid (Annual Refresher) (RQF), accreditation number 603/2613/X. We are an approved QNUK centre.
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