How much does first aid training cost in the UK?
First aid training is a legal must for most UK workplaces, but the price swings widely depending on the course, your group size and how you book. This guide sets out realistic 2025/26 market ranges so you can budget with confidence, and shows why the cheapest headline price per person is not always the cheapest way to get your whole team qualified. All figures are approximate ranges and exclude or include VAT where noted.
The two ways first aid training is priced
Understanding the difference between the two pricing models is the single biggest thing that will save you money.
Open (public) courses are priced per person. You send one or a few staff to a training centre on a scheduled date and pay a per-head fee. This suits organisations with only one or two people to certify.
Onsite (in-company) courses are priced per group, per day. A trainer comes to your premises and delivers to a whole cohort — usually up to 12 learners — for one flat fee. This is almost always better value once you have roughly six or more people to train.
The trap is comparing open per-person prices against each other and assuming that is the market. For any real-sized team, the group-day price is the number that matters.
Typical 2025/26 price ranges
Commercial first aid training is standard-rated for VAT at 20%, so always check whether a price includes or excludes it — a "£95" course can become £114 at the till.
- ✓Emergency First Aid at Work (1 day): roughly £60–£105 +VAT per person on open courses; onsite group days commonly a few hundred pounds up to around £600 for the whole group.
- ✓First Aid at Work (3 days): roughly £160–£425 +VAT per person open; onsite delivery commonly around £1,200–£1,700 for up to 12.
- ✓Emergency Paediatric First Aid (1 day): broadly similar to EFAW.
- ✓Paediatric First Aid (2 days/12 hours): roughly £85–£105 +VAT per person; onsite groups commonly around £525–£800 +VAT.
- ✓Basic Life Support / AED (half day): typically the lowest cost, often a few hundred pounds for a group onsite.
Prices vary by region (London and the South East sit at the top end), trainer experience and travel.
Why group size changes everything
Because onsite training is a flat group fee, the per-person cost falls with every learner you add up to the cap. Take a 3-day FAW onsite at around £1,680 inc VAT for up to 12: train four staff and that is £420 each; train ten and it drops to £168 each; train twelve and you are down to £140 a head.
As a rule of thumb: below about four people, open-course seats are usually cheaper; from around six upward, an onsite group day almost always wins. AidReady quotes one flat inc-VAT price for the whole group up to 12 — around £594 for EFAW or Emergency Paediatric, £1,680 for First Aid at Work, £1,140 for full Paediatric, and £420 for BLS/AED — so you can see the per-head maths instantly.
Costs beyond the course fee
The headline fee is not the whole picture. Budget for VAT at 20% (recoverable if you are VAT-registered); travel and lost productivity for open courses (onsite keeps staff on site); the downtime of a multi-day course; and renewals — an FAW certificate lasts three years, after which a cheaper two-day requalification keeps people certified, with an annual refresher recommended.
Getting genuine value (and staying compliant)
Cheapest is not the goal — appropriate and compliant is. Since October 2013 the HSE no longer approves training providers, so checking a provider is competent sits with you. Never accept "HSE approved" as a badge; it no longer exists. Look for verified, insured, awarding-body-checked trainers and keep evidence of your due diligence. AidReady books exactly that at a fixed inc-VAT price and supplies an evidence pack, so you get value and a defensible paper trail without ringing round five providers.
In short
For any team of roughly six or more, a flat-fee onsite group day is almost always the cheapest and simplest way to get everyone qualified.
Frequently asked questions
- Is first aid training subject to VAT?
- Yes. Commercial first aid training is standard-rated at 20% VAT. If your organisation is VAT-registered you can usually recover it, but always check whether a quoted price includes or excludes VAT before comparing.
- Is it cheaper to train staff onsite or send them on an open course?
- For one or two people, open-course seats are usually cheaper. From around six people upward, an onsite group day — one flat fee for up to about 12 — almost always works out cheaper per head.
- How often do I have to pay for first aid training again?
- A First Aid at Work certificate lasts three years. Before it expires you can take a shorter two-day requalification rather than the full course, which costs less. The HSE also recommends a short annual refresher.
- Does 'HSE approved' first aid training cost more?
- No such thing exists any more — the HSE stopped approving providers in October 2013. Choose verified, insured, awarding-body-checked trainers and keep your own due-diligence records instead.
This guide is general information, not legal advice, and does not replace your own first-aid needs assessment or the current statutory framework. AidReady is not HSE-approved (no provider is since 2013); we book verified, insured, awarding-body-checked trainers.
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