How Long Is a Paediatric First Aid Certificate Valid Under the EYFS?
Paediatric First Aid (PFA) certificate
Three years. The EYFS says PFA training must be renewed every three years, and someone with a current certificate must be on the premises at all times.
"At least one person who has a current paediatric first aid (PFA) certificate must be on the premises and available at all times when children are present and must accompany children on outings. PFA training must be renewed every three years and be relevant for people caring for young children and babies."
Renewal, refreshers, and what a lapse means
- Who it applies to
- Early years providers in England registered under the EYFS: at least one person with a current PFA certificate on the premises and available at all times when children are present, and accompanying children on outings.
- How it is renewed
- A full or emergency PFA course meeting the EYFS Annex A criteria, retaken every three years. The full course is at least 12 hours; the emergency course at least 6, face to face.
- Refresher training in between
- The EYFS says providers should consider whether paediatric first aiders need annual refresher training during the three-year period to maintain basic skills. It is a consideration for the provider, not a requirement.
- When it lapses
- The requirement is for a current certificate. A lapsed one does not count towards the person who must be on the premises and available at all times when children are present, nor towards accompanying children on outings.
Renewal reminders for your calendar
Enter the date and this page builds a calendar file with the expiry date and reminders 120 days and 60 days before it. Nothing leaves your browser; the file is generated here and opens in Outlook, Google Calendar or Apple Calendar.
What this does to the roster
The EYFS rule is written about a person being on the premises at all times, and the certificate rule is written about three years, and the two meet at the worst moment: the day a certificate expires is a day the setting may have nobody who counts, during the opening hour when the early staff are in and the manager is not. A setting that renews all its PFA certificates in the same term, because everyone trained together three years ago, is a setting that can go from three current holders to none if the renewal course is postponed by a fortnight.
Outings double the exposure, because one current holder has to go with the children and one has to stay, and the EYFS counts both. The arithmetic on the qualified cover pages treats an outing day as a two-required rule, for which three holders is short whenever any one of them is away, about 11.5 working days a year. A certificate lapsing takes one of those three out for however long the rebooking takes, and the setting is running a two-for-two arrangement that is short on about 61.8 days a year.
The EYFS also asks providers to consider annual refresher training during the three years, and to display or make available the list of staff with a current certificate. Both are easier when the expiry date lives on the rota, where the person planning the opening shift can see it, than in a training file that is opened for inspections. Stagger the renewals so the setting never drops more than one holder at a time, and set the reminders a term ahead.
How many holders does that take?
Validity says whether a certificate counts today. The next question is how many valid holders the operation needs so that the required number is actually on shift once leave, sickness and the occasional lapse are priced in.
Common questions
- How often must paediatric first aid training be renewed?
- Every three years, per the EYFS statutory framework. Only a current certificate counts towards the requirement that at least one person with PFA is on the premises and available at all times when children are present, and accompanies children on outings.
- Does the EYFS require annual refresher training?
- No. It says providers should consider whether paediatric first aiders need annual refresher training during the three-year certification period to help maintain basic skills. The requirement is the three-year renewal; the annual refresher is a consideration.
- How many staff need a PFA certificate?
- The EYFS sets the presence rule, at least one on the premises at all times and one on every outing, and says providers should take the number of children, staff and layout into account. How many must hold a current certificate for that to be true on an ordinary day is the presence arithmetic on the qualified cover page for a nursery team of 10.
This page summarises the cited source as read on 2026-08-19. Rules change and needs assessments differ; check the source for your own case. Keeping each person's expiry date on the record that builds the rota is what the Skills tab in Soon is for.
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