How Much Does First Aid Training Cost?

Two pricing models, and which is cheaper depends entirely on how many people you need trained. How the pricing works, what really drives the cost, and live prices for every course.

Published 22 September 2026 9 min read By The Training Co.

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Quick answer

There are two ways workplace training is priced, and which one is cheaper depends entirely on how many people you need trained. Open courses are charged per person — you send one or two people to a scheduled course. Group courses are charged per course, delivered at your premises, with a minimum of 12 places chargeable on most courses and a maximum of 12 or 16 depending on the subject. So one or two learners are almost always cheaper on an open course; from around three or four upwards, a group course usually costs less per head and stops costing you travel time. Live prices for every course are shown below.

Most training providers will not tell you the price without a form. We publish ours, and what follows explains how the pricing works so you can work out which option is cheaper for your situation before you speak to anyone — including when the answer is the smaller purchase.

The two ways training is priced

	Open course	Group course
Charged	Per person	Per course, minimum 12 places chargeable
Where	Our scheduled venues across Greater Manchester	Your premises
When	Fixed published dates	Dates that suit you, and often splittable
Best for	One or two people, or a single replacement when someone leaves	Teams, and anywhere losing staff to travel is expensive
Travel cost	Yours — each learner travels	Ours — the trainer comes to you
Content	Same syllabus, mixed group from different businesses	Same syllabus, and examples can use your own hazards and equipment

When a group course becomes cheaper

The arithmetic is simple enough to do on the back of an envelope. Take the per-person open course price, multiply by the number of people you need trained, and compare it with the single group price. Because the group price covers a fixed block of places, the more people you put in the room the lower the cost per head.

For most of our courses the crossover sits at around three or four learners. Below that, open places win. Above it, the group course is usually cheaper — and the gap widens quickly, because the group price does not change whether you train four people or twelve.

Two things people leave out of that calculation and should not:

Travel time is real money. Six people travelling to a venue and back is most of a working day each, on top of the course itself. The trainer coming to you removes it entirely.
Empty seats still cost you something. Most group courses charge for a minimum of 12 places whether or not 12 people turn up. So if you are training eight, adding the four who are “probably due a refresher anyway” costs nothing at all. It is the cheapest training you will ever buy, and leaving those seats empty is money already spent.

What actually changes the price

Factor	Effect
Course length	The biggest driver. A one-day Emergency First Aid at Work course costs considerably less than the three-day First Aid at Work course, because it is a third of the trainer’s time
Level	Level 1 awareness sessions are shorter and cheaper than Level 2, which is shorter and cheaper than Level 3
Open or group	Per person against per course, as above
Number of learners	Only matters on open courses. Group pricing is flat across the block of places you book
Online or classroom	Online courses cost less, but they are not available for everything — some qualifications cannot legitimately be delivered that way
Additional content	Hazard-specific additions, such as bleeding control for higher-risk sites, add trainer time

Current prices

These are live and come straight from the booking system, so what you see is what it costs today. Full listings are on the first aid, health and safety, food safety and mental health course pages.

First aid courses

Deals

Emergency First Aid at Work Group Course – Sale: £295.00 for up to 12 people Excluding Vat View course →

First Aid at Work Courses

Emergency First Aid at Work Group Course £495.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Emergency First Aid Open Course £85.00 Excluding Vat View course →

First Aid at Work Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

First Aid at Work Open Course £165.00 Excluding Vat View course →

First Aid at Work ReQual Open Course £95.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Paediatric First Aid Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Paediatric First Aid Open Course £105.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Health and safety courses

Deals

Level 2 Health and Safety Group Course – Sale: £295.00 for up to 12 people Excluding Vat View course →

Health & Safety Courses

Level 1 Health & Safety Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Health & Safety Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Health & Safety Open Course £65.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Health and Safety Online Course £25.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Manual Handling Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Principles of COSHH Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 3 Health & Safety Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 3 Risk Assessment Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Food safety courses

Deals

Level 2 Food & Safety Group Course – Sale: £295.00 for up to 12 people Excluding Vat View course →

Food Safety Courses

Level 1 Food Safety Group Training Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 1 Food Safety Online Course £20.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Food Safety Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Food Safety Online Course £25.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Level 2 Food Safety Open Course £65.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Level 3 Food Safety Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Mental health courses

Mental Health First Aid

Accredited Online Mental Health First Aid Course £225.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Mental Health Awareness – Open Course £85.00 Excluding Vat View course →

Mental Health First Aid – Group Course Excluding Vat View course →

Mental Health First Aid Two Day – Open Course £225.00 Excluding Vat View course →

The costs that are not on the price list

The course fee is rarely the largest number. Before you compare two quotes, account for:

Cover. Someone on a three-day course is off the floor for three days. In a small team that is the dominant cost, and it is the strongest argument for a group course at your own premises, split across weeks if that helps.
Travel and time. Per learner, per day, both ways.
The renewal cycle. Most workplace certificates run three years, so divide by three to get the annual cost. A course that costs somewhat more but avoids a day of travel per learner can work out cheaper before the first year is out.
Retraining leavers. If your first aider resigns, your cover goes with them. Training two people rather than one is not doubling the cost of compliance; it is buying the thing you actually needed.
Equipment. Kits, defibrillators and refills sit outside the training budget but inside the same decision.

Cheaper is not always cheaper

Two specific traps, both of which cost more than they save:

Online-only courses that do not meet the requirement. A wholly online paediatric first aid certificate does not satisfy the EYFS framework, which requires the emergency elements to be taught with the trainer physically present. The same logic applies to workplace first aid: HSE strongly recommends that practical skills are assessed by direct observation, which a screen cannot do. We set out what the rules actually say in paediatric first aid requirements.

A provider you have not checked. Since 2013 nobody has been “HSE approved”, and it is the employer’s job to check a provider is competent. That check is free and takes ten minutes — the questions are in how to choose a first aid training provider. A cheap certificate from a provider who cannot answer them is not a saving.

Before you buy anything

The cheapest training is the training you did not need to buy. Two questions decide the size of the bill, and both come before price:

How many people actually need training? There is no legal ratio of first aiders to staff, and the number comes from a first aid needs assessment. Plenty of employers train more people than their assessment would justify, and a few train fewer than they need.
Which course do they need? One day or three is not a budget decision, it is an assessment decision — we work it through in First Aid at Work: 1 day or 3 days?

What the law requires overall is set out in workplace first aid requirements.

Getting an accurate figure

Tell us how many people, what they do, and where you are, and we will tell you which option is cheaper for your situation. If that is a single open course place rather than a group booking, we will say so — and if your assessment suggests you need less training than you were expecting, we will say that too.

Call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form on this page. There is no charge for the conversation, and we do not need your budget before we will talk about price.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a first aid at work course?

It depends on whether you book open course places, which are priced per person, or a group course at your premises, which is priced per course with a minimum of 12 places chargeable on most courses. Live prices for every course are listed above. The three-day First Aid at Work course costs more than the one-day Emergency First Aid at Work course because it is three times the trainer’s time.

Is it cheaper to train a group or send people on open courses?

For one or two people, open course places are almost always cheaper. From around three or four learners upwards, a group course at your premises usually costs less per head — and because group pricing is flat across the block of places you book, every additional learner up to the maximum reduces the cost per head further.

What is included in the price?

The training, the assessment, the certificate and the course materials. On a group course the trainer travels to you. What is not included is your cover for absent staff and, on open courses, your learners’ travel — which is often the larger cost.

How many people can attend a group course?

It depends on the course. Most of our group courses run for up to 16 people with a minimum of 12 places chargeable, so unused places above 12 are refunded. The Emergency First Aid at Work group course is priced per group of 12. Mental Health First Aid takes up to 16 with a minimum of 6 chargeable. One thing worth knowing for first aid specifically: HSE guidance notes that class sizes above 12 raise concerns about assessing everyone’s competence properly without an additional trainer, so tell us your numbers and we will confirm how the course will be staffed.

How long does a certificate last, and what does renewal cost?

Most workplace first aid certificates run three years. Requalification is usually shorter than the original course, so it costs less — First Aid at Work requalification is two days against the original three. Paediatric first aid has no shorter renewal route, so renewal means the full course again.

Are online courses cheaper?

Yes, and for some subjects they are a perfectly good option. But they are not available for everything: paediatric first aid requires the emergency elements to be taught face to face, and HSE strongly recommends that practical first aid skills are assessed by direct observation. A certificate that does not meet the requirement is not a saving.

Do you charge for travel?

Group course pricing covers delivery at your premises across Greater Manchester and the North West, and we run open courses in Bolton, Manchester and Wigan. If you are further afield, tell us where and we will be straight with you about whether it changes anything.

Can we split a three-day course across separate weeks?

Usually yes, which is often the difference between a group course being affordable and not. Splitting keeps more of your team on the floor on any given day. There are limits on how long a course can be spread over, so tell us what you need and we will confirm what works.

Do we get a discount for booking several courses?

Tell us the whole picture rather than booking course by course. If you need first aid, fire, manual handling and food safety across a year, there is usually a more sensible way to schedule and price it than four separate bookings.

How many first aiders do we actually need to pay for?

There is no legal ratio. The number comes from your first aid needs assessment, and HSE’s guidance is that where 25 or more people are employed, even in a low-hazard workplace, at least one trained first aider should be provided. Work out the number before you price it — some employers are paying to train more people than they need.

Not sure which option is cheaper for you? Call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form on this page, and we will do the arithmetic with you.

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