First Aid will be compulsory for all newly qualified nursery staff.

Currently Early years providers must have one Paediatric first aider on the premises at all times but now the government is planning a consultation to made compulsory the training in Paediatric First aid as response to a Campaign by Thompson family, whose daughter Millie died after choking in a nursery in 2012.  This training proposal will be subject to a full consultation during the next Parliament session and It is expected to come into effect by September 2016.

The new requirement would mean that a nursery recruiting a level 2 or level 3 member of staff who had newly completed their early years/childcare qualification must have an emergency paediatric first aid or a full paediatric first aid certificate, if they are to count towards the staff/qualification ratios under the early years foundation stage. The emergency first aid training course would be the equivalent of 1 day of training and would need to be refreshed every 3 years in order for the staff member to keep counting in the ratios.

Press release from:Department for Education and Sam Gyimah MP