At A Glance:

We set clear standards for every trainer who delivers our courses. You know who is teaching you, how they are selected, and how we keep the training practical, current and safe.

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How we select our trainers

We do not use generic lecturers or purely theoretical instructors. Instead, every trainer who works with us must bring real-world experience in the subject they teach.

Minimum requirements for all trainers include:

Relevant clinical, emergency response, teaching or sector experience
Current teaching or instructional qualifications
Enhanced DBS check (verified regularly)
Ongoing continuing professional development
Regular observation and internal quality assurance

Every trainer must complete regular continuing professional development that is relevant to the courses they deliver. This covers updates to clinical guidelines, teaching practice, and any changes issued by the HSE, UK Resuscitation Council or the awarding organisations. As a result, we keep full records of this CPD and review it as part of our internal quality assurance process.

As the business grows, we maintain a national pool of trusted associate trainers. This lets us deliver scheduled courses at our Knutsford centre and private on-site courses across the UK, while guaranteeing the exact same high standards on every session.

Chris Garland remains the principal trainer and leads key specialist programmes such as Evacuation Train the Trainer. However, qualified members of our associate trainer pool deliver our other specialist courses.

Keeping course content current

We review all course materials against current guidance from the Health and Safety Executive, the UK Resuscitation Council, primary authorities and relevant Ofqual-regulated awarding organisations.

Whenever national guidelines change, we update practical techniques, assessment criteria and supporting resources. Trainers receive the revised materials promptly and we observe them delivering the new content before they work with candidates.

Equipment and practical standards

We maintain a full set of training equipment so every candidate can practise properly. In fact, our team inspects, maintains and replaces manikins, defibrillators, tourniquets, evacuation chairs and other kit on a planned schedule.

Practical sessions use realistic scenarios rather than pure theory. Because of this, group sizes stay within the limits set by the HSE and awarding organisations (normally a maximum of twelve candidates per instructor for first aid courses, for example).

Assessment and certification

We state assessment methods clearly on each course page. Most face-to-face courses combine a practical assessment (100% pass required) with a theory paper (usually a 70% pass mark).

You can choose either a Chris Garland Training certificate or an Ofqual-regulated QNUK certificate on many courses. Both certificates are valid for insurance purposes. The Ofqual option carries a small additional fee and some organisations or regulators prefer it. You can find certificate validity periods on individual course pages (normally three years).

Feedback, complaints and the five-working-day window

We ask every candidate for honest feedback after their course. Genuine comments help us improve and help future buyers decide.

If your experience falls short of what you expected, contact us within five working days. We will work with you directly to put it right. You can find full details of our complaints and refund process in our Terms & Conditions.

We do not remove genuine negative reviews simply because they are critical. But if a review does not reflect a real customer experience, we report it to the relevant platform.

Safeguarding, accessibility and data protection

All trainers hold current enhanced DBS certificates. We follow a clear safeguarding policy and make reasonable adjustments for candidates who need them. You can read full details on our Accessibility and Reasonable Adjustments pages.

We hold candidate and client data under our Privacy Notice and ICO registration. We store certificates and records securely, and we only share them where the law or the awarding organisation requires it.

Full policy documents

You can read the complete versions of our key policies here:

If you have a specific question about trainer qualifications, course standards or how we handle a particular situation, just ask. We would rather answer it before you book than leave you guessing.

Our Trainers & Quality Standards