RLSS UK offers comprehensive updates to training in support of new guidelines for CPR and First Aid

01/05/2026

The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) undertook an extensive programme of work to update CPR and First Aid content within its portfolio of qualifications and awards, supported by a wide range of practical resources to help its trainers, employers, and members implement the changes with confidence and consistency. 

In late 2025, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) published revised guidelines for resuscitation and First Aid. The Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) guidelines have been adapted from the ERC guidelines and are tailored specifically to clinical practice in the UK. The new guidelines were developed over four years of continuous collaboration, including systematic reviews and global stakeholder involvement.

The updated CPR and First Aid guidelines, published in late 2025, cover several areas, including streamlined early-response for bystanders, with an emphasis on calling emergency services immediately; enhanced use of defibrillators (AEDs); and changes to infant compression technique.

It was essential for RLSS UK to create a seamless transition to the new guidelines, both to maintain compliance with regulatory obligations as a leading lifesaving and lifeguarding awarding organisation (AO), and to ensure training remains consistently safe, valid, up to date and of the highest quality. 

To support RLSS UK Trainer Assessors (TAs), Instructors, employers, candidates, and award holders in using the new content from the guidelines, RLSS UK worked closely with their Clinical Governance Group and RCUK over several months to understand the changes and how they should be applied to RLSS UK qualifications and awards.

In February, at RLSS UK’s Technical Conference in Coventry, experts from RCUK presented the evidence base behind the guidelines and the technical understanding of the changes, while RLSS UK’s Commercial Director, Jo Talbot, outlined what the changes mean for RLSS UK qualifications, awards and training delivery. 

Over the last four months, the team at RLSS UK have updated all resources, manuals, materials, and products that contain CPR and First Aid, including: 

• 29 Individual Printed Candidate Manuals (70,000 are now in stock and ready to be sent out) 
• 19 Online Learning Modules 
• 164 Presentations 
• 49 Question papers
• 140+ Other Resources (including lesson plans, handouts and much more) 

The team also created two Online Updates to support RLSS UK TAs, Instructors, and candidates. Each Update explained the changes to CPR & First Aid clearly with demonstrations and imagery.

Current RLSS UK TAs, Tutors and Instructors were contacted from February to relay the changes and offer the free, online update. At the time of writing, 4,414 TAs and 6,996 individual award holders have completed the online update and are ready to use their training to help others. 

"As the Centre Coordinator of a large operator with over 150 swimming pools, RLSS UK has been amazing throughout the whole process of implementing the updates to CPR & First Aid. From first launching it at their conference in February with some great guest speakers explaining the updates to hundreds of TAs, to producing a logical rollout plan. The resources available to initially update the TAs, and then the individual award holders, have been brilliant and industry-leading, not just in the leisure industry, but in the wider first aid sector. Every resource from videos, online CPDs, handouts, lesson plans, and signing in registers has all been thought of and made available to all their Approved Training Centres. I personally would like to thank RLSS UK for all the hard work that this has entailed and the support provided throughout." 

- Martin Baker, National Trainer Assessor (NTA) and Centre-Coordinator for Everyone Active

"Thank you to everyone involved. The level of work and attention to detail is clear and genuinely impressive. It feels like a phenomenal piece of work and provides operators and providers like us with real motivation to ensure our own upskilling, standardisation, and transition processes are equally streamlined. The hard work of RLSS UK never goes unnoticed. Thanks so much from Team Nuffield."

- Katie Howley, National Health and Safety Training Manager at Nuffield Health

On 1 May 2026, the changes to CPR and First Aid have been implemented, and the updated content is now an integral part of all RLSS UK qualifications and awards. As the UK’s leading provider of lifesaving, lifeguarding and water safety training, RLSS UK will continue to share world-leading knowledge and expertise, ensuring that everyone has the potential to save lives. 

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