Authorised Person Electrical Course Explained — UK Guide for 2026
By Tolga Aramaz·
Authorised Person Electrical Course Explained — UK Guide for 2026
> TL;DR — What is an authorised person electrical course? It is the training that qualifies a competent electrician to control electrical work as an Authorised Person (AP) under HSG85 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — issuing permits to work, performing switching and isolation, and supervising others. LV courses run 2-4 days, HV courses 3-5 days. The certificate alone does not make you an AP — your employer must formally appoint you in writing afterwards.
If your employer has asked you to take an "authorised person electrical course", or you are looking at facilities and estates job adverts that demand AP status, you have probably noticed the term means slightly different things to different employers. There are HV APs, LV APs, Senior APs, healthcare APs, MOD APs and the occasional company-specific flavour invented by a director who once read HSG85 on a flight.
This is the version of the explanation I have given dozens of times to people walking into our Cheshunt centre asking "do I need a course, do I just need a letter, or do I need both?" The answer is: both — and they are not the same thing.
I am Tolga Aramaz, director of Learn Trade Skills. My father Sezai launched LTS in 2021 — bringing 40+ years in the trade with him — and one of the things he kept seeing on commercial sites was competent electricians being asked to act as APs without a clear understanding of what that actually meant. This guide is partly an attempt to fix that.
What an Authorised Person Actually Is
The term Authorised Person (AP) is rooted in HSE guidance HSG85 Electricity at work: Safe working practices and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR).
In plain English, an AP is someone formally appointed in writing by their employer (the duty holder) to:
Control electrical operations on a defined scope of equipment
Issue and cancel permits to work
Authorise others to work on the equipment
Carry out switching, isolation and proving dead
Take ultimate responsibility for the safety of the working party
It is a role, not just a certificate. You can hold the training and not be acting as an AP unless you have a written letter of authorisation from your employer naming the equipment, voltage and scope. Conversely, you cannot legitimately be appointed an AP without the training. The two only make sense together.
If anyone tells you "the certificate is enough", remember: the HSE will ask to see the appointment letter, the switching schedule, and the permit log. The certificate is the easiest of the three to produce.
Who Actually Needs an Authorised Person Electrical Course?
The AP role appears most often in:
Facilities and estates teams — hospitals, universities, data centres, MOD sites
Industrial maintenance — manufacturing, food processing, water treatment
Network operations — DNOs, IDNOs, large private networks
Renewables — solar farms, EV charging hubs, battery storage installations
Commercial property estates — large landlord portfolios, retail chains
If your role involves controlling electrical systems above 230V single-phase, or if you manage a permit-to-work system on any site, you will almost certainly need AP authorisation at some point.
A useful test: if the answer to "who decided that circuit could be worked on safely today?" needs to be a single named human being, that person needs to be an AP.
Voltage Matters — LV vs HV
Aspect
Low Voltage (LV)
High Voltage (HV)
Definition
Up to 1,000V AC (typically 230V/400V)
Above 1,000V AC (typically 11kV, 33kV)
Common scope
Commercial, industrial, facilities
Substations, ring main units, switchgear
Course length
2-4 days
3-5 days
Practical content
Workshop switching exercises
Live-equipment switching with witness
Refresh cycle
1-3 years
Often annual
You do not jump straight to HV. Most APs hold LV authorisation first, gain experience, then progress to HV after additional training and a period of structured site exposure. Regrettably, "I watched the senior guy do it once" is not site exposure, no matter how much it might feel like it.
What an Authorised Person Course Actually Covers
A typical 2-3 day Low Voltage Authorised Person course covers:
Safety guidance — HSG85 in detail, HSG230, BS 7671 cross-references
Risk assessment — for switching, isolation, working live (and why you should not)
Safe isolation procedures — the GS38 sequence, proving units, voltage indicators
Permit to work systems — types of permit, the issue/receipt/cancel cycle
Switching schedules — how to plan and document a switching operation
Working with contractors — handover protocols, supervised access
Practical assessment — usually a witnessed switching and isolation exercise
The course typically ends with a written exam (multiple choice, 60-80% pass mark) and a practical sign-off. Important: passing the course does not automatically make you an AP — it qualifies you to be appointed by your employer.
The Appointment Process — The Bit Most Providers Skim Over
After completing the AP course, the route to actually acting as an AP looks like this:
Course completion — you hold a recognised certificate
Internal interview / site assessment — your employer assesses your competence on their specific equipment
Letter of authorisation — written, signed by the duty holder, naming the scope (which substations, which switchgear, which voltages, what type of work)
Periodic re-assessment — usually every 1-3 years, sometimes annually for HV
Continuing development — refresher training every 3 years recommended
Without all five, you are not an AP. The certificate alone is not sufficient. The letter alone is not sufficient. The training without the letter is, in HSE terms, a fairly expensive paperweight.
Authorised Person vs Competent Person — A Common Confusion
Aspect
Competent Person
Authorised Person
Definition
Has training, knowledge, experience
Formally appointed by employer in writing
Scope
Can work safely within trade competence
Can control work and issue permits
Trigger
Earned through qualification + experience
Granted through written appointment
Renewal
Tied to ongoing CPD (e.g. 18th Edition update)
Periodic re-authorisation per employer policy
Recognised UK-wide?
Yes (via City & Guilds, NICEIC, etc.)
Per-employer / per-site
A useful shorthand: competence is what you can do; authorisation is what you are allowed to do.
How AP Sits Alongside Other Qualifications
For most working electricians, the typical CV stack looks like:
City & Guilds 2365 Level 2 + Level 3 → Competent person foundation
Authorised Person (LV) → Permit-to-work authority on commercial / industrial sites
Authorised Person (HV) → Substation and switchgear authority
The AP course almost always comes after the Gold Card, because employers want demonstrated electrical competence first. We have had cases where students try to short-circuit (sorry) this order, and it never quite works.
Two Things the Top Articles Almost Never Tell You
I have read a lot of "authorised person electrical course" explainer pages over the years. Most cover the same ground — voltages, course length, HSG85, EAWR — and skip past two things that come up constantly on real consultation calls.
1. AP authorisation does not transfer between employers
Move companies, even within the same sector, and your AP appointment dies the moment your old employment contract ends. The new employer must reassess your competence on their specific equipment and issue a fresh letter. This catches a lot of people out — they assume the certificate carries them across, then discover their first week on the new site is spent in re-induction and re-authorisation. Plan for it.
2. The "Senior Authorised Person" and "Person in Control" tiers
Above AP sits Senior Authorised Person (SAP) — the person who oversees other APs, signs off complex switching schedules, and acts as the technical authority on a site. SAP usually requires AP experience plus further training. Above SAP, on some sites (NHS estates is the canonical example), there is a Person in Control role. If your career trajectory is "facilities lead at a hospital trust", your end goal is SAP plus Person in Control, not just AP. The training providers and tiers are slightly different — start with HTM 06-02 and BS EN 50110-1 if that path interests you.
What to Look For in an AP Course Provider
Not all AP courses are equal. Before booking, check:
Awarding body or recognition — City & Guilds Assured, BSI, or a credible industry-specific scheme (e.g. NHS estates HTM 06-02, MOD)
Practical content — at least one full day of switching / isolation practical, ideally on a real LV switch panel rather than a slide deck
Assessment rigour — a written paper plus a witnessed practical
HSG85 explicit coverage — should be the spine of the course, not an aside
Industry-specific variants — healthcare, MOD, network operator versions exist; pick the one closest to your work
Refresher policy — most reputable providers will quote you a clear 3-year refresher, not a vague "you might need to come back"
People Also Ask
"Can a domestic electrician become an authorised person?"
Technically yes — anyone with the prerequisite competence can take the course. Practically, AP roles are commercial, industrial and infrastructure. A domestic-only sparky would need to either move sectors or pick up commercial experience first. The AP course content assumes you have spent time on three-phase systems, which is rare in pure domestic.
"Is an authorised person electrical course recognised UK-wide?"
The training is recognised. The actual AP appointment is per-employer and per-site. This is a feature, not a bug — it means each duty holder takes responsibility for assessing competence on their specific equipment.
"How much does an authorised person course cost in the UK?"
LV courses typically run £600-£1,200. HV courses £1,000-£2,000. Healthcare and MOD-specific variants can run higher. Cheaper than that, be cautious. A £200 "AP certificate" online with no practical assessment is not what your employer will accept.
"Can I do an authorised person course online?"
The theory portion can be online. The practical switching assessment must be in person and witnessed. Anyone offering a fully online AP course is offering you something that will not survive an HSE audit.
"Does AP training cover both LV and HV?"
Almost never in the same course. They are separate qualifications with different prerequisites. You can hold both, but you take them sequentially.
"How often does AP authorisation need to be renewed?"
Most employers renew every 1-3 years, with formal re-training every 3 years. HV is often shorter — annual reviews are common. The renewal cycle is set by the duty holder, not by the awarding body.
What LTS Does (And Doesn't) Run
We are open about this: we do not currently run a stand-alone Authorised Person course at our Cheshunt centre. AP is delivered most effectively as a tailored programme with a specific employer's switching schedules and equipment, and the providers who specialise in it (PPL, Develop Training, Hydro-X, Eastwood Park, sector-specific options for healthcare and MOD) do that bit well.
What we do run, and what tends to be the prerequisite stack:
Custom B2B compliance training for facilities and estates teams (delivered on site)
If you are a facilities team or estates manager looking to put a group through structured AP-prerequisite training before sourcing an AP course, contact our B2B team — we will build a programme around your equipment scope. Sezai still personally writes the curriculum for these, which is either a feature or a warning, depending on how you feel about extremely thorough Turkish-Cypriot electricians.
The Bottom Line
An authorised person electrical course is a focused, role-specific qualification that sits on top of broader electrical competence. It is not a route into the trade — it is a route within the trade for people who control electrical work on commercial, industrial or network sites.
The training itself is achievable in 2-4 days for LV. The real work is the appointment process at your employer afterwards, and the ongoing responsibility that comes with the role.
If you want to talk through how AP fits into a broader Gold Card pathway, or you are an employer wanting to upskill a team to AP-prerequisite level, book a free consultation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
An Authorised Person (Electrical) is someone formally appointed in writing by a duty holder to control electrical work — including switching, isolation, and issuing permits to work — on a defined scope of equipment. The role is grounded in HSG85 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. The key word is "appointed": you are not an AP just because you passed the course, you are an AP because your employer wrote it down.
Yes. AP is built on top of an existing electrical competence. You are expected to already hold City & Guilds Level 3 (or equivalent), the 18th Edition and relevant site experience. The AP course adds the safe systems of work, switching procedures and permit-to-work elements on top.
A standard low voltage AP course runs 2-4 days. High voltage AP courses run 3-5 days and include witnessed practical switching exercises. Both end in formal assessment. After the course, your employer must issue a written letter of authorisation naming the equipment, voltage and scope before you can act as an AP.
A Competent Person can carry out electrical work within their scope of training. An Authorised Person can additionally control work — isolating systems, issuing permits, and authorising others to work on equipment. Put plainly, competence is what you can do; authorisation is what you are allowed to do.
No. AP is most effective when it is delivered with a specific employer\'s switching schedules and equipment, which is why we run the prerequisite stack — 18th Edition, 2391 Inspection & Testing, Part P, and tailored B2B compliance training — rather than a generic AP course. We point our students toward the AP providers that specialise in their sector (healthcare, MOD, network operator, data centre).
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