The move, which follows an announcement at Healthcare Estates in October 2025, provides the AE profession with a single, coherent standard to strengthen governance and patient and public assurance around safety across the NHS Estate.
As of 15 April 2026, all NHS Trusts in England have received formal notification that all practising AEs who advise or work on NHS infrastructure will need to obtain IHEEM Registered Authorising Engineer certification and to appear on the central IHEEM AE Register. This requirement will be reflected in the new release of HTM 00 which is currently being finalised.
A three year transition period for this change will ensure the change is fair and manageable and gives existing practitioners sufficient time to complete the certification process and trusts to plan a managed transition across all AE roles. Following this transition period, only registered AEs will be eligible for appointment to work on NHS infrastructure.
IHEEM CEO Pete Sellars said: “Working in partnership with NHSE on this agreement, with IHEEM certifying and registering Authorising Engineers, is a fantastic opportunity for our profession to collectively work together to improve patient safety.”