Following the announcement at Healthcare Estates in October 2025, NHS England and the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management (IHEEM) are introducing a central register and certification process for authorising engineers (AEs) working on NHS infrastructure in England. This provides the AE profession with a single, coherent standard to strengthen governance and patient and public assurance around safety across the NHS Estate.
Today, 15th April 2026, all NHS Trusts in England 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. The transition period for this change will be 3 years from today to 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.
Pete Sellars, IHEEM’s CEO 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”
