Questions to Ask Your Training Provider About BILD Act Certification

Before commissioning physical intervention or behaviour support training, asking the right questions of a provider can save your organisation significant regulatory and governance risk. The key questions below are designed to separate genuinely BILD Act certified providers from those who use similar-sounding language without having completed the independent certification audit. Use this as a pre-booking checklist.

Question 1: Are you on the BILD Act certified organisations list?

This is the most important question, and the answer must be yes or no, not a qualified statement about being 'aligned', 'equivalent', or 'compliant'. A certified provider appears on the certified organisations list at bildact.org.uk. That is the definitive answer.

After asking, verify independently. Go to bildact.org.uk and search for the provider's name. If they appear, you have independent confirmation. If they do not, they are not certified, regardless of what they have told you.

If a provider becomes defensive or evasive when you ask this question, treat that as a significant red flag. A certified provider has nothing to hide and will welcome the verification.

Question 2: What is your BILD Act certification reference number and when does it expire?

Every BILD Act certified provider has a certification reference number. They should be able to provide this without hesitation. The expiry date is equally important: certification must be current to be valid. A provider whose certification expired last year is no longer certified, even if they were previously.

Once you have the reference number, you can contact BILD Act directly to verify it if you wish to carry out additional due diligence. For high-risk settings or commissioning decisions involving significant investment, this additional step is worthwhile.

Question 3: Is the specific course I am booking within the scope of your certification?

This question catches a common problem: an organisation that holds BILD Act certification for one programme offering a different, non-certified programme to your team. BILD Act certification applies to specific programmes, not to everything a provider delivers.

Ask the provider to confirm the exact name of the course as it appears in their certification scope, and to provide the specific course reference. If you have access to the bildact.org.uk certified organisations list entry for this provider, compare the course name against the certified scope listed there.

Our guide on how to check if your training provider is BILD Act certified explains how to read the certified organisations list and check course-level certification status.

Question 4: What qualifications do the individual trainers hold?

Organisation-level certification and individual trainer competency are related but distinct. A certified organisation must ensure that its trainers are qualified to deliver certified programmes. Ask specifically about the trainers who will be delivering to your staff.

Questions to ask:

• What qualifications are required for trainers to deliver your certified programmes?
• How recently were the trainers assigned to our delivery assessed as competent?
• How does your organisation maintain ongoing trainer quality assurance?
• Can you provide evidence of trainer qualifications for the specific trainers delivering to our team?

A provider with robust quality systems will answer these questions readily. Vague or evasive responses about trainer credentials are a concern, particularly for physical intervention training where trainer competency directly affects participant safety.

Question 5: How much of the programme covers prevention and de-escalation versus physical techniques?

The RRN Training Standards are built on a philosophy of restraint reduction. Certified programmes must give significant coverage to proactive and preventative approaches, relational practice, trauma-informed understanding, and de-escalation, with physical techniques addressed as a last resort within that broader context.

Ask the provider for a breakdown of programme content and contact time. A programme that is primarily physical techniques with brief coverage of context and prevention is unlikely to reflect the philosophy of the RRN Training Standards, even if the provider holds certification for other programmes.

For organisations in adult social care, this content balance matters not only for certification compliance but for the culture the training creates in your staff team. Training that treats physical intervention as a normal first response rather than a rare last resort does not support the restraint-reduction outcomes that your organisation should be pursuing.

Question 6: What does the programme cover about post-incident support?

Post-incident support and review is a required element of the RRN Training Standards. Staff must be equipped not only to respond to incidents but to support the people they work with after an incident, to support each other, and to participate in organisational learning processes.

Ask the provider specifically: what does your programme teach about what to do after a physical intervention has been used? Does it cover debriefing for the person supported? Debriefing for staff? How incidents should be recorded and reviewed? How organisations should use incident data to reduce future incidents?

If a provider's programme does not address post-incident practice in any meaningful way, it is unlikely to be a fully certified programme, regardless of what else it covers.

Question 7: Can you provide references from organisations in my sector?

BILD Act certification confirms that a provider's training meets the standard. It does not tell you about the provider's experience in your specific sector, the quality of their customer relationships, or how their training performs in practice. References from organisations similar to yours provide evidence on these dimensions.

Ask for two or three references from organisations working in adult social care, or in your specific care setting. Contact those references and ask: did the training meet your expectations? Was it delivered as described? Did staff report finding it useful in practice? Did you notice any change in incident frequency or culture following the training?

Question 8: How do you support organisations to reduce restrictive practices over time?

A genuinely restraint-reduction-oriented provider will have a clear answer to this question. The RRN Training Standards are not simply about training events; they are about a process of continuous improvement in how organisations use restrictive practices. A certified provider should be able to articulate how their programmes support organisations to monitor their use of restrictive practices and work toward reduction.

Organisations that implement BILD Act certified training with a genuine commitment to restraint reduction achieve significant results. Organisations using our programmes have documented up to an 80% reduction in incidents, reflecting what certified, values-led training can achieve when embedded across an organisation's practice.

A provider who cannot articulate how their training supports restraint reduction as an organisational goal is focused on the training event, not on the outcome you should be working toward.

Question 9: What documentation will we receive after training?

For CQC compliance purposes, you need to be able to evidence that training was certified and that specific staff have completed it. Ask the provider:

• What certificates or records do participants receive on completion?
• Do the certificates reference the certification against the RRN Training Standards?
• Do you provide a training record suitable for CQC inspection purposes?
• How long do you retain training records and how can we access them?

The documentation should clearly state that the training is certified against the RRN Training Standards. A certificate that only shows CPD accreditation or generic completion will not serve as evidence of certified training in a CQC inspection.

Question 10: What happens if a staff member requires additional support after training?

This question assesses the provider's commitment beyond the training day. Physical intervention training can surface difficult emotions, particularly for staff who have experienced trauma themselves. A high-quality provider will have considered how to support staff who find aspects of training challenging.

Ask whether there is a process for follow-up support, whether trainers are available for post-training questions, and how the provider handles situations where a participant is unable to complete a physical element of training. This is not a certification question, but the answer tells you a great deal about the provider's culture and commitment to safe, ethical delivery.

How to use the answers you receive

The questions matter, but so does what you do with the answers. Score each provider's responses against your own scoring rubric, not against marketing language. Look for clarity, not confidence. A provider who answers "we are certified, here is the scope, here is our trainer competence evidence, and here is how we measure outcomes" is much more useful than one who answers "yes, we are fully accredited and trusted by hundreds of services across the UK".

Where answers are vague, ask follow-ups. Where evidence is missing, request it in writing. Where a provider cannot supply the documents you need, that is a meaningful answer in itself. The strongest providers expect this level of scrutiny and have their evidence pack ready before you ask for it. The ones that struggle are usually the ones whose certification is partial, expired, or scope-limited in ways they would rather not discuss.

If you want help turning these questions into a tender-ready scoring rubric, get in touch. We are happy to share what we have learned from working with commissioners across health, social care, and education on certified training procurement.

Frequently asked questions

What if a provider says they are certified but I cannot find them on bildact.org.uk?

If a provider claims certification but does not appear on the bildact.org.uk certified organisations list, ask them to explain the discrepancy. Possible explanations include: they have applied but not yet achieved certification; their certification has lapsed; they are listed under a different trading name. Ask for their BILD Act certification reference number and contact BILD Act directly to verify. Do not book certified training on the basis of an unverified claim.

Can I ask to see a copy of the BILD Act certificate before booking?

Yes, and you should. A certified provider will provide this without hesitation. The certificate will show the provider's name, the scope of certification (which programmes are certified), and the expiry date. Review this document alongside the bildact.org.uk listing to confirm the information matches.

Is it reasonable to ask all these questions before booking?

Yes. These are legitimate due diligence questions for any organisation commissioning physical intervention training. A reputable certified provider will expect and welcome them. The questions are particularly important for CQC-regulated services, NHS-contracted providers, and any setting where physical intervention may be used with vulnerable people. The investment of time in asking them is small compared to the risk of commissioning non-certified training.

Work with a provider who welcomes your questions

ProActive Approaches is BILD Act (RRN) certified, with 30+ years experience delivering physical intervention and behaviour support training. Our training is certified against the Restraint Reduction Network Training Standards. Manchester Metropolitan University evaluated the RRN Training Standards as a national framework, not our programme directly. We welcome due diligence from the organisations we work with and can provide full certification documentation, trainer credentials, and sector references.

To discuss your training needs or ask any of the questions above, get in touch or view upcoming course dates.