How long is an IPAF licence (PAL Card) valid?

An IPAF PAL Card is valid for 5 years, counted from the first day of the training course. To keep operating a MEWP after that, the operator must complete renewal training and pass the test before the card expires — an expired card cannot simply be renewed, and there is no grace period.

Categories: one card, separate tickets

The PAL (Powered Access Licence) Card lists the machine categories the operator is trained for. The common ones:

• 3a — mobile vertical platforms (scissor lifts).
• 3b — mobile booms (cherry pickers, articulated and telescopic booms).
• 1a / 1b — static vertical and static boom machines (for example vehicle-mounted platforms).

Each category on the card carries the same 5-year validity. Since 2021, cards in the UK and Ireland are issued digitally through ePAL, IPAF's free app; a physical card remains available. ePAL also holds the operator's digital log book — worth keeping up, because a completed log book is what makes an operator eligible for the renewal test route rather than a longer course.

Renewal: train and test before expiry

Renewing is not a form-filling exercise. The operator goes back to an IPAF-approved training centre, completes refresher theory and practical assessments for their categories, and passes the test. On success the card runs for a further 5 years from the renewal.

The timing rule is the one that catches people out: the renewal must be completed before the current card expires. Once the date has passed, the card cannot be renewed — the operator is normally back to the full operator course and test, at full cost and full duration. IPAF briefly ran a grace period during the COVID disruption of 2020; it ended that September and no standing grace period exists.

What sites actually check

Powered access is one of the most consistently checked tickets in UK construction. Gate staff and site managers verify:

• that the card (physical or in ePAL) is in date;
• that it covers the right category for the machine on site — a 3a ticket does not cover a boom;
• increasingly, the log book, especially for less common machines.

An operator with an expired card will simply not be allowed on the machine. For you as the employer that means a MEWP standing idle, a programme slipping, and a retraining course to arrange at short notice — days to weeks of lost availability for the sake of a missed date.

Five years is exactly long enough to forget

A 5-year cycle sits in no one's natural rhythm: the operator who did the course barely remembers the year, let alone the month. The date exists in ePAL, but ePAL only helps if someone looks at it. Put every operator's categories and expiry dates in one overview and let the reminders come to you: Certly emails you 90, 60 and 30 days before each expiry, so renewal training is booked while the card is still valid. It works the same for the rest of the wallet — see the forklift refresher rules and how long a CSCS card is valid — and the free training matrix template helps you map which roles need which cards.