How much does a food hygiene course cost?

Last updated 5 October 2026. Prices checked 5 October 2026

The price on the website isn't always what you end up paying. Some courses throw in extras for free, others charge for them, and a couple of surprise fees can turn a cheap course into an expensive one.

This page shows you what a Level 2 food hygiene course costs, what you get for your money, and where the extra charges hide. We've used real prices from five popular providers, so you can see exactly what you'd pay for one person or a whole team.

The short answer

An online Level 2 food hygiene course costs from about £12 to £35.70 per person, including VAT. The cheapest we've found with fully published terms is Food Safety UK, at £10 + VAT, which is £12. A course with a live tutor that leads to an official, regulated qualification costs around £170.

For most kitchen and front-of-house staff, one of the cheaper online courses does the job perfectly well. The expensive one is only worth it if you specifically need a regulated qualification.

What each course costs

Swipe sideways to see all five courses.

The money side	High Speed Training£24per person, inc. VATView course	Virtual College£19.20per person, inc. VATView course	Food Safety UK£12per person, inc. VATView course	CIEH Foundation Certificate£35.70per person, inc. VATView course	Highfield Level 2 Award, via Axtell Food Safety£170per person, inc. VAT and booking feeRegulated qualification View course
Price before VAT	£20	£16	£10	£29.75	Shown with VAT included
Free resits if someone fails	Unlimited	3 attempts	Unlimited	Not published	No
Cost of a resit	Free	Ask if you need a 4th go	Free	Not published	About £108£90 + VAT
Printed certificate in the post	Free	£4 extra	Not published	Not published	Not offeredYou get a digital certificate
Time to use the course	No deadline	Start within 12 monthsUnstarted courses can be cancelled after 12 months; no time limit once started is stated	90 days per learnerAccess ends once they pass	12 months	Booked for a set date
Cheaper for teams	From 10 courses	From 10 courses	Ask providerGroup sign-up for 2 or more	From 5 courses	Ask provider

Included or good newsNot included or costs extraNot published, worth asking before you buy

What it would cost to train your team

Prices per person only tell you so much. Here's what you'd pay, including VAT, to train 6 people or 10 people with each provider.

Swipe sideways to see all five courses.

Team size	High Speed Training	Virtual College	Food Safety UK	CIEH	Highfield, via Axtell
6 people	£144	£115.20	£72	£199.80With the 5-course discount	£1,020
10 people	£216With 10% off	£172.80With 10% off	£120Full price; ask about group rates	£333With the 5-course discount	£1,700Ask about group rates

There's a neat trick hiding in those numbers. With High Speed Training or Virtual College, 10 courses cost exactly the same as 9, because the discount kicks in at 10. So if you need 9, buy 10 and keep the spare for your next new starter. Our guide to buying courses for a team explains more money-saving tips like this.

Food Safety UK doesn't publish a team discount, but even at full price it's the cheapest here for a team, at £120 for 10 people. Just remember each learner gets 90 days' access, and Food Safety UK doesn't say whether that starts when you buy or when you enrol someone, so ask before buying spares.

Why do some courses cost so much more?

It's natural to wonder why one course is £12 and another is £170. Are you getting fourteen times more for your money? Not really. You're paying for three things.

A real person teaching

The four cheaper courses are online. You read, watch short videos and answer questions in your own time. The Highfield course through Axtell has a real tutor teaching live on Zoom for about five hours. Paying a person to teach costs more than a website does.

A regulated qualification

The Highfield Level 2 Award is a regulated qualification. That means it's checked by Ofqual, the government body that also oversees things like GCSEs. The exam is watched by someone online to make sure nobody cheats. The other four give you a certificate from the training company itself. That's perfectly good evidence of training, but it isn't a regulated qualification.

The name on the certificate

CIEH costs a bit more than the other online courses. Part of that is the name: CIEH is the professional body for environmental health officers, the people who do food hygiene inspections. Some businesses like having that name on their certificates.

The hidden costs to watch out for

These are the little extras that can catch you out if you don't know about them.

Resits. If someone fails with High Speed Training, they just try again for free, as many times as they need, and Food Safety UK is the same. With Virtual College, three goes are included. With the Highfield course, a resit costs about £108, which is a big chunk on top of the £170 you've already paid.

Printed certificates. Most courses give you a digital certificate you can download straight away. If you'd like a printed one in the post, High Speed Training includes it for free, but Virtual College charges £4. Food Safety UK and CIEH don't say, so ask before you buy if a printed copy matters to you.

Courses running out. If you buy courses before people need them, check how long they last. Food Safety UK courses need finishing within 90 days, Virtual College says unstarted courses can be cancelled 12 months after ordering, and CIEH gives twelve months. High Speed Training courses never run out. A course that expires before you use it is money wasted.

Cancelling or moving a live course. The Highfield course through Axtell has stricter rules because a tutor's time is booked. Cancel at least seven days before and you get your money back, apart from the booking fee. Cancel three to seven days before and there's a £40 charge. Inside three days, there's no refund at all. Moving an exam with less than 48 hours' notice costs £70 plus VAT.

Is the cheapest course good enough?

For most people, yes. The cheaper online courses cover the same important topics as the expensive one: keeping food at the right temperature, stopping germs spreading, handwashing, cleaning and allergens. They're not worse courses, they're just simpler ones, without a live tutor or an official exam.

If you've got a new kitchen assistant, a barista or a server who plates food, an online course is usually all they need. Save the expensive regulated course for when a contract, a tender or a job advert specifically asks for one, or for someone who learns much better with a real person to ask questions.

And don't forget, it can cost nothing at all

The law doesn't say staff must have a paid certificate. It says they need the right training for their job, and you need to be able to show it. Free training from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, plus good training on the job, can be enough for some roles. Our guide to free resources or a paid course helps you decide.

A quick word about VAT

All the main prices on this page include VAT, because that's what most people pay. If your business is VAT registered, you can usually claim the VAT back on training for your staff, which brings the online courses down to between £10 and £29.75 each. Your accountant can confirm this for your business.

Where to go next

If you'd like to see everything side by side, not just the prices, take a look at our full course comparisons. And if you're buying for several people, our guide to buying courses for a team shows you how to get the best deal.

How we put this together

We haven't taken these courses ourselves. All prices and terms come from each provider's own website, checked between 22 September and 5 October 2026. We rechecked every price on the providers' own websites on 5 October 2026. The team totals are our own sums, using each provider's published prices and discounts. Prices do change, so it's always worth a quick check on the provider's website before you buy.

Sources we used