Nigel Cheeseright took over as chairman of CRRU in May 2024. Ahead of significant changes to the way professional rodenticides are purchased, he tells Simon King about the importance of the three user groups – pest controllers, farmers and gamekeepers – completing training ahead of the January 1, 2026 change
The 2026 amendments to the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) guidelines are fast approaching, and the pest control industry must prepare to meet new certification and professional development requirements.
Central to these changes is the emphasis on training, responsible rodenticide use, and ongoing development through CPD; if you’re a pest controller, staying ahead of these requirements is vital – not just for compliance, but for demonstrating professionalism and protecting the environment.
Nigel Cheeseright, who succeeded Dr Alan Buckle as CRRU chair, says: “Without stewardship, we wouldn’t have second generation anticoagulants available to professional pest controllers – it’s as simple as that.
“Although we recognise that the stewardship scheme still hasn’t achieved all the targets that the Government Oversight Group set for us, we have put a lot of good things in place, and it’s really the barn owl residues and the contamination within broader wildlife that is the challenging topic we still have to have to fully get our arms around.”
This is part of the reason why CRRU is taking further measures to strengthen stewardship, because that goal needs to be achieved ultimately.
CRRU reports into a Government Oversight Group which meets every year to review the organisation’s activities and progress.
“Up until this point, the Government Oversight Group has seen what we’re doing as being fit for purpose,” Nigel says. “We all recognise that there are still some things that require improvement, and we’ll continue to work on those items to refine stewardship and make further amendments as we go along.
“The fact that these products are still available to pest controllers to use in their tool kits is, to a degree, a recognition of the work that CRRU has done in the background and we’re proud of that.”
Nigel says that CRRU is monitoring training uptake across the three user groups.
“There are plenty of courses and plenty of capacity around for users to become trained,” he says.
“However, not everyone needs to take a training course to meet the January 1, 2026, requirements. Having a training qualification more than five years old, alongside active membership of a CRRU approved CPD scheme (with three hours of rodenticide content) will also allow professionals to continue to purchase professional rodenticides.
“We’re encouraging people to act now if they want to continue to purchase professional use for rodenticides on January 1, 2026. If they’re not planning to do their own pest control, and they’re planning to hire a pest control contractor to do that, then that’s obviously a different story.”
Nigel continues: “If you require professional rodenticides next year, and you plan to do pest control yourself on your own farm or your own game estate, you need to take action now to get yourself trained, because the requirements around training and proof of competence at the point of sale are changing.”
Pest control on farms
When CRRU was established and it talked to the HSE about training requirements – because the farming sector is so vast – an agreement was made at the time to allow farmers who were members of farm assurance schemes to essentially have a grandfathered certification to allow them to continue to do their pest control without taking additional qualifications.
“That is the major change this time around, and from the end of this year, membership of farm assurance schemes will not, on its own, be sufficient to allow you to purchase professional use for rodenticides,” Nigel says.
“The farming sector is the biggest area that will be impacted by the decisions we’ve made, and a lot of our communications as CRRU are targeted towards that group to make sure that everybody is aware of the changes that are taking place and action needs to be taken before it’s too late.”
Ahead of January 1, 2026, farmers have four options:
- Currently being a member of a farm assurance scheme allows you to purchase professional use rodenticides, but that’s ending on December 31 this year;
- The farmer can be trained and can demonstrate proof of competence at the point of sale;
- They can hire a professional pest controller; or
- They can purchase amateur use products.
CRRU publishes an extensive Code of Best Practice, which is available to download for free from the organisation’s website.
“There are many pest control scenarios, but the key guidance can be found in that document,” Nigel says. “I encourage people to make sure they’re familiar with the Code of Best Practice and try to implement it as far as they can.”
