What the law requires of a care home lift
Two sets of rules apply. Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), any lift used to carry people in a workplace must have a thorough examination by a competent person at least every six months, and more often if the examiner's written scheme says so; lifts carrying only goods are examined every twelve months. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) require the lift to be maintained in an efficient state and good repair between examinations. Separately, Regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 requires a care provider's premises and equipment to be suitable, safe and properly maintained. A lift that is overdue its examination breaches both regimes at once.
Examination versus servicing: two different things
| LOLER thorough examination | Planned servicing | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An independent safety inspection with a written report | Preventive maintenance: adjustment, lubrication, wear parts, testing |
| How often | At least every 6 months for a passenger-carrying lift | Fixed in the contract — typically 4–6 visits a year for a busy care home lift, 2–4 for a low-use platform lift |
| Who does it | A competent person — in-house with us, or your insurer's engineer surveyor | The service engineer |
| What you keep | The report, until the next one and for at least two years | The service log and any defect or repair notes |
| Consequence if missed | Enforcement risk, insurance exposure, a CQC finding | Breakdowns, entrapments, a failed examination |
Most homes put both inside one annual contract so the examination and the service happen on one visit cycle, with one report to file. Our servicing and LOLER guide explains the regime in more depth.
What inspectors actually ask for: the paper trail, not a speech
Inspectors assess lifts under the Safe key question, and in practice they want the paper trail rather than an explanation of the regulations. The homes that sail through hand over one pack:
- The current LOLER certificate, with the date on it — for a passenger lift, within the last six months.
- The last two service sheets, showing the contracted visits happened.
- Proof that every “to rectify” item was closed — an open defect on a six-month-old report is the finding, not the defect itself.
- Who is on 24/7 breakdown cover, with the number, so a trapped resident or carer is a phone call rather than a search.
A manager who can hand their director that pack — current LOLER, last two services, open defects and who is on cover — has produced what the inspection actually looks at. Everything else is supporting detail.
Insurers inspect too, and they add defects on the day
Where the home’s insurer appoints the engineer surveyor — Allianz, HSB and the other majors do this routinely — they carry out the thorough examination themselves and quite often add defects on the day that the last service did not flag. The registered manager then needs a price to close them, usually the same week, because the report is now on file with the defects open. That is the moment a servicing contractor earns its keep: we quote against the surveyor’s list, close the items, and where the insurer accepts it we send photographs of the finished work instead of waiting for a return visit. Passenger lifts are treated as six-monthly by every insurer we work with; platform lifts follow the examiner’s written scheme.
The item that gets a home into trouble fastest
A missing or non-working emergency alarm or two-way communication in the lift. It is a cheap item and an easy one to overlook, but a carer trapped between floors with no way to call for help is a CQC problem as well as a lift problem, and it is the defect inspectors escalate. Check it on every service visit; if it is on your open-defects list, close it before anything else.
Planning for breakdowns, not just inspections
Paperwork keeps you compliant; a breakdown plan keeps residents safe. Decide in advance who calls the engineer, what the engineer's number is, and what the home does for residents upstairs in the meantime — meals, medication rounds, visitors, and how an evacuation would run with the lift out. Ask your servicing provider what their breakdown cover actually is. Ours is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, same-day in London and inside the M25 and usually within hours; elsewhere we take the call around the clock and dispatch by region, with the on-site time confirmed on your postcode when you call. Entrapment — a resident or carer stuck between floors — is treated as the priority call.
Running lifts across several homes
Operators with a portfolio face the same rules multiplied: different lift makes, different installers, examination dates scattered across the year and reports held in different places. The fix is administrative rather than technical. Put every lift, whatever the brand, on one contract with one schedule; have the LOLER dates tracked centrally; and keep all reports in one place so any home can answer an inspector without ringing head office. We service and examine passenger and platform lifts of every make — Otis, KONE, Schindler, TK Elevator, Stannah, Aritco, Cibes, Gartec, Kalea, Stiltz and the rest — so a mixed estate does not need a mixed set of contractors. See our lift servicing and repair page for the contract levels.
When an old lift becomes a liability
A lift that fails its examination repeatedly, is out of production for parts, or spends more time under repair than in service is costing more than a modernisation would. Worn controls, obsolete safety devices and non-compliant doors can often be renewed on the existing structure; where the drive or structure is at the end of its life, a self-supporting platform lift can usually be installed in 3–5 days with a 150mm recess and no builders' shaft, keeping disruption to residents to a few days rather than weeks. Our lift refurbishment page sets out what can be renewed, and the Equality Act guide covers the access duties a replacement must meet.
Does a care home lift need a LOLER examination every six months?
Yes. A care home is a workplace and its lifts carry people, so LOLER 1998 requires a thorough examination by a competent person at least every six months. The examiner's written scheme can require it more often for older or heavily used lifts. Lifts used only for goods or laundry are examined every twelve months. The report must be kept on file; the CQC and your insurer can both ask to see it.
Who can carry out the LOLER thorough examination?
A competent person: someone with the training, knowledge and independence to judge the lift's safety, typically an engineer surveyor from your insurer or a lift company that offers examination as a distinct service. We carry out LOLER thorough examinations in-house; where your insurer appoints its own examiner, we service the lift and put right anything their report raises. Either way the examination should not be done by the same engineer on the same visit as routine servicing unless the contract makes the separation clear.
How Base OnLevel can help
We service, repair and examine passenger and platform lifts of any brand across the UK, with 24/7 breakdown cover and annual or portfolio contracts at basic, comprehensive or fully comprehensive level. Every contract starts with a free survey of each lift, and the visit count, response time and parts cover are written down before you sign. Send the number of homes, the number and make of lifts and their postcodes to info@baseonlevel.co.uk or call 01245 968541 and we will come back within 48 hours with a portfolio quotation.
Find a platform lift installer in your area
We install and service OnLevel platform lifts across England, with dedicated local pages for hundreds of towns. Explore the areas we cover — including London, Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Essex — or browse the full list of locations across the UK.
Popular towns we cover include Milton Keynes, Coventry, Watford, Bromley, Marylebone, Sutton, Rochdale, Cheshunt, Welwyn Garden City, Sevenoaks, Wellingborough, Beverley and Pontefract.
Request a no-obligation quotation
Every property is different, so the surest way to a firm figure is to tell us about your project — the property, the floors you need to serve and what you want to achieve. Send us those details and our SafeContractor-accredited team will prepare a written, no-obligation quotation. Request your quotation on our contact form, or see the areas we cover across the UK.