With effect from 25th August 2016, the CAA Permission for Aerial Work (PfAW) has been replaced by the Permission for Commercial Operations (PfCO).
This change appears in the newly published Air Navigation Order 2016. CAA Information Notice IN-2016/073 (link below) explains the change. Existing PfAWs will remain valid but will change on renewal to PfCOs.
Any new Permissions issued from now on will be for Commercial Operations.

In the new ANO 2016:
– Article 166 and 167 have been renumbered to 94 and 95 respectively
– The term Aerial Work has been replaced with Commercial Operations; the term Aerial Work no longer appears in the ANO
– A new definition of Commercial Operations has replaced the definition of Aerial Work

The following is an extract from the CAA Information Notice IN-2016/073 relating to the definition of Commercial Operations:

‘Commercial operation’ is given the following meaning:
“…any operation of an aircraft other than for public transport— (a) which is available to the public; or (b) which, when not made available to the public, is performed under a contract between an operator and a customer, where the latter has no control over the operator, in return for remuneration or other valuable consideration.”
The intent of this meaning is exactly the same as the previous intent of ‘aerial work’. The key elements in understanding this term are ‘…any operation of an aircraft…in return for remuneration or other valuable consideration’.
The term ‘available to the public’ should be interpreted as being a service or commodity that any member of the public can make use of, or actively choose to use, (e.g. because it has been advertised or offered to someone).

Advice ref Ops Man:
Any references to PfAW must be changed to PfCO.
Also any references to the ANO need to be updated to the ANO 2016, and references to Articles 166 and 167 must be changed to 94 and 95.