diff --git a/app/commands.py b/app/commands.py
index feab587d4..d0f7df409 100644
--- a/app/commands.py
+++ b/app/commands.py
@@ -830,3 +830,14 @@ def create_new_service(name, message_limit, restricted, email_from, created_by_i
     except IntegrityError:
         print("duplicate service", service.name)
         db.session.rollback()
+
+
+@notify_command(name="promote-user-to-platform-admin")
+@click.option("-u", "--user-email-address", required=True, prompt=True)
+def promote_user_to_platform_admin(user_email_address):
+    # If the email address is wrong, sqlalchemy will automatically raise a NoResultFound error which is what we want.
+    # See tests.
+    user = get_user_by_email(user_email_address)
+    user.platform_admin = True
+    db.session.add(user)
+    db.session.commit()
diff --git a/app/dao/__init__.py b/app/dao/__init__.py
index 5727c115f..ea889ce47 100644
--- a/app/dao/__init__.py
+++ b/app/dao/__init__.py
@@ -17,13 +17,6 @@ class DAOClass(object):
         if _commit:
             db.session.commit()
 
-    def update_instance(self, inst, update_dict, _commit=True):
-        # Make sure the id is not included in the update_dict
-        update_dict.pop("id")
-        self.Meta.model.query.filter_by(id=inst.id).update(update_dict)
-        if _commit:
-            db.session.commit()
-
     def delete_instance(self, inst, _commit=True):
         db.session.delete(inst)
         if _commit:
diff --git a/tests/app/conftest.py b/tests/app/conftest.py
index 55828ed35..13e0c0b09 100644
--- a/tests/app/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/app/conftest.py
@@ -182,6 +182,11 @@ def sample_user(notify_db_session):
     return create_user(email="notify@digital.fake.gov")
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(scope="function")
+def sample_platform_admin(notify_db_session):
+    return create_user(email="notify_pa@digital.fake.gov", platform_admin=True)
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope="function")
 def notify_user(notify_db_session):
     return create_user(
diff --git a/tests/app/db.py b/tests/app/db.py
index 63d7720bc..56a33335f 100644
--- a/tests/app/db.py
+++ b/tests/app/db.py
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ def create_user(
     state="active",
     id_=None,
     name="Test User",
+    platform_admin=False,
 ):
     data = {
         "id": id_ or uuid.uuid4(),
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ def create_user(
         "password": "password",
         "mobile_number": mobile_number,
         "state": state,
+        "platform_admin": platform_admin,
     }
     user = User.query.filter_by(email_address=email).first()
     if not user:
diff --git a/tests/app/test_commands.py b/tests/app/test_commands.py
index 1d81f1f95..c13ac3dd3 100644
--- a/tests/app/test_commands.py
+++ b/tests/app/test_commands.py
@@ -14,10 +14,12 @@ from app.commands import (
     populate_annual_billing_with_the_previous_years_allowance,
     populate_organization_agreement_details_from_file,
     populate_organizations_from_file,
+    promote_user_to_platform_admin,
     purge_functional_test_data,
     update_jobs_archived_flag,
 )
 from app.dao.inbound_numbers_dao import dao_get_available_inbound_numbers
+from app.dao.users_dao import get_user_by_email
 from app.models import (
     KEY_TYPE_NORMAL,
     NOTIFICATION_DELIVERED,
@@ -395,3 +397,37 @@ def test_create_service_command(notify_db_session, notify_api):
     assert service.email_from == "somebody@fake.gov"
     assert service.restricted is False
     assert service.message_limit == 40000
+
+
+def test_promote_user_to_platform_admin(
+    notify_db_session, notify_api, sample_user, sample_platform_admin
+):
+    assert sample_user.platform_admin is False
+    assert sample_platform_admin.platform_admin is True
+
+    notify_api.test_cli_runner().invoke(
+        promote_user_to_platform_admin,
+        [
+            "-u",
+            "notify@digital.fake.gov",
+        ],
+    )
+
+    user = get_user_by_email("notify@digital.fake.gov")
+    assert user.platform_admin is True
+
+
+def test_promote_user_to_platform_admin_no_result_found(
+    notify_db_session, notify_api, sample_user
+):
+    assert sample_user.platform_admin is False
+
+    result = notify_api.test_cli_runner().invoke(
+        promote_user_to_platform_admin,
+        [
+            "-u",
+            "notify@digital.fake.asefasefasefasef",
+        ],
+    )
+    assert "NoResultFound" in str(result)
+    assert sample_user.platform_admin is False