Electrical governing bodies NICEIC and ELECSA will not be operating a third-party inspection scheme, amid fears that it will undermine registered electricians and result in dangerous electrical work.

Last month, the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) announced amendments to the Building Regulations that set out the introduction of third-party certification schemes for electrical work in homes, which became part of the amended regulations from 6 April.


Under the review of Part P in 2011, third-party inspectors were put forward as a way for DIY-ers and those not registered with a competent persons scheme to have their work checked and certified. The inspectors will be registered on a scheme and assessed to certain criteria, but the scheme will not be officially accredited.


NICEIC and ELECSA believe the final scheme falls short of the standards and safeguards that will enhance electrical safety for the trade, and have therefore decided not to take part.


“At the simplest level we do not wish to see DIY-ers carry out potentially dangerous electrical work,” said Emma Clancy, chief executive officer of Certsure, which operates NICEIC and ELECSA. “It should be left to competent electricians who will install and test their installations to the wiring regulations.”


She explained that the recently introduced scheme is not UKAS accredited, meaning there will potentially be no independent verification that the scheme operators are doing the job to the required standards.


“It makes a mockery of competent persons’ schemes and the tens of thousands of registered electricians already in the marketplace,” she argued. “There are glaring holes in the scheme, such as the amount of time an installation can be live before it is checked, potentially endangering the householder.


“As a competent person scheme operator, we believe that the third-party approved inspector scheme in its current guise is flawed. The review of Part P in 2011 proposed the reduction of notifiable work in dwellings, which we believe has weakened the regulation. Now the third-party inspector scheme undermines the working domestic electrician.”


Ms Clancy concluded: “It is disappointing that the building regulations around electrical work in the home have been further confused and potentially weakened by the proposed introduction of third party inspections. Householders should not attempt to install electrical work – it is the job of competent electricians to do it safely.”