The Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) is raising awareness of its annual Quality Plumbing Week (QPW).

Running between 1-8 October 2018, this year Quality Plumber Week seeks to debate the introduction of a single mandatory License to operate a plumbing and heating business as well as celebrating the important role that plumbing and heating engineers play in keeping people healthy and safe.

During QPW, APHC would like to explore collectively the industry’s need to look at the viability of introducing a single national mandatory licensing scheme to provide accreditation to operate a plumbing and heating business in order to protect public health, assist the UK in reducing its carbon emissions and provide more of a ‘level playing field’ for the bona fide plumbing and heating installer when quoting and tendering for work.

APHC believe that a Licensing Scheme should protect and forbid anyone using a term such as ‘Licensed Plumbing Company’ or ‘Licensed Heating Company’ or ‘Licensed Plumbing & Heating Company’ unless the company and its installers are accredited and undergo a programme of continuous professional development and scheduled assessment. However, APHC would like to open this up to debate and scrutiny and are calling for plumbing and heating engineers to have a say.

APHC Chief Executive John Thompsonsaid: “We want to discuss the rights and wrongs of such a scheme, how it could fit within the current framework of legislation and existing competence schemes, how it could be enforced, funded and promoted, what could the membership criteria look like, how would competence be measured, how could it work for new entrants, existing installers and those installers with many years’ worth of experience but who don’t hold an official qualification – just to mention a handful of discussion points.”

APHC is inviting plumbing and heating engineers to attend free half-day regional seminars around the country to review possible framework proposals and to provide opinion and ideas. The APHC will also be speaking about QPW and the viability of a single mandatory Licensing Scheme at PHEX Manchester in October, plus there will be open debate on social media during Quality Plumber Week via the hashtag #QPW18 on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

For further information or to book a place on one of the free APHC regional seminars, please contact APHC on marketing@aphc.co.uk