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Competent person schemes for electricians in Bristol

7 min read
Rules and permits
Some electrical work in a Bristol home must be certified under the Building Regulations, and a competent person scheme is one route to that. This guide explains how schemes work, when they apply and what to check before relying on a firm's paperwork.

Many householders in Bristol assume that any electrician can do any electrical job in their home. In England that is not quite the case. Part P of the Building Regulations makes certain electrical work in dwellings notifiable, and competent person schemes are the mechanism that lets a registered electrician certify that work without involving the local authority directly. This guide explains what those schemes are, how self-certification works in practice, where their limits lie and what a customer should check before relying on a scheme member's paperwork.

What a competent person scheme is

A competent person scheme is an approved route through which an electrician can show that notifiable work complies with the Building Regulations. The scheme assesses the firm and its people, sets standards for the work and inspects a sample of it. Membership allows the firm to self-certify its own compliant work, with the scheme notifying the local authority on its behalf. The owner receives a certificate, and the local authority does not have to inspect the job first. For electrical work in homes, the operators authorised in Schedule 3 to the Building Regulations 2010 are Blue Flame Certification, Certsure (which trades as NICEIC and ELECSA), NAPIT and OFTEC, and their members appear on the Electrical Competent Person Register.

The legal framework sits in Part P of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010, which sets a single requirement: reasonable provision must be made in the design and installation of electrical installations. The approved guidance explains how that requirement is met, and it recognises the scheme route as one of the ways to demonstrate compliance. The government's publication on Approved Document P describes the rules on notifiable work in more detail.

Notifiable and non-notifiable work

Not all electrical work in a home is notifiable. Part P applies to electrical installations in or attached to a dwelling, including installations in the common parts of a building serving dwellings and in gardens or associated land supplied from a dwelling. Only three kinds of work need notification: installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and adding to or altering an existing circuit in a special location, which means the zone around a bath or shower or a room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater. Adding a socket or light to an existing circuit elsewhere, or replacing an accessory like for like, is not notifiable, although it must still be done safely.

The distinction matters because a firm may legitimately do non-notifiable work without any scheme membership at all. The question of scheme membership arises when the job involves new circuits or changes to the installation that Part P covers. Ask the firm to explain which category your job falls into before you agree a scope.

How self-certification works

When a registered electrician completes notifiable work through a scheme, the scheme records the work, notifies the council, and a Building Regulations compliance certificate goes to the occupier. Regulation 20 of the Building Regulations 2010 gives the installer 30 days from completion to provide that certificate and to notify building control, and the electrician should also hand over the BS 7671 installation certificate with the test results. The certificate states that the work complies with the Building Regulations and identifies the installer and the scheme. The owner should keep it with the property records, because it is the evidence that the work was certified.

Self-certification is not the same as no oversight. Scheme members are assessed when they join and are monitored over time, and the scheme may inspect a sample of completed work. The scheme is the body that stands behind the firm's paperwork, and that is what gives the certificate its value. A firm that claims to self-certify but cannot name the scheme it belongs to should be treated with caution.

The role of building control

Where an electrician is not a scheme member, notifiable work must go through building control, unless an independent third-party certifier has been appointed before the work begins. The owner, or the installer on the owner's behalf, notifies the local authority before work starts, and the authority inspects the work at appropriate stages before issuing a completion certificate. This route is slower and carries fees set locally, but it reaches the same standard of compliance.

Bristol City Council provides local authority building control for the city, and its route is the usual alternative to a scheme for an unregistered firm. The guide on building control for unregistered electricians in Bristol explains how that process works in practice.

Checking membership before you hire

Membership of a scheme can be checked directly. NICEIC and NAPIT both operate schemes and publish search tools that let customers check whether a firm holds current registration. Enter the company name and postcode, confirm that the registered address matches the firm's trading address and make a note of the registration number. Compare that number with the number on any certificate the firm issues.

Be cautious of any firm that describes itself as registered without naming a scheme, or that offers a membership logo without a verifiable entry. Scheme membership should also be checked for the specific type of work. A firm may be registered for some categories and not others, so ask which categories apply to your job.

The limits of a scheme

A scheme certificate proves that the work was carried out by a registered firm under the scheme's rules. It does not show that the price was fair, that the installer was punctual or that the design suits your household. It also does not cover non-notifiable work unless the firm has chosen to certify it. Owners should read the certificate carefully and check that the work described matches the job they paid for.

Schemes have complaints and dispute procedures, and a customer who believes a scheme member has done poor work can usually raise the matter with the scheme. Knowing that route exists before work starts gives the owner a clear next step if something goes wrong.

When a scheme is not the whole answer

Scheme membership proves that a firm has been assessed for a defined range of work. It does not prove that the firm is the right choice for an unusual job, such as a heritage building, a large commercial conversion or an installation with a history of unexplained faults. In those cases the owner should ask whether the firm has direct experience of similar work, and whether it would refer the job to a specialist if the scope went beyond its competence.

Scheme members sometimes subcontract parts of a job to others. Ask whether the scheme member will carry out the work itself and who will certify it. A certificate issued by a firm that did not do the work is a poor basis for the owner's records, and the name on the certificate should match the name of the firm that attended the property.

Finally, remember that Part P governs the building regulations side of the work, not every aspect of the installation. The wiring regulations, the design of the circuit and the testing of the completed work follow separate requirements, and a firm's paperwork should show that each of them has been considered. A scheme certificate that is silent on testing is an incomplete record, however tidy it looks.

What to ask a firm

Ask which scheme the firm belongs to, whether the job is notifiable, and how the certificate will be issued. Ask whether the scheme will notify the local authority on the owner's behalf and whether the notification will be recorded against the property address. Ask what happens if the work is found to need correction. A firm that answers these questions clearly is demonstrating the knowledge a customer needs. Written answers are better than spoken ones, because they can be checked against the certificate later. Keep a copy of the scheme search result with the quote so that the registration can be shown if the question arises again.

Compare the scheme's stated scope with the job described in your quote. A firm may be registered for domestic installation work and not for every category of commercial or specialist work, and a quote that describes a job outside the registered categories should prompt a direct question before any deposit is paid.

Request quotes through the site and ask each firm to state its scheme and its certification route as part of the quote. The services overview explains the range of electrical work covered, and the about page describes how the site presents the information it publishes. For questions about damp or weather in coastal and river-side areas, the guide on damp, salt and weather effects on Bristol electrics covers the environmental side of the same concern.