FAQ

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FIND MORE INFORMATION HERE ABOUT ELECTRICAL REGULATIONS, INSPECTION & TESTING, COMPETENT PERSON SCHEMES. PART P AND CERTIFICATION..........

In most cases, no, however it is a good idea to contact your local planning authority if you live in a listed building. 

Installation or altering of electrics in your home must conform to certain Building Regulations.  

Press the button below to go to the Planning Portal website and download the document ‘Approved Document P (Electrics)’ for all the information you need.

Electricians/Electrical Installers belonging to a competent person scheme (such as NAPIT, NICEIC, ELECSA, STROMA) are assessed by the scheme operators to check that they meet the level of competence required to perform, inspect and test Part P electrical work. They then have ongoing inspections to ensure they continue to meet this standard. 

Sparks & Hammers is a member of NAPIT (National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers) who promote safe and quality work practices throughout a range of electrical trades.

An electrical installer who is registered on a competent person scheme such as NAPIT, can therefore self-certifycertain types of electrical work and issue the appropriate certification. This is instead of you, the customer, having to get building regulations inspection and approval from your Local Authority Building Control which can cost a considerable fee (see your local council website for prices and how to submit a building notice).

Press the button below to see NAPIT’s website for reasons why to use a NAPIT registered competent electrical installer and other info on building regulations and what certification you should expect:

Notifiable work is the term used to describe works that are subject to compliance with Building Regulations by notification, approval and certification (With electrical work it is sometimes referred to as Part P). 

‘Regulation 12(6A) of the Building Regulations 2010’ identifies notifiable electrical work as comprising of the following:

a) The installation of a new or replacement consumer unit (fuse box) 

b) The installation of a complete new circuit connected to the consumer unit

c) Re-wired installations

d) Any addition or alteration work to existing circuits within a zone in a bathroom

e) Any addition or alteration work to existing circuits in a room containing a swimming pool or sauna heater

Press the button below to see the Planning Portal website for more information on Part P electrical safety:

All other work is non-notifiable, although like notifiable work, the gold standard and best practice is that any work designed and installed, should be inspected, tested and certificated in accordance with BS7671 – 18th Edition IET Wiring Regulations. 

Any paperwork or certificates that you receive for completed electrical installation work, inspection and testing, should be kept safe. They can be used:

a) to aid any future electrical testing or fault finding in your home

b) to provide documentary evidence of safety in the event of an insurance claim that injury or fire was caused by a suspected electrical installation

c) to provide evidence to a potential buyer of your home that your electrics are safe (however it is not compulsory to have them by law when selling).

d) to prove safety and compliance, if local authorities find that non-notifiable work is unsafe and non-compliant, they can take enforcement action.

Press the button below to see the following Planning Portal website pages for Building Regulations for all the information you will need on 'General Information', 'Checking for Safety' & 'Minor Works'

Any notifiable work planned to be carried out by a non-registered competent person (complete house rewire, for example) should be notified by you, to your Local Authority Building Control before work commences. 

It is then inspected, signed off and certificated afterwards by either your Local Authority Building Control Inspector or a Registered Third-Party Certifier. However, this can cost a considerable fee of around £300-£500 depending on your Local Authority. So despite the cheaper quote, it may end up costing you much more in the end, plus the added inconvenience.

PLEASE NOTE: Sparks & Hammers is unable to act as a third-party certifier to sign off notifiable works that have been undertaken by electricians who are not registered with a competent person scheme.

Use a ‘Registered Competent Person’ such as Simon from Sparks & Hammers, to complete your electrical installation work and self-certify that the work is compliant. The process is as follows:

a) Simon from Sparks & Hammers (a qualified electrician who is a NAPIT Registered Competent Person and qualified Inspector) will test and self-certify his own installation work on completion.

b) For all electrical installation works, he will issue either an Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) or Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate (MEIWC) depending on the nature of the work. (This verifies that the work he carried out complies with BS7671 – 18thEdition IET Wiring Regulations and does not impair the safety of your existing installation). This is then emailed to you directly.

c) If the work is notifiable, Simon will notify NAPIT for you about the work which has been done. NAPIT will then issue a ‘Building Regulations Compliance Certificate’ (BRCC)within 30 days of the work being completed, which is sent direct to you, the customer.

d) NAPIT then notify the Local Authority Building Control on your behalf, that the work has been completed and certificated as compliant. There are therefore no building control fees as Sparks & Hammers and NAPIT take care of all of that for you.

Electrical Installation Certificates (EICs) and Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificates (MEIWCs) provide the person responsible for the safety of an electrical installation, with evidence that the new installation, alteration or addition, is safe to use at the time the work was completed.

These certificates confirm that the work to which it relates has been designed, constructed and tested in accordance with BS 7671:2018 (IET Wiring Regulations 18th Edition) and can be issued by an electrician on the registered competent person scheme.

The EIC will indicate whether the electrical work that has been carried out is:

New - where the installation is completely new, for example if a total rewire has been carried out.

Addition - applies if an existing installation has had one or more new circuits added.

Alteration - applies where existing circuits have been modified or extended (for example to add a plug socket), or a consumer unit (fusebox) and switching equipment has been replaced.

An EIC must be issued for all new electrical installations. It may also be required for an alteration or addition to the installation – depending upon whether or not a new circuit has been installed.  Where an alteration or addition is carried out but does not include a new circuit, a MEIWC or an EIC may be used.

*Please note, all of the information has been researched and gathered from the following sources:  Gov.uk, NAPIT and Planning Portal and is current as of 06/08/2020.  Sparks & Hammers accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or customer usage of this information. This page has been created to help make your research easier!  Thank you.